NETHERLANDS Railways (NS) has ordered 10 new variants of the Intercity New Generation (ICNG) high-speed train from Alstom for €150m, which will be equipped to operate in Germany and take traction current at 15kV 16.7Hz ac.
The 10 eight-car ICNGD EMUs will be based on Alstom’s Coradia Stream platform. They take the total number of ICNG trains ordered by NS to 109, including 49 five-car and 20 eight-car trains for domestic services and 20 ICNGB EMUs equipped to operate in Belgium under 3kV dc electrification.
Two eight-car ICNGB trains have been taken from the production line to become prototypes for the ICNGD, with one train on test at the Velim test circuit in the Czech Republic since last month.
Like the ICNGB, the ICNGD is able to take traction current at three voltages, also including 1.5kV dc and 25kV 50Hz ac. Fitting traction equipment to enable the train to operate under four voltages would however increase the axleload above the maximum limit of 20 tonnes.
NS is currently developing plans to deploy the ICNGD on a new IC service to Aachen via the Landgraaf/Herzogenrath border crossing, and on the existing route into Germany via Venlo/Kaldenkirchen.
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