Connecticut DOT new car order for Alstom

[Lcon]

Just to play Devils Advocate for a second here.
The Amfleet family of coaches that serve corridors in the US are a family that started with the Budd Metroliner EMU that was a forerunner of the Acela. Amtrak inherited the Metroliner service and trains but the electric system proved flawed. The coach bodies were sold and it was the newest Amtrak had (it was the 70s) so they did two fold. Amtrak stripped out the drives of the Metroliners and used them as Cab coaches. They then ordered hundreds of them configured as passenger coaches minus the operator cabs and drives creating the Amfleet family. Both amfleet and Metroliners serve corridor services today.

Okay that done.
There is something amiss with the reporting. The Article from Pedestrian observations states it’s based on the Alstom X'Trapolis EMU. Okay Google-fu gives me a Fairly popular EMU regional trains in Australia and Europe.

Connecticut Pays Double for Substandard Trains

Alstom and Connecticut recently announced an order for 60 unpowered coaches, to cost $315 million. The cost – $5.25 million per 25 meter long car – is about twice as high as the norm fo…

pedestrianobservations.com

An interesting take as per usual.

Railway age however states it’s based off the Alstom's “Adessia” EMU family? I ended up falling into a rabbit hole.

Alstom Lands $315MM CTDOT Order (Updated) - Railway Age

Alstom and the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) on Aug. 9 confirmed a $315 million base order for 60 single-level commuter railcars, with options to build 313 more as part of the

www.railwayage.com

Okay Google… the same Article and a Trademark filing by Alstom in April.

ADESSIA

Navigation, checking, measuring, signaling, detecting, inspecting, life-saving apparatus and instruments; railway traffic safety appliances; electric and electronic apparatus, fixed or embedded or placed on rail tracks for transmitting data on position and signaling between rail vehicles and...

trademarksoncall.com

This is perhaps the most insightful

https://euro.dayfr.com/business/amp/648612

The Connecticut cars will be manufactured in Bangalore, India, with assistance from Alstom’s North American headquarters in Saint-Bruno, Canada, Alstom told AFP. These Adessia-type cars are already in use in Perth, Australia, and were also chosen for the ” Mayan train in southern Mexico.

Adessia type cars on the Mayan train and Perth Australia… those use X'Trapolis train sets.

The Mayan train project

www.alstom.com

Alstom to locally manufacture and maintain PTA’s C-series trains for Perth’s growing rail network

Largest ever train procurement for Western Australia

www.alstom.com

So Riddle me this Batman; why would Alstom trademark Adessia if it’s X'Trapolis? Surely if it was a CT rail custom job they wouldn’t call it “Adessia platform”?
So Conspiracy theorists moment… They are either about to offer a new MU family based on the X Trapplis family but built to US standards named the Adessia or this is meant to be offered far more widely than just CTrail.

 

[Just-Thinking-51]

That’s a big rabbit hole.

 

[NES28]

or this is meant to be offered far more widely than just CTrail

I think that we can assume that Alstom sees this as a way to get in on the huge (currently monopolistic) market that Siemens has for its Venture cars (for Brightlane-Florida, Midwest corridors, Caltrans, VIA, and Amtrak Airo.

 

[joelkfla]

What kind of name is "X'Trapolis"? It's hard to pronounce, hard to spell, and hard to type. Sounds like an amusement ride.

Adessia is a tiny bit better, but give me simple and easy names, like Venture and KISS.

 

[PerRock]

Alstom has been doing this a bit, having two names for one thing. Typically it because one started out as a Bombardier product & had a Bombardier name, and now under Alstom gets an Alstom name... but is still often referred to by it's Bombardier name. Now I don't know if this is the case in the Adessia/X'Trapolis product; but it would make a but some sense.

 

[Lcon]

X’Trapolis does predate the merger but it’s Alstom’s child a Step child from the merger with Bombardier.

 

[Caesar La Rock]

The X'Trapolis has been around for a while, since the late 1990s when it was first introduced by Alstom for the SNCF. The SNCF uses a variation called the X'Trapolis Duplex for it's RER lines, lines A and E to be specific. In addition to the SNCF, Melbourne in Australia has several variants of the X'Trapolis built from 2002 to just a few years ago, with a second variation called X'Trapolis 2.0 to enter service next year to phase out multiple unit trains from the 1980s.

X'Trapolis is not that difficult to pronounce, probably cause I can understand French Creole, but not difficult. Now if you guys want a difficult train name, Stadler KISS, the KISS in the name stands for "Komfortabler Innovativer Spurtstarker S-Bahn-Zug". Try saying that several times over.

 

[jis]

This is perhaps the most insightful
https://euro.dayfr.com/business/amp/648612

The Connecticut cars will be manufactured in Bangalore, India, with assistance from Alstom’s North American headquarters in Saint-Bruno, Canada, Alstom told AFP. These Adessia-type cars are already in use in Perth, Australia, and were also chosen for the ” Mayan train in southern Mexico.

Bangalore is the HQ Office of Alstom India. I don't believe there is any significant manufacturing plant there. So far the railcars manufactured by Alstom for a couple of Metro systems were done in Coimbatore (Tamilnadu), Maneja (Gujrat) and Kolkata, Titagarh (West Bengal) AFAIR. So it will probably be assigned to one of these plants. Of course it is also possible that they want to set up a new manufacturing line somewhere in Bangalore too.

Of course in addition to this there is the huge electric loco manufacturing facility at Medhapur which specializes in 12,000HP, dual articulated Bo-Bo-Bo-Bo electric freight locomotives. And the Alstom supplied LHB passenger car platform has been licensed (including locally developed derivatives) whole hog by Indian Railways, and it manufactures these 200kph capable cars at four different plants with total annual production of upto some 8,000 cars, including the articulated Vande Bharat Express EMU sets. I do not think the Connecticut order will go to any of those plants, which are all huge and buried in local orders and export orders from Asian countries.

 

[Lcon]

I was simply quoting what was stated in the new source. The accuracy of that statement is on them. I was more interested in what the nature of the Adessia rail cars is.

 

[jis]

I was simply quoting what was stated in the new source. The accuracy of that statement is on them. I was more interested in what the nature of the Adessia rail cars is.

I was not critiquing you. I was merely adding some speculation about where they might actually be manufactured.

 

[Dutchrailnut]

The Connecticut cars will be build in Sahagun Mexico by Alstom as reported by NEGC report for August. https://ngec.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/305-activities-report-monthly-8-31-23.pdf

Should CT worry ? with this weeks Avelia Liberty report and yesterdays financial report , it might be Alstom is not doing ok .
https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/.../french-train.../3117744/ and what ails the Avelia https://amtrakoig.gov/.../OIG-A-2023-013%20%28REDACTED%29...

 

[grover5995]

There is a possible clue, it says 125 mph capable. Since there is no cat on these cars, and 3rd rail can't do 125 it seems it would have to be loco hauled.

Are there any current plans to electrify New Haven-Springfield line? If so, then using loco in push-pull mode would seem to work.

 

[Dutchrailnut]

No electrification plans and cars are not meant for Metro North pool service so will not see third rail territory

 

[AmtrakMaineiac]

Are there any current plans to electrify New Haven-Springfield line? If so, then using loco in push-pull mode would seem to work.

I don't think there is any point in electrifying until the Hartford station and viaduct situation is resolved, which is dependent on the I-84 reconstruction which in turn is a few years away at best. There are also double tracking projects although they are likely to be completed well before Hartford gets sorted.