NSB Class 73
NSB Class 73 is a class of 22 electric multiple units built by Adtranz for the Norwegian State Railways. The four-car trains were modifications of Class 71, which was again based on the Swedish X2. The A-series consists of 16 intercity trains; they were delivered in 1999 and 2000 and are used on the Bergen, Dovre and Sørland Lines. The intercity service was branded as Signatur until 2003. The B-series consists of six regional trains delivered in 2002 and used on the Østfold Line. The regional trains were originally part of the Agenda concept. The trains have a power output of and a maximum speed of. They have an overall length of and have a capacity for 208 seated passengers in the A-series and 250 in the B-series. The trains have a tilting mechanism allowing for faster travel through curves.
The trains were delivered late, and were put into service after the Norwegian Railway Inspectorate had given dispensation from parts of the safety regulation. On 17 June 2000, a train derailed at Nelaug Station after an axle broke. The class was grounded for a month, and the investigation showed both design errors, and lack of proper inspection and testing. After they were put back into service, they were not allowed to use the tilting mechanism—thus not being allowed to run faster than their predecessors. The construction was reinforced, and in 2004, the tilting mechanism was re-enabled along with higher speeds. In 2007, a train derailed on the Bergen Line, and questions were raised about the trains' ability to operate in snow, however the accident report showed that the trains' front axle load was just as able to cope with heavy snow conditions as the locomotives running on the line, and that the derailment would have been more severe if the same conditions would hit a normal train with less secure connections between carriages. On 16 June 2011, two units were destroyed when the train ran into a fire in a snow tunnel at Hallingskeid Station.
Specifications
Class 73 is a four-car electric multiple unit built by Adtranz. Each four-car train has eight bogies—of which three are powered—with a total power output of. The trains have active tilting, which allows speeds 20 to 30 percent higher than conventional trains through curves on conventional lines. Maximum permitted speed is. A four-car train is long; an A-series weighs while a B-series unit weighs. The trains have a steel body and the entire cabin is pressurized. Rail brakes are installed on all carrying bogies.The A-series has a capacity of 207 seated passengers, while the B-series has room for 250. The difference is due to the B-series having a smaller bistro and more compact seating. In the A-series, each of the four cars has seating in a different color. Originally, three of the cars had floors with carpet, while the fourth car had vinyl, of consideration to people with allergies. The carpets were removed in about 2005 as it was difficult to keep them clean. Seating is in two classes, standard and Komfort ; the latter with leather seating and power supply for laptops. All the cars have cherry tree wood interior. The trains are equipped with a dining section and warm meals can be served at the seat or in the diner. The menu is according to the time of day, with breakfasts in the morning and larger meals in the afternoon and evening. The trains also feature a family section with a play area and HC area. The BFM73 car has also a bicycle room behind the driver's cab. From 2011, the trains are equipped with free wireless Internet.
History
Background
In 1990 and 1994, NSB published two reports regarding the future of intercity rail transport in Norway. The reports concluded that there would have to be invested 56 billion Norwegian krone in new infrastructure if the main corridors were to be built as high-speed railways. Instead, the use of tilting technology was proposed to allow higher speeds on existing lines. In 1992, the Parliament of Norway voted to build Oslo Airport, Gardermoen and connect it to the capital with the high-speed Gardermoen Line. It was decided that the service should take 19 minutes—and not one minute more. When issuing invitations to tenders, NSB specified this time limit as a criterion, which was also the reason the line was dimensioned for.Proposals had been made for NSB to purchase the same units as the Swedish State Railways, the X2, in a Nordic cooperation to use the same trains in Norway, Sweden and Denmark, but the idea was abandoned. In 1994, NSB launched plans to build of high-speed railways by 2011, but also these plans were shelved. In May 1995, Osmund Ueland was hired as director-general of NSB, and he scrapped all plans to build new railways, and instead decided to focus on tilting technology.
File:Rallarvegen0703.JPG|thumb|Twin unit at Finse on the Bergen Line
Class 71 and 73 are based on the Swedish X2, built by Kalmar Verkstad for the Swedish State Railways, and introduced in 1990. Carbody is built of stainless steel. Forty-three units were delivered by 1997; they each considered of a locomotive and two to five unpowered carriages, including a driving trailer. The locomotives had a power output of and a top speed of. Compared to X2, Class 73 has an upgraded bogie construction and motors in multiple cars instead of having a locomotive unit. The latter forces a four-car configuration, but allows for better traction and better use of space and weight by placing the technical equipment throughout all four cars.
In 1993, NSB test-ran an X2 train on the Randsfjord Line, and between 29 September and 21 December 1996, ran a unit in regular service on the Sørland Line. On 23 February 1995, NSB signed a contract to purchase 16 Class 71 trains for use on the Airport Express Train on the Gardermoen Line. The contract included two options, one for 16 trains for intercity traffic and one for 6 trains for regional traffic. The reason for using the same type of train as the Airport Express Train, was to reduce maintenance and operation costs through having a unified fleet. The options would only modify the trains slightly; they were primarily designed for the airport service and any optimization for intercity and tilting technology was secondary in the design process. The first option was taken out on 5 March 1997.
