The Minuetto regional train travels to Slovenia to win over
customers

In January, the Director of traction and the Passenger
Director of Slovene Railways were invited to the Savigliano site
to visit the production workshops there and take a promotional
journey. The acoustic comfort, design, brightness and
technological features of Minuetto were presented to them in
detail. A the end of March, a Minuetto train in service since 2006
was borrowed from Trenitalia for a real-life demonstration on the
Slovenian network. An 80-kilometre run was performed on a portion
of tracks 5 and 10, the two most important railway lines in
Slovenia and Eastern Europe. The aim was to demonstrate the
technical quality and comfort of the train on a particularly
winding track. Finally, during the trains return journey to Italy,
Slovenian technicians were able to perform detailed measurements.
They tested the general behaviour of the train, its comfort and
safety in conditions of use. Some technical points, such as
uphill and downhill stops, emergency braking and all-out
acceleration were examined during a range of tests. The Minuetto family boasts significant competitive
advantage, given that its trains exist in electric and diesel
versions. Minuettos can be coupled (an electric train with a
diesel), then separated when necessary due to a change in track
power supply. This advantage is accentuated by the fact that the
trains have over 80% of their components in common, thus offering
the operator a significant reduction in the cost of maintenance
and spare parts. Moreover, Minuettos can be equipped with a range of
signalling equipment, be it SCMT, ERTMS or other systems. This
flexibility would allow the trains to operate both on the
national and international network, and particularly in
neighbouring Italy, where a fleet of almost 230 Minuettos is
already in operation throughout the country. This would represent
an additional advantage for Slovene Railways. The Slovenian urban fabric is growing rapidly, and the
number of passengers carried on trains between the
countrys cities is constantly rising. The Slovenian
authorities will be launching an invitation to tender between now
and the end of 2007 in order to equip the country with rolling
stock that responds both to their expectations in terms of
reliability and comfort and to the constraints imposed by the
geography of the country.