Hitachi Rail Italy presented the first Rock double deck five-car train for Trenitalia, which left the factory in Pistoia on April 18. Train tests on rail will soon be launched and the new trains will enter services in the first quarter of 2019.
Hitachi Rail Italy will initially deliver 39 trains to Emilia Romagna, 47 to Veneto, 28 to Liguria, 4 to Tuscany.
“Rock is the backbone of this huge industrial operation, unprecedented in Italy for value and number of trains involved. We want to improve the collective integrated mobility in this country. Rock is a wonderful train that will be employed in every Italian region were Trenitalia has been awarded and already signed service contracts for regional transport, such as Emilia-Romagna, or is going to sign in a few months, such as Liguria and Veneto,” Renato Mazzoncini CEO of FS Italiane Group said at the ceremony.
Trenitalia and Hitachi Rail signed in 2016 a EUR 3 billion contract for the supply of up to 300 high capacity EMUs in 4, 5 or 6-car formations for regional transport. The purchase of the new regional trains was partly financed by FS Italiane with the Green Bond worth EUR 600 million, issued for the first time in Europe in November 2017.
The energy consumption of the Rock train is 30 percent less compared to similar trains on the market, and the choice of materials is made to ensure over 95 percent of recyclability.
FS Italiane is investing EUR 4.5 billion for new passenger trains, and, under the plans, within 2023, the company will renew 75 percent of Trenitalia’s regional fleet and halve the average age of trains from the present 20.3 years to 10.6 in 2024.
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