Bombardier Twindexx

[FelixM]

Hello everyone,

 

there is an interesting development with Bombardier who manufacures double deck passenger cars mainly for DB Regio at various places in Germany. They are reforming their range of coaches as well as adding a powered control car to their range.

 

The history of double deck cars as single units goes back to the Deutsche Reichsbahn of the GDR who developed them from their articulated sets. Some of these coaches are still in use albeit they are very unloved nowadays.

 

For more information (in German) please look at the Wikipedia articles about Dopelstockwagen, about the differences of design of double deck cars and about Waggonbau Görlitz where virtually all German double deck cars came from, then and now.

 

Bombardier is fitting its new generation not only with conventional push-pull gear (Zeitmultiplexe Wendezugsteuerung (ZWS)) to allow them to run with older stock but also with the new Wire Train Bus (WTB) which allows them to be operated like a multiple unit. This is new as this allows remote decoupling, locking of the first and/or last door (helpful if the platform is too short) and a few other nice things. Combined with Bombardiers new powered control cars trains can be formed that can be treated operationally like multiple units, but with the advantage that the train marshalling can be altered very simple.

 

Three orders were already placed with Bombardier: In the north of Germany Schleswig-Holstein plan to use 4 car sets on the lines Hamburg-Neumünster-Kiel and Hamburg-Neumünster-Flensburg, coupled together to 8 car sets between Hamburg and Neumünster. Hamburg Hauptbahnhof cannot accomodate longer trains than 8 car sets (or a loco with 7 cars which is unpractical) so this will save train paths to and from Hamburg Hauptbahnhof. In Berlin, Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in the north east of Germany there are more sets planned for lines north-south connecting the baltic see coast with Berlin and surroundings. In Franken (northern Bavaria) and Hessen there are plans to use them on the Main-Spessart-Express which goes from Frankfurt to the east. Earlier this month the news came out that there are more services planned in Bavaria, connecting Augsburg, Nürnberg and München.

 

Bombardier has set up a nice webtool aimed at potential buyers of their trains with which you can assemble your own Bombardier Twindexx train: http://static.moccu.com/twindexx/ (site does not work with me when I am using Opera, but Firefox is ok).

 

Additionally it should be mentioned that DB Fernverkehr also has new Twindexx double deck cars on order with Bombardier for use on InterCity services, for example for a new service from Gera to the West of Germany. Gera nowadays is the biggest German town without a double track line connection (but they are working on this). These new double deck cars share some components with the regional variant but as they are aimed for a maximum speed of 190 km/h they differ in detail from the Twindexx regional variant which are aimed for 160 km/h. In Germany 160 km/h is the maximum speed for a train not equipped with a continous working train protection system (ECTS Level 2 or Linienzugbeeinflussung (LZB)).

 

Mostly based on an article in Eisenbahntechnische Rundschau which I am afraid is not accessible to the public. There is also an Wikipedia article: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombardier_TWINDEXX.

 

Kind regards

Felix

[tetsudofan]

......and Brawa have announced they are doing models of the Twindexx.

 

Guess who has already got his order in  ........

 

Keith

[mchaeljordan]

Yes actually it is very interesting project going on by Bombardier TWINDEXX Trains., double decker trains are the future for long distance rail travel. I was amazed after seeing the images and specification of these train: http://www.railway-technology.com/projects/bombardier-twindexx-double-deck-trains/

[Dogmatix]

Funny that the Twindexx driving/motor coaches are not available for high platforms...

 

I quite like the Swiss double-decker IC coaches, with their high-level corridor connections. A pity that this idea is not used in Germany. I thought perhaps that the Swiss trains are a tad too big for Germany, but I remember that a set visited Denmark for a while, and it must have passed through Germany to get there, so the coaches do fit.