The Class 5M2 and Class 5M2A are

electric multiple unit An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a number o ...

s that provide

commuter rail Commuter rail or suburban rail is a Passenger train, passenger rail service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting Commuting, commuters to a Central business district, central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter town ...

services operated by

Metrorail METRORail is the light rail system in Houston, Texas (United States). In , the system had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of . METRORail ranks as the second most-traveled light rail system in the Southern United States and the List ...

in the major cities of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. The original Class 5M2 trainsets were built for the

South African Railways Transnet Freight Rail is a Rail transport in South Africa, South African rail transport company, formerly known as Spoornet. It was part of the South African Railways and Harbours Administration, a state-controlled organisation that employed h ...

Metro-Cammell Metro-Cammell, formally the Metropolitan Cammell Carriage and Wagon Company (MCCW), was an English manufacturer of railway carriages, locomotives and railway wagons, based in Saltley, and subsequently Washwood Heath, in Birmingham. The co ...

between 1958 and 1960. Most of those in use today, however, are of Class 5M2A, built to the same design by

Union Carriage & Wagon Union Carriage & Wagon (UCW) is a rolling stock manufacturer in South Africa. It presently functions as one of the two South African subsidiaries of the French rolling stock manufacturer Alstom. History Union Carriage & Wagon was established in ...

(UCW) from 1962 to 1985; a total of 4,447 coaches were built by UCW. A programme began in the 2000s to rebuild the trains, which were subsequently designated Class 10M3, 10M4 and 10M5. Class 5M2A coaches were stripped down to the underframe, which was then used as the base for the Class 10Ms.

Specifications

The Class 5M2s operate on the track that is standard throughout Southern Africa. The motor coaches draw 3,000 volt

direct current Direct current (DC) is one-directional electric current, flow of electric charge. An electrochemical cell is a prime example of DC power. Direct current may flow through a conductor (material), conductor such as a wire, but can also flow throug ...

from an overhead

pantograph A pantograph (, from their original use for copying writing) is a Linkage (mechanical), mechanical linkage connected in a manner based on parallelograms so that the movement of one pen, in tracing an image, produces identical movements in a se ...

; they have a power output of and produce of

tractive effort In railway engineering, the term tractive effort describes the pulling or pushing capability of a locomotive. The published tractive force value for any vehicle may be theoretical—that is, calculated from known or implied mechanical proper ...

. The maximum speed of a 5M2 trainset is . A motor coach can carry 56 seated and 110

standing passenger In urban public transport, provision is made for standing passengers, often called straphangers or standees, to rationalize operation and to provide extra capacity during rush hour. On crowded rapid transit urban lines, while most travelers may ...

s, and has a

tare weight Tare weight , sometimes called unladen weight, is the weight of an empty vehicle or container. By subtracting tare weight from gross weight ( laden weight), one can determine the weight of the goods carried or contained (the net weight). Ety ...

of 60 tonnes. A trailer coach can carry 52 seated and 149 standing passengers, and has a tare weight of .

References

External links

{{Metrorail (South Africa) navbox Electric multiple units of South Africa Metropolitan Cammell multiple units Metrorail (South Africa) Union Carriage & Wagon locomotives 3000 V DC multiple units Train-related introductions in 1958