Inside Auckland’s New Electric Trains

in Electric trains Trains by AKT — October 1, 2012 at 5:00 am | 0 comments

Auckland’s new electric trains will look like this.

57 three-car electric trains will replace the current aging diesel locomotives servicing the suburban rail network when the new fleet starts arriving from Spanish manufacturers Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles SA(CAF).

The new trains will incorporate the latest technology in terms of safety, accessibility and modern amenities like on-board Wi-Fi networks. They will be comfortable, quiet, environmentally friendly and attractive.

The 12.5m mock-up pictured here, on display at MOTAT, is far smaller than the 70m trains that will travel across Auckland. But it includes a full driver’s cab and sections of the upper and lower seating areas of the passenger cabins. It was built primarily as an engineering tool to allow refinements to be made to the design and layout of the train.

Over the past three months, designers, engineers, operating crew and user groups have been assessing the interior design and making adjustments.

This work has considered such things as the size, shape and spacing of seats, the seat configuration around the doors, the provision for bike and pushchair storage and wheelchair turning spaces, along with analysing how these areas interact with the general passenger seating and flow in the cabins.

* Volunteers are occasionally updating photos here to maintain the historical record of Auckland’s path to electric trains. Jon C who started this blog moved to Brisbane and is no longer involved.

Tags: Auckland's electric trains