Trenord, Lombardy’s rail operator, announced a 3-year plan to renew over 700 coaches, representing 33 percent of its rolling stock fleet. The project will be completed in 2020.
The value of the project is EUR 415 million and will allow the modernisation of the coaches owned by Trenitalia and leased to Trenord.
Within the first phase of the plan, the company will renew the older diesel and electric coaches which currently serve mostly local single-track lines that offer rail connections throughout the territory. At this initial phase, Trenord will modernise a total fleet of 176 cars of Ale582 (electric) and Aln668 (diesel) type. Currently, they run on 11 lines (Colico-Chiavenna, Cremona-Treviglio, Cremona-Mantova, Bergamo-Lecco, Bergamo-Treviglio, Seregno-Carnate, Luino-Gallarate, Pavia-Codogno, Pavia-Alessandria, Pavia-Vercelli, Brescia-Parma).
In the second half of 2018, the company will modernise and renew a total of 278 cars, comprising 140 medium-distance cars and 138 double-deck cars, which operate on railway routes from Milan to Tirano, Brescia, Verona, Mantua, Domodossola, Voghera and Piacenza.
“This investment is possible thanks to company’s good economic-financial results achieved by the company in the last three years and will allow us to support the quality of service. We are making every effort to constantly improve transport services to our 755,000 daily passengers,” Cinzia Farisè, CEO of Trenord said.
The programme envisages the renewal of coaches’ interior and exterior, including the replacement of the seats and doors, as well as the installation of new air conditioning systems and the reconstruction of electrical systems.
Trenord’s workshops involved in the project are Milan Fiorenza, Cremona and Iseo, and to allow maximum efficiency of the activities envisaged by the plan, dedicated sites were opened in the Fiorenza and Cremona workshops.
In addition to coaches modernisation plan, new rolling stock will be purchased. In 2017, the Governor of the Lombardy region announced a EUR 1.6 billion project for the rolling stock acquisition. In total, 161 new trains will be purchased of which 105 double-decker suburban trains (for Milan area), 32 EMUs and 24 DMUs which will run on non-electrified lines around Pavia, Cremona and Brescia. This year, the European Investment Bank announced that it may offer a EUR 650 million loan for this project.
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