USA: Chicago commuter agency Metra has awarded Stadler a contract to supply eight battery multiple-units.
The $154m deal announced on February 21 includes staff training and spare parts. The first of the units are expected to be delivered from Stadler’s Salt Lake City plant in 2027-28.
The single-deck trainsets will be formed of two passenger vehicles plus a traction module. The contract includes options valued at $181·4m in total for Metra to order eight more units and up to 32 additional trailer cars to enable the units to be lengthened to three or four cars.
The initial order and some of the options are to be funded from a $169·3m federal Congestion Mitigation & Air Quality Improvement grant, with the state of Illinois providing a 20% match.
‘This purchase demonstrates Metra’s commitment to cleaner power, to quieter trains, and to thinking outside the box as we plan for our future’, said Metra CEO Jim Derwinski. ‘We are excited to bring this technology, and its efficiency, flexibility and reliability, to Chicago and to our riders.’
Metra plans to deploy the battery units on the 26 km Beverly Branch of its Rock Island Line between LaSalle St and Blue Island. They will enable the withdrawal of the operator’s most polluting diesel locomotives and some older passenger stock. Metra envisages that the units could facilitate the provision of more frequent all-day services, by being more economical to operate at off-peak times than its usual diesel-hauled double-deck trains.
The BMUs will be compliant with the Buy America Act and all Americans with Disabilities Act and Federal Railroad Administration standards, offering low-level boarding and wheelchair lifts. Each two-car set will have 112 seats, while adding a trailer car would accommodate an additional 46 passengers. Half of the trailer cars, if purchased, would include accessible toilets.
The units are expected to have a range of 70 to 100 km between charges. Recharging the batteries from 20% to 80% capacity is expected to take 20 to 30 min.
Features to mitigate the effects of Chicago’s cold winters will include underfloor heating in the boarding areas, special insulation and ‘well-sealed’ equipment rooms to protect the traction drives.
Last year Stadler won an order to supply a four-car double-deck BEMU to Caltrain, which plans to extend its future San Francisco – San Jose electric train service to Gilroy over a route which is not currently scheduled for 25 kV 60 Hz electrification.
