The E.464 is a class of
Italian railways electric locomotive
An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or on-board energy storage such as a Battery (electricity), battery or a supercapacitor. Locomotives with on-board fuelled prime mover (locomotive), ...
s. They were introduced in the course of the 1990s for hauling light trains, especially for commuter service. They were acquired by
FS Trenitalia to replace the old
E.424 and
E.646, dating from the 1940s and 1950s. The class was originally designed by
ABB Trazione, later
ADTranz (was part of the
Bombardier group, which was acquired by
Alstom
Alstom SA () is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer which operates worldwide in rail transport markets. It is active in the fields of passenger transportation, signaling, and locomotives, producing high-speed, suburban, regional ...
in 2021), and produced in the Italian plant of
Vado Ligure
Vado Ligure (), in antiquity Vada Sabatia, is a port town and ''comune'' in the province of Savona, Liguria, in northern Italy. The town despite its size has become one of the largest ports in Northwest Italy.
Economy
Vado has a large indus ...
.
Cost per unit is 2.6 million Euro. With 717 locomotives currently in service (as of December 2015) the E.464 is the largest class in use by
Trenitalia
Trenitalia Società per azioni, SpA is the primary train operator of Italy. A subsidiary of Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane, itself owned by the Italian government. It was established in 2000 following a European Union directive on the deregulati ...
,
and also the most numerous Italian locomotive class ever in service.
History
The E.464 derives from a project launched by the Italian
Ferrovie dello Stato
Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane S.p.A. (; ; previously only Ferrovie dello Stato, hence the initialism FS) is Italy's national state-owned enterprise, state-owned railway holding company that manages transport, infrastructure, real estate service ...
in the 1980s for a "modular" class of locomotives which would be easily adapted to commuter, inter-regional and cargo services. Initially, types with 4-axle (
Bo-Bo
B-B and Bo-Bo are the AAR wheel arrangement, Association of American Railroads (AAR) and British classifications of wheel arrangement for railway locomotives with four axles in two individual bogies. They are equivalent to the B′B′ and Bo′B ...
, E.453/E.454) and 6-axle (
Bo-Bo-Bo, E.665/E.666) were devised, the latter for cargo services. However, the E.666 class was cancelled due to availability of the new
E.652 ''Tigre'' class, capable of hauling massive cargo trains. Moreover, the new
inverter
A power inverter, inverter, or invertor is a power electronic device or circuitry that changes direct current (DC) to alternating current (AC). The resulting AC frequency obtained depends on the particular device employed. Inverters do the op ...
technology was developed in those years, and the E.454 became suddenly obsolete.
In 1994 FS requested ABB to design a new class which, to save money, was to be based on already built prototypes and using parts from the new
E.412 from the same producer. The first batch of 50 E.464 was issued to the
Lazio
Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...
regional government in 1999–2000, and proved immediately successful. Further orders for 90, 100 and 48 units followed in 2001–2005, plus another 100 in 2006–2007, another 100 in 2009, another 50 in 2011, and, finally, another order of 29 locomotives in November 2013: a total of 717 locomotives, and an investment of over one billion Euro.
After years of regional use, the 29th of August 2019 the first two units from a group of 70 were used to haul a long-distance Intercity train between Messina and Siracusa, in Sicily. Sicily is the first Italian region to get E464 for long-distances train, because in this region this locomotives have to replace the older ones of E656's class, but in the future E464 will be used to haul Intercity Night trains all around the country, because of their ability to reduce operating costs, thanks to the permanent use of 2 units together, creating a reversible train.
10 units are also used by
Ferrovie Emilia Romagna and 1 by
Trasporto Ferroviario Toscano for a total of 728 locomotives delivered in Italy.
Technology
The E.464 were the first Italian locomotives provided with an automatic
Scharfenberg coupling system, capable of forming trains rapidly. The hull is steel with aluminium ceiling, in the white-green standard livery of FS Trenitalia.
The locomotive uses simplified on-board electronics, with two
GTO thyristor choppers which provide a variable voltage to the two
inverters, that are used to feed the 4 three-phase asynchronous motors.
The motors employ a double-star type connection; if a traction inverter is inoperative (i.e. due to a failure) the motors use a delta-type connection and are fed by only one inverter.
During braking the motors can be used as
generators in order to recover electric energy (regenerative braking). However, since Italian railway power substations are not able to receive energy (they are not reversible), this method only works if there are other trains nearby absorbing current and the line voltage is lower than 4000 V. Otherwise the power is dissipated through a braking rheostat. The vehicle braking logic checks if these conditions are met and then decides to send the current to the line or to the rheostat.
Two static inverters (often referred to as ''BUR'') output a voltage of 450 V, 60 Hz AC that feeds the auxiliary systems which include the compressors, 24 V battery charger, rheostat ventilation fans, motors fans etc.
Usually BUR n.1 feeds only the motor cooling devices with a voltage down to 352 V at 58 Hz, while BUR n.2 feeds the rest; in case of failure of one BUR, one of the three motor fans is deactivated automatically and the system is fed at 450 V 60 Hz by the remaining one.
Braking systems include, other than the regenerative/rheostat braking, disc-type brakes activated by compressed air to completely immobilize the locomotive when stationary. If this condition lasts for a prolonged time air may run out thereby releasing the brakes, in which case the spring brake is activated.
The coupling system allows, in case of emergency, coupling of up to 4 locomotives for hauling heavy trains, for a total of (which is more than one
TGV
The TGV (; , , 'high-speed train') is France's intercity high-speed rail service. With commercial operating speeds of up to on the newer lines, the TGV was conceived at the same period as other technological projects such as the Ariane 1 rocke ...
). The E.464 can be coupled with other modern types like the
E.402.
The locomotive is provided with a secondary driving cabin with reduced instrumentation in the rear area, for short range manoeuvres in stations (maximum speed allowed: ).
Other users
Bombardier has produced 60 units especially adapted for use with
Vivalto two-floor coaches.
Apart from FS-Trenitalia (whose engines are often owned by regional authorities), E.464 is used in
Lombardy
The Lombardy Region (; ) is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in northern Italy and has a population of about 10 million people, constituting more than one-sixth of Italy's population. Lombardy is ...
by the regional railway company
Trenord, and in
Emilia-Romagna
Emilia-Romagna (, , both , ; or ; ) is an Regions of Italy, administrative region of northern Italy, comprising the historical regions of Emilia (region), Emilia and Romagna. Its capital is Bologna. It has an area of , and a population of 4.4 m ...
by the
Ferrovie Emilia Romagna.
, there are 727 class E.464 locos. 717 are operated by Trenitalia; 716 in the series 464.001-464.717 (464.029 was withdrawn after accident damage sustained in September 2009), and 464.880, which was formerly operated by TFT. 10 locos (464.890-893 and 464.901-906) are operated by TPER (ex-FER).
Accidents and incidents
*On 19 August 2020, a locomotive of the class was at the rear end of a train which ran away crewless from
Paderno d'Adda and was derailed at
Carnate-Usmate station. Three people were injured.
Gallery
File:E 464 of FS (Trenitalia) between Pisticci and Ferrandina Scalo, Italy.jpg, alt=
File:FS E 464 103 Andora - Cervo.jpg
File:Riccione railway station (cropped).png
References
Sources
*
*
{{FER rolling stock
3000 V DC locomotives
E.464
Bo′Bo′ electric locomotives
Adtranz locomotives
Bombardier Transportation locomotives
Railway locomotives introduced in 1999
Standard-gauge locomotives of Italy
Passenger locomotives