Bombardier Transportation has sponsored a live interactive debate to promote the case for ‘The Greener Railway’. The debate was streamed worldwide from the London Stock Exchange on June 27 and hosted by Railway Gazette International. Bombardier also participated in the debate with Bombardier’s Design for Environment Manager, Sara Paulsson joining fellow industry experts, Philippe Citroen (Director General, UNIFE), Nick Donovan (Managing Director, First Keolis TransPennine Express) and Martyn Chymera (Senior Systems Performance Engineer, London Underground) to discuss how the railway can improve its energy use and its performance as a sustainable transport mode.

‘The Greener Railway’ debate utilised wavecast technology to enable viewers to participate from all parts of the globe and interact with the panel, responding to live surveys, and tweeting their comments. The debate covered subjects ranging from what are the secure energy sources of the future, is rail responsible for sourcing its own green energy and what benefits are offered by alternative fuels to how rail can make best use of its energy.

Bombardier presented the results of the groundbreaking Swedish Gröna Taget (Green Train) Research programme at the Rail Power Europe Conference held in Berlin. Henrik Tengstrand, Director of Vehicle Performance Engineering, explained how this unique project brought together partners from industry and academia, including Swedish train operator SJ and Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket) with Bombardier as a vehicle manufacturer and the Royal Institute of Technology, KTH. Working together, the team sought to find ways to make rail travel more attractive through shorter travel times, lower costs and cheaper fares, increased capacity and a comfortable passenger environment, coupled with excellent environmental performance. Tested at speeds of 303 km/h in Sweden, the Green Train delivers benefits such as reduced track wear, improved aerodynamic efficiency, improved ride comfort for passengers and improved energy efficiency.

The specific technology innovations included on the Green Train and shared with other Bombardier Transportation vehicles include:

Track friendly, self-steering bogies currently available on BOMBARDIER REGINA trains for SJ, Sweden;
Higher efficiency Permanent Magnet Motors, which reduce energy consumption, will be available in products such as the BOMBARDIER TWINDEXX double-deck train for SBB, Switzerland and the BOMBARDIER OMNEO double-deck train;
Aerodynamic optimization pioneered on Bombardier’s high speed rail vehicles, which results in a 20 to 30 per cent lower drag coefficient and a 10 to 15 per cent reduction in energy consumption, will be available on the BOMBARDIER ZEFIRO 380 very high speed train;
Active suspension for better ride comfort will be available on the V300ZEFIRO very high speed train for Trenitalia, Italy.

Josef Doppelbauer, Chief Technical Officer, Bombardier Transportation said: “Fostering research and development between higher education and industry is a key platform for expanding innovation at Bombardier. We currently support senior researchers, fund research and development projects for PhD and Master Thesis students, and endow chairs at more than 50 colleges and universities around the world. By participating in events such as the Greener Railway and Sweden’s Green Train project, we further our commitment to provide industry-leading innovations in rail technology today and in the future.”

Bombardier plans to exhibit the innovations mentioned above at the InnoTrans 2012 trade fair this September in Berlin, Germany.