Renfe orders 49 additional Coradia Stream trains

Credit: Alstom

Alstom has been awarded a contract worth nearly €370 million to supply 49 additional Coradia Stream trains to Renfe in Spain. These high-capacity trains will supplement the 152 trains already ordered in March 2021. The two orders are totalling a value of €1.8 billion for 201 trains (including supply of spare parts and the maintenance of 56 of the trains for 15 years).

All the trains will be manufactured at Alstom’s manufacturing site in Santa Perpetua, Barcelona. To carry out this project, the site is undergoing an unprecedented investment and digitalisation plan, which includes the creation of the biggest automatised workshop within the Alstom Group.

“This is a historic project for Alstom in Spain, not only because of its scale, but also because it is a project built on a global sustainability concept – beginning at the tendering and design phase,” Leopoldo Maestu, Managing Director of Alstom Spain and Portugal, said. “The trains are fully accessible, designed with all passengers in mind, sustainably developed according to eco-design criteria, and replete with innovative features both in the design and the manufacturing process. In a few short years, we will see these trains running in our cities, but their social, environmental, and economic impact is already a reality.”

The trains, part of Alstom’s Coradia proven platform, will allow Renfe to transport at least 20 per cent more passengers per hour through the country’s busiest railway hubs, including Madrid and Barcelona. They will each be 100 metres long and have a total capacity of 900 passengers. They boast an innovative mixed-configuration design, with both single and double-deck cars, designed specifically to meet the evolving mobility needs of major urban centres.

Designing the new trains

The design of the new trains enables maximum capacity for passengers, thanks to innovative interior configuration and flexible spaces. Numerous access doors and large distribution halls facilitate the entry and exit of passengers, allowing a decrease in station stop times. The trains offer universal accessibility, Wi-Fi connectivity and dedicated areas for bicycles and pushchairs. Alstom’s proven technology also expands availability and line usage via more efficient traction systems and the latest generation of train control technology.

Fully developed in line with eco-design criteria, from the raw materials selection to traction systems, all the new trains for Renfe will be a benchmark in sustainable operations, thanks to optimal energy efficiency during operation and a recyclability rate of over 98 per cent at the end of its service life.

With more than 3,000 employees, Alstom in Spain has a long industrial and technological history, including four industrial centres, four technology sites and a presence in more than twenty maintenance workshops. Among others, Alstom has an industrial plant in Barcelona dedicated to the manufacture of all types of rolling stock, a propulsion system factory in Bizkaia, and in Madrid, different technological innovation centres for the development of programmes and projects in the fields of railway safety, signalling, maintenance, and digital mobility.

Alstom’s Coradia series of modular trains benefit from more than 30 years of continuous development and proven technical solutions. Around 3,900 Coradia regional trains have been sold to date and more than 3,000 are currently operating in Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Canada. The platform offers a full range of emission-free solutions, including battery or hydrogen versions for non-electrified lines.