Turkey: The national TCDD operator is going to put first 3 trains into operation this year. The trains were manufactured by the state-owned by Türasaş. It is announced that the rolling stock meets European TSI standards s and is localized by 75%. One pilot train, 65% localized, has already been produced. After the serial production launch, the level of Türasaş EMU localization should rise to 75%.
The national EMU project has been implemented by Türasaş since 2018 jointly with TCDD and the Turkish Ministry of Transport. The five-car train can accommodate 324 people and is created for intercity transportation. With an axle load of less than 18 t, the design speed of the presented electric train is 176 km/h, the operational speed is limited to 160 km/h. It is known that the Turkish defense company Aselsan has developed a technical condition monitoring system for the train, and also equipped the vehicle with a traction system, including an engine, traction and auxiliary converters, as well as a traction transformer.
Cars production for the first Turkish EMU at the Adapazarı plant. Source: yenisafak.com
Especially for the new production launch in 2019, Türasaş opened the country’s first plant in Sakarya to manufacture aluminum bodies for electric trains, trams and subways. Also, a robot welding system was implemented to produce bogies.
At the end of last year, at the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Adil Karaismailoglu said that the train had passed all the necessary tests. In 2022, Türasaş is to deliver 3 cars to the national Turkish railway operator TCDD. Earlier, the Turkish media announced the following delivery plans: 4 trains in 2022, 15 trains in 2023 and 56 trains in 2024-2025.
In addition, work is underway to create a train capable of accelerating up to 225 km/h. In fact, it will be the same rolling stock, but with some structural changes and an upgraded engine. The assembly of the pilot model is scheduled to be completed in 2023.
Türasaş was established in March 2020 from the merger of manufacturers Tülomsaş, Tüdemsaş and Tüvasaş. The company manufactures trains for domestic transport and also plans to export them to the European market. For example, it is planned to start exporting the national electric train to the countries of the European Union from 2023, but there is no information in open sources about foreign orders for it yet.
Also, Türasaş is currently in the process of developing the first national mainline electric locomotive of the E5000 series, which must also meet European TSI requirements. The power of a locomotive with a high level of localization should be 5 MW, operating speed – 140 km/h. The Türasaş portfolio includes diesel and electric trains, diesel locomotives and electric locomotives, freight and passenger cars, too. Türasaş owns 16 production sites with a total area of 400,000 m2, the enterprises employ a total of 4,000 people.
Turkey today prioritizes the development of transport with a focus on railways. In April 2022, Adil Karaismailoglu presented a 30-year plan for transport development in the country. It involves almost $200 bln of investments, while the volume of passenger and freight rail traffic should be multiplied. The ambitions of this plan have already been highlighted in Siemens and Alstom. As to Siemens Mobility’s CEO Michael Peter, the plan gives the opportunity for “true” localization of German producer in Turkey, expand a local supplier base and export abroad in the future. Particularly, he said that 130 high-speed EMUs will be needed by Turkey. On the other hand, Philippe Delleur, Senior Vice President of Alstom, told media that Turkey is a priority country for the producer and Alstom wants to participate in its future rail projects.
