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Extra-2000's

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Description

Preparing to depart from Malmö with a services to Stockholm and Gothenburg are a pair of X2000 high-speed units.

Often considered the train that saved Swedish Railways, the X2000, also known as the X2, was launched in 1990 by Kalmar Verkstad in Kalmar, Sweden (prior to the company being bought by Adtranz in 1996). The X2000, and its top speed of 130mph in service (though technically capable of 176mph), massively reduced journey times and increased service efficiency throughout the mid-1990's, its effects on Swedish Railways and its passenger numbers being similar to that of the HST here in the UK.

The X2000 design goes back to the mid-1980's, and, in similar fashion to the Pendolino of Italy, took much of its innovation from the failure of the British Advanced Passenger Train (APT). Following the cancellation of the APT in 1986, much of the information and technology developed was taken up by Italy, who pioneered the first revenue earning tilting-train in 1987 with the ETR 450.

The success of the ETR 450 meant that SJ, who at the time were suffering from very slow and somewhat unreliable services on the country's very winding railway network, could also take up their design innovation to help redress the balance. During the period of the X2000's construction, the Swedish Government desired something home-built, and were reluctant to buy Pendolino's from Italy. Thus the contract for building the X2000 sets was given to Kalmar Verkstad.

The X2000 was launched in 1990 as an entirely first-class train working the premier route between Stockholm and Gothenburg, and immediately had a pronounced effect on the railway services. However, all was not well with the X2000, due largely to some electrical infidelity. As such, widespread distribution of the sets was not completed until at least 1995, after which second-class was also made available so as to help recoup the lost train's lost profits.

Production ended in 1996 following the purchase of Kalmar Verkstad by German rail transport equipment manufacturer Adtranz. Today the sets have been distributed heavily around Sweden, even operating international services to Copenhagen. However, the X2000 became a failure of its own success in some respects, especially with the increased ridership on SJ trains. As popularity of train travel rose in the 2000's, not only did capacity aboard the trains become an issue, the capacity on the railways themselves was becoming problematic, with journey times becoming longer and delays being incurred. This issue was rectified in 2008 with the order of the Bombardier X55 Regina high-speed units that have helped compliment the X2000's on their long distance services.

The X2000 however has not just been limited to Sweden, they've also made ventures to international railways with mixed amounts of success.

The first county to take interest in the X2000 was interestingly enough the United States, as, in the 1990's, Amtrak decided to modernise the high speed Northeast Corridor service between Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Washington D.C. The option was also made for diesel variants to operate on non-electrified services around the USA, especially higher-capacity services around California or to the north of New York towards Albany and Buffalo, with the X2000 set being dragged around 48 states by pairs of F40 locomotives.

The set was tested between October 1992 and January 1993, together with a more traditional ICE set from Germany, with both sets being compared for their operational efficiency and increased performance. Though a good contender for Amtrak services, the X2000's electrical faults sadly put it out of the running. Eventually Amtrak would choose the Acela sets built by Bombardier in 2000.

In 1995, three X2000 cars were hired by Australian operator CountryLink for evaluation purposes, being one driving trailer, one bistro car and one first class car. The trains were towed in a push/pull operation by modified XPT power cars XP2000 and XP2009 with the tilt equipment deactivated. After conducting a statewide of New South Wales tour in March 1995, they were used on Canberra services from April 1995 until June 1995.

China also purchased a X2000 train named "Xinshisu" (New Speed). The train served as Guangzhou-Kowloon Through Train on the Guangshen Railway from 1998 until 2007. It was delivered to Sichuan Province in August 2007. However, due to the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, Chengdu Railway Bureau needed to rebuild the railway networks in Sichuan Province. Also, the authority could not carry the maintenance costs of the train. It was therefore returned to Guangshen Railway Company in late December 2008. In 2012 the train was purchased by SJ and was shipped back to Sweden.

Nevertheless, the X2000 has proven itself a well performing and capable set of trains, working hard and bringing the Swedish Railways back from the edge. In a similar fashion to the HST of Britain, the X2000 has become the face of SJ, and one hopes that these magnificent trains can see many years of future service.
Image size
4000x3000px 6.53 MB
Make
Panasonic
Model
DMC-GF5
Shutter Speed
10/1250 second
Aperture
F/4.0
Focal Length
14 mm
ISO Speed
160
Date Taken
Jul 17, 2016, 10:03:05 AM
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Comments3
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railguy365's avatar
I think one of these X2000 trainsets were tested in the US by Amtrak before the arrival of the Acela trains.