Welcome to Pendolino High Speed Page

The Pendolino Story Background
The super high speed trains require special track to run on. Track and corridors may seem as very expensive investment of billions on euros/dollars, so often the solution is to try (conventional) high speed first with lower speeds and tilting EMUs like Pendolino to improve the comfort of travelling. When the train tilts for comfort, often the speeds can also be raised just enough to make the difference with the non highs peed traffic. The idea behind the Pendolinos too is to allow higher than normal speeds on the normal curved track by tilting the passenger compartment of the train just a few degrees. Using tilting trains gives the country additional decades to build the high speed lines and often guarantees better service level for areas where building of the new track can't be judged.

The tilt on trains was first introduced in 1938 in U.S.A. by Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railway. The invention was a passive tilting system with unproper dampening and caused seasickness instead of the intended better comfort, so the experiment did not lead to the production phase. After much research the first successful passive tilting train was finally created in 1950s by Talgo to use in Spain. For the active tilting system the first attempts were made in Great Britain in 1970s in the form of Advanced Passenger Train or APT. While the initial experiment was not successful: seasickness was the result again, this phenomenon was later fixed simply by adjusting the units to tilt slightly less (enabling still a slight sense of "cornering")! However, the initial negative publicity lead to withdrawal of the prototype trains.

First steps of Pendolino
Fiat Ferroviaria made an ingenious move and bought the active tilting technology from the British for its Pendolino trains and the prototype ETR401 started successful runs in 1975. It ran successfully for years and this created the foundations for the success of the later Pendolino trains that can be found in many countries in Europe: Czech Republic, Finland (operator VR-Yhtyma), United Kingdom (operator Virgin Trains), Italy, Portugal, Romania, Russia (soon with both the RZD (the Russian Railways) and a joint venture Karelia Trains between the RZD and the Finnish State Railways VR-Yhtyma), Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland in the form of Cisalpino (a joint operation between the SBB/CFF of Switzerland and Italian FS) and outside Europe the growing railroad nation China.

In 1982 Fiat acquired the patents from the whole British APT project (picture Above by Phil Mason), guaranteeing the company exclusive market for the tilting segment for the coming years.


Picture above: An APT test train 370 001 is seen here on the test drive. Although the technology could had been finally successfull, the project was cancelled and the resulting tilting technology sold to Italy. This created the success story for the Pendolinos. Picture by Phil Mason.

Picture below: A Pendolino ETR450 EMU is seen between it's assignments. From the looks of the train is is obvious the Italians have always mastered the vehicle design! The reliable engineering however can be challenging. Picture by Jeff Leknes.

The result of this was the Pendolino ETR450 (in the picture above), very similar in outward appearance to the 1975 ETR401 prototype, but running as fast as 250 km/h (155 mph)! With relative restricted markets (and huge capitals needed to successfully build trains) the manufacturer of the Pendolinos was in 2002 fusioned into the French giant Alstom, better known for it's family of TGV and AGV super high speed trains.

Future of the Pendolino
While the new (improved tilting mechanism by Alstom) orders of Pendolinos again run 250 km/h (155 mph) (after a period of slower speeds) and look very much like the AGV, the Karelian railways new Pendolinos are curiously capable of just 220 km/h (137 mph). The Chinese "Pendolino" based on older design used in Finland is NONTILTING but capable of 250 km/h (155 mph) running and the outside design is very similar to the later Pendolinos. So many variants seem to exist from the proven concept. It's not hard to guess that in the near future some Pendolino trains will be capable of 270 km/h (168 mph) or more, near the limit of the super high speed class trains.

Even with the economic downturn of the world, Pendolino manufacturer Alstom has been able to acquire a couple of orders for the coming years: more trains and intermediate coaches are ordered to Virgin trains' fleet in U.K. and the Polish railways has ordered new Pendolino units. Otherwise it is mostly quiet as the tilting trains are no more novelty and any technically advanced manufacturer can challenge Alstom.

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The ETR-610 Pendolinos are the latest technology Pendolinos and the first generation of the manufacturer under Alstom influence. Many of the troublesome components have been changed to improved ones so these trains are not plagued so much with the constant troubles associated with the class 470 of Cissalpino.

The ETR-610 comes with 7 modules, out of which the 4 outmost are powered. The top speed has evolved to 250 km/h (155 mph).

The initial operators for the type are SBB of Swiitzerland and Trenitalia, the former partners in Cisalpino service. The trains still run mainly between Italy and Switzerland. In the coming years the need for tilting technology will be more limited as both countries are building new high speed lines and direct tunnels through the Alps.

Karelian Trains owned four Allegro Pendolino units replaced in December 2010 the trains "Sibelius" (owned by VR-Yhtyma) and "Repin" (owned by the RzD) between St Petersburg, Russia and Helsinki, Finland. The Allegro train set consists of seven tilting cars, out of which four at the ends are powered. There are first and second class compartments on the EMU. The other end has a little playing area with a slide for kids, as is custom for Finnish modern trains. The middle car has among others the accommodations for the border control on the moving train, something totally new between the two countries. Rebuilt track, new high speed rolling stock and other arrangement have cut the travel times dramatically. Further removing the need of visa from the passengers would bring a real boom to travelling with Allegro.

The 4 Allegro unit are currently maintained by VR-Yhtyma, which is also responsible for the maintenance 18 other Pendolino units in use in Finland.

Using the Allegro has so far lead to 100% increase in numberws of travellers between Russian and Finland, so the service can be seen as a great success. Also the trains are working extremely well for a Pendolino, so the manufacturer Alstom has quite clearly made progress on technical issues.

Technical details for class Sm6 Allegro Pendolinos
-> Type: Pendolino 2009 design (NOT the new 600 series, looks are directly from the older 400 series trains)
-> Builder: Alstom in Italy
-> Owner: Karelian Trains (a joint venture of the Russian RzD and
      Finnish VR-Yhtyma)
-> Operators: VR-Yhtyma and RzD together

-> Usage: International high speed travel
-> Production dates: 2009 - 2010
-> Numbers built: 4
-> Numbers in use: 4
-> Seen: Finland, Russia

-> Passengers: 354
- 1st class: 48
- 2nd class: 290
- cafe: 38
- wheelchair: 2

-> Energy Source: 25 kV 50Hz and 3000V DC overhead electric
-> Power output: 5500 kW (7477 Hp)
-> Transmission: electric, motor located under the cars
      power transported by cardan axle to the bogie
-> Traction motors: inner wheels powered from cardan axle
-> Tractive Effort: 226 kN at lower speeds
-> Braking effort on traction motors (dynamic braking): 4500 kW?
-> Wheel arrangement: Bo'-Bo'+Bo'-Bo'+2'2'+2'2'+2'2'+Bo'-Bo'+Bo'-Bo'
-> Wheel diameter: 980 mm as new

-> Maximum operational speed where possible: 220 km/h (137 mph)
-> Car numbering: 7151-7154 > 7251-7254 ... 7751-7754
-> UIC codes: 94 10 3890001-0, 94 10 3890002-8, ...3-6, ...4-4

-> Length: 184,8 m
-> Heigth: 4,27 m
-> Width: 3,2 m

-> Weight: 480 metric tons
-> Max axle weight: 17 metric tons

-> Notes:
  - All unit are in almost daily use
  - Karelian trains is very very pleased witht eh growth of the market segment


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