The differences between Class 71 and 73 is that the latter has a different interior, four instead of three cars, different door design, the removal of one set of doors per car and the addition of tilting. At the time of ordering, it was announced that the trains would enter service on the Sørland Line during the summer of 1999, the Dovre Line during the fall of 1999, and the Bergen Line during the fall of 2000. Class 71 was delivered in 1997 and 1998; one of the units was delivered with tilting technology to test it out—and subsequently removed. The first batch of trains cost NOK 1.6 billion.
In April 1999, NSB launched a new branding scheme for their trains. In addition to Puls for local trains and Agenda for regional trains, the Signatur concept was introduced for intercity trains. Signatur would only be used on the Class 73 services, and consist of two classes, Comfort and Comfort Plus. NSB abolished its branding of only having red trains, and introduced a blue and silver livery on the Class 73 trains. The new service had fewer stops and faster travel times. To take advantage of the faster speeds, the Norwegian National Rail Administration needed to do upgrades to the track, overhead wires and signaling for NOK 1.2 billion.
Tickets on the Signatur service cost NOK 25 more than with conventional trains, which would continue to run. Tickets were also made available via Amadeus, a ticket reservation system in Norway previously only used for airlines. Prices became differentiated, with prices between Oslo and Kristiansand varying between NOK 250 and 780, depending on time of travel and class. NSB stated that they hoped to compete with airlines between the two cities, as travel time from city center to center was about the same as by plane.
Entry into service
Three days before scheduled services were to start, permission to use the trains had still not been granted by the Norwegian Railway Inspectorate. The inspectorate had a series of safety concerns, including follow-up on the safety terms for the wheels and axles; lack of documentation of the crew's training; denying NSB's request to have fewer inspections and less maintenance on the trains; lack of consideration of critical events deemed to have a high probability to occur but have a low consequence; lack of a safety inspector for operations and maintenance; and that the trains were so heavy that they would exceed the permitted axle load of the lines. Det Norske Veritas warned against a possible weakness in the axles. NSB wanted to use an expert from Deutsche Bahn to perform the necessary tests, but limited availability of the expert resulted in the Norwegian National Rail Administration granting a half-year delay of the inspections.On 28 October 1999, Minister of Transport Dag Jostein Fjærvoll asked the directors of the three involved parties, Osmund Ueland of NSB, Sverre Quale of the inspectorate and Steinar Killi of the National Rail Administration, to meet at his office the following day if the issue was not resolved. The following day, the inspectorate gave permission for the trains to be taken into use, despite noting a series of non-conformities with safety regulations: the inspectorate lacked a list of the train's deviations from the safety regulations; lack of a system to automatically monitor the speed of the trains, particularly when automatic train stop was disconnected; lack of safety training for the crew; lack of an evacuation analysis; and lack of control of the marking of safety equipment. Most of the deviations were to be followed up within two weeks. Quale stated that the deviated issues were of a nature which had not previously been applied to trains and that it was therefore not critical.
File:Nelaug stasjon vinter.JPG|thumb|left|An A-series Class 73 and a Class 69 train at Nelaug Station.
The first train was delivered on 22 October and was put into use on the Sørland Line from 1 November. Scheduled travel time was reduced by 40 minutes to 3 hours and 40 minutes. In December, the trains had problems with the pantographs not working correctly in cold weather, causing the trains to lose power and be several hours delayed. NSB stated that a contributing cause was the previous year's mild winter, which made it impossible to test the trains in extreme weather. After two and a half months of operation on the Sørland Line, every other train was at least 5 minutes late and every tenth train at least 20 minutes late. The trains also caused travel sickness, also among employees, particularly on the section from Kristiansand to Bø. NSB stated that this had also occurred on the old trains and that it was reports of the number of people affected were exaggerated.
On 16 December 1999, NSB confirmed the option for another six Class 73 trains, costing NOK 680 million, for use on the Østfold Line. On 7 January 2000, the trains were put into service on the Dovre Line between Oslo and Trondheim, and on the Sørland Line between Kristiansand and Stavanger. The travel time from Trondheim to Oslo was 5 hours and 46 minutes. In an independent marketing survey, Signatur customers were more satisfied than the customers for the two main airlines, Braathens and Scandinavian Airlines, but the train service had a lower reputation than the airlines. By May, the number of passengers on the Sørland Line had fallen by 10 percent. The reason was the limited capacity during the weekends; while NSB had previously run trains with 400 to 500 seats, Class 73 had considerably less capacity. Additional services were introduced on the Dovre Line from 11 June 2000, while the introduction on the Bergen Line was delayed because the infrastructure upgrades on the Bergen Line were not yet completed.