The key points
- Features
- Fully recycled
The regional train Blues with hybrid power, manufactured in the Italian Hitachi Rail factories, officially debuts in the passenger service for the regional transport of Trenitalia (FS Group) in Sicily and Tuscany. The new train was previewed last September in Berlin at Innotrans, the main global event for the railway sector. The new convoy of Trenitalia’s regional fleet joins the Rock and Pop trains that have already been in circulation for several months in Italy.
Features
The Blues is equipped with a new generation of hybrid technology: in fact, the train can travel with diesel engines on non-electrified lines, with pantograph on electrified lines, and with drumswhere provided, to travel the last mile on non-electrified lines or when parked in stations, avoiding the use of fuel. The batteries also help to further improve the normal performance in terms of power. Switching off the engines in the phases of arrival, stop and departure from the stations, allows to obtain a reduction up to 50% fuel consumption and environmental impact, in terms of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, compared to current diesel trains, and at the same time, a much quieter operation appreciated during stops at the station.
The Blues aims to offer high levels of comfort to regional travellers: it is equipped with an innovative air conditioning system, with optimization of consumption based on the actual number of passengers transported, USB sockets and 220V power outlets. It has large glass surfaces, with windows of increased length; bike stations and high luggage transport capacity. Can reach i 160 km/h top speed and accommodate up to 300 people seats in the composition of four carriages.
Fully recycled
The design of the train is oriented towards increasingly green solutions: 95% recyclable materials, use of raw materials from recycling, use of on-board technologies that allow energy consumption to be reduced to a minimum. The Blues fleet purchased by the Sicily Region is 22 trains and there will be a total of five arriving in early 2023. The application contract for this supply is part of the framework agreement between Hitachi Rail and Trenitalia which provides for a supply of up to 135 trainsfor a total value equal to 1.2 billion euros. The Blues trains, like the Rock trains, are manufactured in the Italian factories of Hitachi Rail: Pistoia, Naples and Reggio Calabria.