VR reveals the exterior livery of Alstoms Pendolinos for the Helsinki to St. Petersburg rail link

Allegro_netti.jpg

Finnish
railways VR revealed the exterior livery of Alstom’s Pendolino tilting trains
for the high-speed rail link between Helsinki
and St. Petersburg.
The four high-speed Pendolino trains on this route will have a white background
with blue, red and silver stripes. The rail link has been given the name Allegro (which means “fast” in Italian).

The
Pendolino trains will be manufactured at the Alstom site in Savigliano, Italy.
The trains are scheduled for delivery in autumn 2009 and are due to come into
service in 2010. Alstom was awarded the contract to supply the four high-speed
Pendolino trains in September 2007. The contract was worth € 120 million. The
customer, Karelian Trains, is a joint venture between Russian Railways (RZD)
and Finnish Railways (VR), which will co-manage the trains.

The
new Pendolino trains will operate on a 450-km, high-speed line connecting the
cities of Helsinki and St. Petersburg in 3 hours (the journey currently takes
5.5 hours) at speeds of up to 220 kph. The trains will comprise seven
carriages, making a total of 352 seats, with a business class fully equipped to
allow business meetings during the journey. Customs and passport checks will be
carried out onboard in a dedicated carriage.

The
trains are based on the Pendolinos which already operate in Finland,
featuring the same front-end and interior fittings and adapted to extreme
winter conditions. They also include components taken from the very latest
generation of Alstom tilting trains, the New Pendolino (traction system,
braking system and hydraulic tilting mechanism), and come with a dual
voltage power supply system and safety and signalling systems, making them
suitable for the Finnish and Russian networks.

In
Finland,
18 Pendolino trains and 30 suburban trains manufactured by Alstom are currently
in service.

• Alstom Transport