Alstom unveils the AGV, its latest very high speed train,
capable of reaching a commercial speed of 360 kph
Alstom unveils the AGV, its latest very high speed train,
capable of reaching a commercial speed of 360 kph
Press Contacts
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Patrick Kron, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Alstom
and Philippe Mellier, President of Alstom Transport, unveiled
the prototype of the AGV on Tuesday 5 February 2008 at Alstom
Transport’s plant in La Rochelle, France, in the presence
of Nicolas Sarkozy, President of France and numerous
dignitaries.
During the unveiling ceremony, the futuristic and
aerodynamic design of the AGV and its technological innovations
were particularly highlighted. The AGV is the first train in
the world to feature an articulated architecture (with the
bogies located between the carriages), a solution which
provides the highest levels of safety, combined with a
distributed drive system (the train’s motors being
located on the bogies, under the train), an innovation which
considerably increases the potential number of seats onboard
the train by eliminating the need for locomotives. This novel
architecture will give operators great flexibility. They will
be able to vary the length of their trains (from 7 to 14
carriages, and from 250 and 650 seats) depending on demand. It
will also substantially lower maintenance costs.
The AGV is particularly environmentally friendly, with a 15%
lower energy consumption than its main competitors. It also
incorporates the latest ERTMS signalling standards so can run
on all European lines. Alstom Transport’s sites in France
(at La Rochelle, Ornans, Tarbes, Le Creusot, Villeurbanne,
Reichshoffen) and in Italy (at Bologna and Savigliano) will all
be involved in producing the AGV.
The AGV’s novel traction system has already been
tested under extreme conditions, since it was used in the train
which set the world rail speed record on 3 April 2007: 574.8
kph.
Patrick Kron, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of
Alstom, said: “We have developed this train using our own
funds, a very unusual approach in the railway industry, because
we understood that the market for very high speed rail travel
was about to diversify. In order to maintain our leadership, we
needed to broaden and update our range of products. The AGV has
arrived on the market just at the time when very high speed
rail travel is undergoing a new expansion phase, not only in
its traditional markets, but also in many developing
countries”.
Over the past 25 years, Alstom has sold more than 650 TGV
trains, becoming the world leader in this high technology
field. Its trains have carried, in complete safety, nearly one
and a half billion passengers over 2 billion km - or 6,500
times the distance from the Earth to the Moon. Alstom has just
won two major export orders from Argentina and Morocco for its
TGV Duplex trains.
Philippe Mellier, President of Alstom Transport, said of the
AGV that it was “both the outcome of Alstom’s
unparalleled experience in the field of very high speed trains,
backed by a successful track record of 25 years, and also the
result of the company’s capacity to innovate which has
enabled it to remain at the forefront of railway technology.
The trust which Italy’s new railway operator NTV has
placed in Alstom by becoming the first launch customer of the
AGV will enable us to demonstrate rapidly the performance,
comfort, convenience, environmental soundness and low cost of
ownership of our train.”
Italy’s new railway operator, NTV, has placed firm orders
for 25 trains (with options for 10 more), and has signed a
maintenance contract with Alstom. Production of the first
trains will begin in mid-2008, and they will be delivered from
2010 onwards.
* Automotrice Grande Vitesse. AGV is a registered trademark
of Alstom
** TGV is a registered trademark of France’s national
railway company, SNCF
*** Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori
Press contact
Philippe Kasse, Stéphane Farhi (Corporate)
Tel +33 1 41 49 29 82 /33 08
press@chq.alstom.com
Laurent Gerbet (Transport)
Tel +33 1 41 66 92 83
Investor Relations
Emmanuelle Châtelain
Tel + 33 1 41 49 37 38
investor.relations@chq.alstom.com