The Sr2 is a class of electric locomotives of the

VR Group VR-Group Plc (, ), commonly known as VR, is a government-owned railway company in Finland. VR's most important function is the operation of Finland's passenger rail services with 250 long-distance and 800 commuter rail services every day. With ...

. They were built by SLM/

ABB ABB Group is a Swedish-Swiss multinational electrical engineering corporation. Incorporated in Switzerland as ABB Ltd., and headquartered in Zurich, it is dual-listed on the Nasdaq Nordic exchange in Stockholm, Sweden, and the SIX Swiss Excha ...

and later by

Adtranz Adtranz was a multi-national rail transportation equipment manufacturer with facilities concentrated in Europe and the US. The company, legally known as ABB Daimler-Benz Transportation, was created in 1996 as a joint venture between ABB and Daim ...

and finally

Bombardier Transportation Bombardier Transportation was a Canadian rolling stock and rail transport manufacturer, with headquarters in Toronto and Berlin. It was one of the world's largest companies in the rail vehicle and equipment manufacturing and servicing industry. ...

and assembled by Transtech Oy. They are closely based on the class Re 460 (or Lok 2000) locomotives of

Swiss Federal Railways Swiss Federal Railways (, SBB; , CFF; , FFS) is the national railway company of Switzerland. The company was founded in 1902 and is headquartered in Bern. It used to be a State-owned enterprise, government institution, but since 1999 it has be ...

. The nicknames of this class are ''Alppiruusu'' (

Edelweiss ''Leontopodium nivale'', commonly called edelweiss () ( ; or ), is a mountain flower belonging to the daisy or sunflower family Asteraceae. The plant prefers rocky limestone places at about altitude. It is a non-toxic plant. Its leaves and f ...

), ''Käkikello'' (

Cuckoo clock A cuckoo clock is a type of clock, typically pendulum clock, pendulum driven, that striking clock, strikes the hours with a sound like a common cuckoo call and has an automated cuckoo bird that moves with each note. Some move their wings and ope ...

), both referring to the Swiss origin of the locomotive, as well as ''Marsu'' (

Guinea pig The guinea pig or domestic guinea pig (''Cavia porcellus''), also known as the cavy or domestic cavy ( ), is a species of rodent belonging to the genus ''Cavia'', family Caviidae. Animal fancy, Breeders tend to use the name "cavy" for the ani ...

) and ''Möhkö'' ( Blob), both from the looks of the locomotive.

History

In 1992, VR ordered the first 20 class Sr2 locomotives; later 20 more were ordered with 12 options. Finally only six of the 12 options were transformed into orders, forming a total fleet of 46 engines. The locomotives are used on both passenger trains and freight trains, and they are the primary locomotives of the fast

InterCity InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the train categories in Europe, classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to InterRegio, regional train, r ...

trains in Finland. Until mid-2010s Sr2s were pulling IC trains the classic way, but after Edo-class cab control cars were introduced in 2013, Sr2 units have been used in pull-push mode with IC double deck stock. Until introduction of new Sr3 locomotives, Sr2 has been the only electric locomotive equipped for push-pull among Finnish rolling stock.

Technical information

When introduced, the Sr2 was the fastest and most powerful locomotive of the VR. It was designed with a top speed of and early units had that speed marked on them. During test runs, it has achieved a speed of . However, VR later limited the top speed to , since test runs require 10% faster speed than the targeted commercial speed. The locomotive has GTO-thyristor inverters driving three-phase asynchronous AC motors. The maximum power of each air-cooled motor is at 2,600 V. Combined, they are capable of a power output of ( continuous power). The motors are small and fit entirely within the bogies. The bogies weigh only 15.8 tonnes and are equipped with radially steered axles. This reduces rail wear significantly. A redesigned bogie construction was refitted by the manufacturer in the mid-2000s after the locomotives were found to oscillate sideways when running at speeds of over . The whole construction of the locomotive is modular and all functions are controlled by several microprocessors via the locomotive bus (MICAS S2). The system is redundant, so that a failure in one processor does not harm the overall system. The data lines are fiber optic cables. Sr2 units are fitted with Unilink couplers, which combine a SA3 and a traditional chain coupler.

Design and livery

As with all the Lok 2000 locomotives, the external design is by Pininfarina. The series were painted red and white, showcasing VR's InterCity colours, with a large V on the bodyside to symbolise VR's high-speed traffic. Starting from number 3222 the V was replaced with VR's logo. Beginning from 2010 and starting from engine number 3221, all units were repainted with VR's current colour scheme (green and white).

References

Literature

External links