Egyptian National Railways: TMH Starts Delivery Of 1,300 Passenger Coaches
Twenty-two, UIC passenger coaches were officially delivered to Egyptian National Railways (ENR) in the port of Alexandria on 25 June, in the presence of representatives from the Egyptian Ministry of Transport. Ten more coaches left Russia on 19 June, they are due to arrive in Egypt in early July.
The coaches were transported by truck from the Tver plant (TVZ), where they are produced, to the port of Saint Petersburg and loaded onto a vessel heading for the port of Alexandria. A team of technical experts from TVZ arrived last week in Egypt to perform the official hand-over procedure, which includes a brake check on each coach. The coaches will now be sent to Cairo to start commercial operation on 1 July.
“We are extremely pleased to have been able, despite the challenging context of the Covid-19 pandemic, to deliver on-time the first coaches to ENR and to successfully complete the certification test campaign in Hungary and Egypt. This is the result of the joint efforts of a multi-country team in Egypt, Russia, and Hungary, working in close cooperation with the customer,” said David John, Chief Technical Officer and ENR Project Director at TMH International.
In April, TMH managed to load the first coach for ENR on the last vessel leaving Slovenia before the lock-down period. This allowed ENR to start 2-months of running tests on its railway network. Unable to travel abroad, TMH specialists in Russia have developed a full training kit and documentation pack for ENR and relied locally on TÜV Nord Egypt technical expertise to supervise the testing together with the TMH Egypt local team.
In Hungary, BME the certification body is expected to deliver certificates of conformity for the coaches by the end of the month. The 1,300 passenger coaches ordered by ENR will not only add a further 30% capacity to the current passenger fleet, but significantly increase its reliability and safety.
The country has launched an ambitious modernisation programme of its railway network, resulting in the largest ever rolling stock order won by TMH Hungary in 2018. The contract includes a 3-year warranty period. In addition to the warranty, TMH Egypt would be ready to maintain the fleet. This record-project, financed by the Hungarian and Russian Eximbanks under state guarantee of both countries, includes 51% of Hungarian content. With 680 coaches to be manufactured in Hungary, this is the largest ever rolling stock manufacturing project in the country.
Together with MV the local partner, TMH recently acquired Dunakeszi site (DJJ), where the production will start in the third quarter of the year. The remaining coaches are manufactured at TVZ in Russia. The UIC 1 435mm vehicles designed by TMH engineers can operate in sand and dust under temperatures up to +50°C with a 40-year lifecycle.
The five different models range from third-class coaches with dynamic ventilation (500 units), and third-class air-conditioned (500 units) to second-class (180 units), first-class (90 units) with HVAC and second-class restaurant-cars (30 units). TMH offers 40 different models of passenger coaches for 1 435 and 1 520mm gauges.
