Introducing new rolling stock onto the network is never straightforward, which
is why Roscos prefer ordering proven designs like Desiros and Electrostars. But, asks Robert Wright, could European manufacturers soon be facing competition from the Chinese?
Made in Europe E
arlier this year, I was taken to a small office in a factory near Düsseldorf, handed a pair of 3-D glasses and treated to a spectacular display of multi- dimensional effects as an operator twisted and turned images in front of me. The office had nothing to do with the entertainment industry but was in the
Uerdingen Siemens factory, where the latest First ScotRail electric multiple units have been under construction, and where the latest version of Siemens’ Velaro high-speed train has been designed. The demonstration was an example of what is most exciting
at present in the railway supply industry. The sector in western Europe and Japan is in the midst of a largely unrecognised technical revolution. The latest electronic techniques at their best allow trains to be far more intelligently controlled; new materials allow trains to be far lighter than in the past, but just as strong; and computer design
Siemens’ Wegberg- Wildenrath test track, near Düsseldorf, Germany
techniques like those I saw in action should allow them to be more easily maintained and reliable than in the past. The question is how far the latest products offer value for money
for hard-pressed train operators and how far they prioritise technical sophistication for its own sake. To judge by the long hiatus since the last new rolling stock was ordered for the British railways, and the harsh review by Sir Andrew Foster of the InterCity Express programme, there is a strong suspicion in UK government circles that current trains represent poor value for money. The key task for Europe’s big three train-makers – Bombardier’s
Berlin-based trainmaking operation, France’s Alstom and Siemens – is to denude their designs of features that are not strictly necessary to do a cost-effective job – and prove to customers they have done so. If they cannot, Chinese manufacturers stand ready to supply far cheaper alternatives.
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