FRANCE: Mitsubishi Electric Corp has begun delivering traction equipment for the 28 Confort 200 inter-city trainsets which CAF is building for national operator SNCF.
The articulated 10-car EMUs for operation at up to 200 km/h on 25 kV 50 Hz and 1·5 kV DC routes are being built at CAF’s Bagnères-de-Bigorre factory. The first are scheduled to enter service from 2023, replacing loco-hauled Corail trainsets on the TET routes linking Paris with Clermont-Ferrand, Limoges and Toulouse.
CAF selected Mitsubishi Electric to supply the electrical equipment following the evaluation of prototype main transformers delivered in December 2017; these were fitted to a Z2N double-deck suburban EMU and a tram-train vehicle operating on Paris route T4.
Mitsubishi Electric said it believed it was the first Japanese company to supply traction systems for SNCF trains, and the first to supply roof-mounted converters and inverters with natural air cooling. The manufacturer is now working with its Spanish subsidiary Mitsubishi Electric Europe to win further orders in the European market.
