Sweden - Bombardier SJ3000 (X55)

[jon0844]

Having just used the 1990-built X2000 from Malmo to Stockholm, the on-train magazine had a big feature about the new SJ3000 trains that will join the X2000 soon, with a top speed of 250kph (or ready for that speed pending planned line upgrades and new high speed lines). I believe the trains have already been tested at over 300kph.

You Tube - SJ Trains

Besides the latest generation Internet/Wi-Fi service (802.11n and support for LTE/4G), the train will also have onboard films (300+) that can be streamed over Wi-Fi to your phone or laptop, rather than using seat back screens.

It's also nearly 4 metres wide - so it can fit 3+2 seating with a wide aisle. God knows what FC will be like if it is 2+1!

What I also thought was most amusing is that in 1990, they launched their high-speed tilting train as the 'X2000' as a futuristic train (and it's still pretty impressive 21 years on - incredibly smooth). Now they're calling the new train fleet SJ3000. I have to assume that given the trains are built by Bombardier, this is to allow them ample to time to get the trains running without problems!

 

[A60K]

I refer the honourable gentleman to DSB's IC4000 from Ansaldo Breda!

 

[jon0844]

Oh I know all about them as we travelled through Denmark from Esbjerg to Copenhagen on an old train due to the 8 year overdue trains (most recently 'grounded' following a brake failure or something?).

Mind you, the 'old' trains were from around 1990 too, and besides steps that make Pacers look disabled friendly, they seem just fine otherwise.

 

[A60K]

Yep, the IC3 stock is the same vintage as the 158s. I think it also had quite a few teething troubles, but remember traveling a cross-country journey on it in around 1995 and thinking what a world away from 158s it was. Partly that's due to the loading gauge, but also because it wasn't designed with the 'cram-them-in' principles that Provincial Sector budgets of the late 1980s demanded!

On a side note, I imagine that the Scandinavian railways wish they had a decent local train building plant rather than having to suffer these problems with imported stock!

 

[jon0844]

I was in the front of the IC3 when it left Esbjerg (as a tiny little 3-car formation) and saw the guard getting to work on joining it up to the front set we attached to at Kolding (I think it was there anyway).

It's quite funky how you fold the driver cab inwards to open up a wide corridor. Once done, you'd never know you were walking out of the front of the train and into another one. That odd slab-like front end with the rubber border looks hideous, but it's a very clever way to allow easy joining!

But, I have to say that I do wonder if accessibility is a big thing in Denmark. From the steps all over, to the rather odd way of showing the train info on the displays - without showing the stopping patterns, or even the departure time on some.

Sweden seems a lot more like here, with the new stations using the same screens as at St Pancras (but in yellow/green, not blue/white) and it's also quite easy to get info via the web (and a number of apps). In Denmark, I tried the DSB site and couldn't even find real-time running info. I'm sure it's there, but it was hardly user friendly.

 

[MCR247]

Those screens at St Pancras are used all over in Germany, and normally show more info than ours!

 

[jon0844]

In Malmo, they had scrolling text which probably wasn't a good idea (flickering), but in Stockholm it was more of a step of about 5-6 characters. More readable, but still not as good as plain, boring, amber LEDs!

Denmark have opted for big plasmas, or I presume they were from the burn-in! Same mistake as made at Waterloo I guess!