16-car transformable electric trains will be launched in the Moscow region

The Moscow region electric train operator TsPPK has developed a way to increase the capacity of suburban railways. In accordance with the project, suburban electric trains are planned to be replaced with eight-car mini-trains, which during rush hour will be able to connect and turn into 16-car trains, the Izvestia newspaper writes . Currently, trains of 10-12 cars run in the Moscow region.

As explained by Vladimir Kozlov, the chief engineer of the Central Train Station, a standard 11-car train has 1.2 thousand seats, but during rush hour there are many more passengers, so more than a third of people travel standing. By launching 16-car trains during rush hour, the Center will increase train capacity by 40%, thus creating seats for an additional 500 passengers.

According to Kozlov, in some directions it will even be possible to create additional seats, which will allow people to switch from vehicles to electric trains. According to him, now many people prefer a car because they don’t want to stand on the train for 1-1.5 hours.

The new “electric trains” will be coupled both at the depot and at large hub stations together with passengers. According to Kozlov, dual trains are already used in Western Europe, including Switzerland and Germany.

However, in Russia, in order to use them, it will be necessary to make changes to the rules of technical operation of railways, which currently prohibit any shunting work with passengers in the cabin. For the new trains, all platforms in the region will have to be increased by about 100 meters, except for the railway stations, which were also built for long-distance trains. According to the newspaper, building up each platform will cost approximately 7.5 million rubles. The extension of the first stations - Lyubertsy-1 and Ramenskoye - will begin in the winter of 2013.

According to experts, transformable trains will cost about 1.5 times more than regular ones. They explain that a standard new generation electric train - with climate control systems, dry closets and passenger flow sensors - costs about 300 million rubles, while a double train will cost about 450 million rubles.