19.08.08
Stadler wins in Norway
The Norwegian National Railways NSB have today awarded the order for a total of 50 FLIRT trains plus an option for 100 further trains to Stadler Rail. This fleet renewal represents the largest order ever placed by the NSB. Up to 2013, Stadler will deliver 26 five-part trains for the S-Rail operation in the Oslo area. A further 24 five-part trains will be ordered from Stadler for medium-length routes throughout the whole of Southern Norway up to the area around Bergen. The order has a volume of CHF 640 million. Stadler has once again been able to prevail against tough competition with the internationally proven FLIRT (Fast Light Innovative Regional Train). This latest order raises the number of FLIRTs that have been sold to 463. Norway is the tenth country to deploy the well-proven Stadler product FLIRT in S-Rail traffic.
NSB counts on the modern rolling stock from Stadler
This sales success is a further milestone for Stadler in Scandinavia after the orders for 32 FLIRTs for the Helsinki S-Rail and 12 light-rail-vehicles for the City of Bergen. It also represents a continuation of the cooperation between the former Swiss rolling stock industry and Norway that has existed over decades: At one time, the electrical equipment for the 69 und 70 type train units and a complete series of locomotives of the „Lok 2000“ type were delivered from Switzerland to Norway. Stadler’s joy is very great, as the selection procedure was very intensive and extensive. Peter Spuhler, the owner and CEO of the Stadler Rail Group remarked: „We are very proud that we have succeeded in fulfilling the high requirements of the vehicle specification with the FLIRT concept. It is certain that the references of our earlier customers with regard to reliability and comfort had a positive effect on the decision.“
The modified FLIRT for the NSB
The vehicles ordered by the NSB are fundamentally based on the FLIRT that has already been successfully sold by Stadler 413 times. In some areas, the well-proven FLIRT concept has thereby been developed further: For example, the five-part NSB vehicles have three drive units instead of two, as would be normal for the 4-part FLIRTs. The wider Norwegian profile makes a carriage width of 3,200 mm possible, and the vehicles must also fulfil the requirements of a severe winter in Norway. Thanks to the greater carriage width, the 26 trains for the Oslo area with the designation „long local“ can be easily laid out with a 3 + 2 seat arrangement and thereby have a total seating capacity of 296. The other 24 trains with the designation „short regional“ have 231 seats in the 2 + 2 arrangement, 42 of which are in 1ST class.
As with most FLIRTs, those ordered by the NSB can reach a speed of 160 km/h. The vehicle concept is, however, designed so that the trains can be upgraded to a top speed of 200 km/h with only minimal modifications.
Good utilisation of capacity in the long-term
Together with the order of 50 double-decker trains (DOSTO) that has recently been placed by the SBB, this order makes a considerable contribution to the long-term good utilisation of capacity at Stadler. The orders for the NSB and the SBB will be manufactured completely in Switzerland, and will result in 3 million production hours. These hours will be carried out in production between 2010 – 2015. The overall capacity of the three factories in Bussnang, Altenrhein and Winterthur was slightly above 2 million production hours per year in 2007.
The Stadler factory in Altenrhein will be converted to become the double-decker competence centre. The factory will be expanded at a cost of around CHF 45 million, and around 300 additional jobs will be created. With the SBB-DOSTO order, a good basic capacity loading of around 60% will be reached in Altenrhein up to 2015.
The NSB order will be completely handled in the Bussnang factory, which, among other things, has been able to develop into the FLIRT competence centre. With this order, a good basic utilisation of capacity will also be reached in Bussnang up to 2013, whereby the largest Stadler factory, with 1,000 employees and a capacity of 1.3 million working hours per year, will still have sufficient capacity available for additional orders in the medium-term .
A new location in Oberwinterthur is being realised as the bogie competence centre for the whole Stadler-Group. The new construction will be carried out with an investment to the amount of around CHF 25 million, and will have an annual capacity of 600 bogies. This can be increased to 1,000.
Stadler Rail Group, the system provider for customised solutions in railed vehicle construction, has locations in Switzerland (Altenrhein, Bussnang and Winterthur), in Germany (Berlin-Pankow and Velten), in Poland, (Siedlce), in Hungary (Budapest, Pusztascabolcz and Szolnok) and in Algeria (Algiers). The Group employs a total of more than 2,200 workers. The best-known vehicle families of Stadler Rail Group are the GTW articulated railcar (437 trains sold), the RS1 Regio Shuttle (364 trains sold) and the FLIRT (463 trains sold) in the complete train sector, and the Variobahn (235 vehicles sold) and the newly developed Tango (90 vehicles sold) in the streetcar sector. Stadler also produces passenger coaches and diesel-electric locomotives, and is the leading manufacturer of rack railway vehicles worldwide.
If you have any further questions, please contact:
Stadler Rail Group
Tim Büchele, Media Spokesman
Phone: ++41(0)71/626 31 57
tim.buechele@stadlerrail.ch
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