TCDD E44000, also referred to as the "National Electric Train" () by the media, is a model of electric trainset produced by

TÜVASAŞ Turkish Wagon Industry, Inc. (), more commonly known as TÜVASAŞ, was a Turkish railcar manufacturer based in Adapazarı. TÜVASAŞ was responsible for the construction, refurbishment and repair of railcars for the Turkish State Railways (TCDD), ...

(now under TÜRASAŞ) for

TCDD Taşımacılık TCDD Transport or Turkish State Railways Transport (, reporting mark TCDDT) is a government-owned railway company responsible for the operations of most passenger and freight rail in Turkey. The company was formed on 14 June 2016, splitting off ...

. Trains started to be delivered to the

Turkish State Railways The State Railways of the Republic of Turkey (), abbreviated as TCDD, is a government-owned national railway company responsible for the ownership and maintenance of railways in Turkey, as well as the planning and construction of new lines. TCDD ...

(TCDD) on 27 April 2023.

Usage

The first unit produced for

TCDD Transport TCDD Transport or Turkish State Railways Transport (, reporting mark TCDDT) is a State-owned enterprise, government-owned railway company responsible for the operations of most passenger and freight rail in Turkey. The company was formed on 14 Jun ...

was delivered to the Adapazarı train station on 27 April 2023. After being exhibited at various stations in Istanbul in May, the train made its inaugural journey on May 27 along the Adapazarı-Gebze line.

TÜRASAŞ TÜRASAŞ () is a railway manufacturer based in Ankara resulted in the merging of TÜLOMSAŞ, TÜVASAŞ and TÜDEMSAŞ, announced in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Turkey on 4 March 2020. After the forming of TÜRARAŞ, TÜLOMSAŞ TÜVA ...

plans to export E44000 units to

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

countries in the following years.

Design

The trains operational speed is at , with a design speed of . The trains can consist of 3, 4, 5 or 6 cars depending on demand. The capacity of 5-car sets are 324 people. There are currently 3 sets in existence, with 2 being prototypes and 1 currently being used on the

Ada Express The Ada Express () is a limited stop regional train service operating between Gebze, Kocaeli and Adapazarı. It was inaugurated on 5 January 2015 as a replacement for the popular '' Adapazarı Express'' train service. However, unlike its predec ...

. By the end of 2025, 15 sets are planned on being produced and by the end of 2030, 56 sets are planned on being produced.

Production and testing history

In 2013,

was tasked with the production of domestically-produced

diesel Diesel may refer to: * Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression * Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines * Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine ...

and

electrical Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...

multiple unit A multiple-unit train (or multiple unit (MU)) is a self-propelled train composed of one or more Coach (rail), carriages joined, and where one or more of the carriages have the means of propulsion built in. By contrast, a locomotive-hauled ...

trains. TÜVASAŞ originally planned on first delivering the electrical, and later the diesel multiple units, with a deadline to test the first prototype in December 2018. This date was then postponed to 2020, and later 2022. In 2020, with TÜVASAŞ merging with other railcar producers to form

, responsibility of the project was transferred to TÜRASAŞ. The prototype units were manufactured with a goal of being 65% domestically produced, with the mass produced units having a goal of being 75% domestically made. The

traction motor A traction motor is an electric motor used for propulsion of a vehicle, such as locomotives, electric vehicle, electric or hydrogen vehicles, or electric multiple unit trains. Traction (engineering), Traction motors are used in electrically powe ...

transformer In electrical engineering, a transformer is a passive component that transfers electrical energy from one electrical circuit to another circuit, or multiple Electrical network, circuits. A varying current in any coil of the transformer produces ...

, transmission, control and management system are all supplied by Aselsan. The train was planned to reach an operational speed of by the end of 2023, but this has since been made its own project. The testing of the first five E44000 units produced at the Turkish Wagon Production Factory () began in June 2020. After test drives that started in July 2021, 10,000 kilometers were covered as of September 2022. As of April 2023, 3 sets had been completed, with a total of 56 sets being planned to be produced by 2030.

References

{{TCDD stock Turkish railways electric multiple units 25 kV AC multiple units Train-related introductions in 2023

Usage

Design

Production and testing history

See also

References