News

Vulcano sets off on its first ride

On Tues­day, May 24 2016 at 01.42 pm  the first Vul­cano train pro­du­ced by NEWAG S.A. for Fer­ro­via Cir­cu­met­nea (FCE) set off for its inau­gu­ral ride from  Cata­nia Borgo rail­way sta­tion.  The four Vul­cano tra­ins have been pro­du­ced  for the Ita­lian  train ope­ra­tor under an exe­cu­tive con­tract signed in Decem­ber 2013 whose net value tota­led  EUR 14,760,000.00. The first train has been appro­ved for pas­sen­ger traf­fic having suc­cess­fully cove­red 3000km in test rides. Ini­tially Vul­cano tra­ins will ope­rate during mor­ning and after­noon rush hours car­ry­ing local pas­sen­gers to work and scho­ols on the Cata­nia –Ripo­sto route.

Vul­cano DMUs are nar­row gauge die­sel mul­ti­ple units manu­fac­tu­red to ope­rate on the route aro­und Etna vol­cano in Sicily. These are modern, two-unit tra­ins on which spe­cial ‘power­pack’ power-transmission sys­tems were moun­ted toge­ther with a spe­cially desi­gned elec­tric trans­mis­sion. Advan­ced tech­no­lo­gi­cal solu­tions imple­men­ted in the dri­ving and gear sys­tems and in the sup­port of the train body have resul­ted in enhan­ced sound insu­la­tion of the passenger’s com­part­ment in accor­dance with strict requ­ire­ments of the Con­trac­ting Authority.

Vul­cano tra­ins offer enhan­ced tra­vel com­fort to both pas­sen­gers and train dri­vers. They are fully air-conditioned and adap­ted to trans­por­ting pas­sen­gers with redu­ced mobi­lity. One sec­tion is fit­ted with a retention-tank toilet adap­ted to the needs of the disa­bled (in com­pliance with TSI PRM) and the exter­nal door area is fit­ted with spe­cial  mova­ble ramps for whe­el­cha­irs. Driver’s  cabs equ­ip­ped with ergo­no­mic con­trol panels and modern equ­ip­ment have enhan­ced driver’s wor­king conditions.

Vul­cano DMUs guaran­tee the highest safety stan­dards because they were desi­gned in accor­dance with stan­dards con­cer­ning col­li­sion safety and cra­sh­wor­thi­ness  (PIII accor­ding to EN 12663 and EN 15227+A1 C-III). The train inte­rior is made with mate­rials satis­fy­ing fire resi­stance requ­ire­ments of EN45545 stan­dard and the vehicle itself is equ­ip­ped with an active fire detec­tion and fire-fighting system.

Thanks to the con­fi­gu­ra­tion of the pas­sen­ger com­part­ment, the train can be ope­ra­ting on both urban and sub­ur­ban lines. Easily-modified seat lay­out allows for opti­mi­zing pas­sen­ger capa­city. The seating capa­city is 106 inc­lu­ding 7 fold-up seats, and it may be chan­ged depen­ding on the carrier’s needs.

To ensure pas­sen­ger safety, the DMUs have been equ­ip­ped with a moni­to­ring sys­tem.  Other featu­res inc­lude a pas­sen­ger coun­ting sys­tem, the GPS sys­tem, a modern pas­sen­ger infor­ma­tion sys­tem as well as an inter­com ena­bling com­mu­ni­ca­tion between the dri­vers and passengers.

Vul­cano DMUs tra­vel with a speed of 100 km/h and are adju­sted to ope­rate in mul­ti­ple traction.

Under the exe­cu­tive agre­ement, NEWAG has deli­ve­red four tra­ins. Under the fra­me­work agre­ement, FCE may order addi­tio­nal six tra­ins in the future.