Kawasaki Heavy Industries & CRRC Qingdao Sifang T251
| |
|---|---|
 T251 train arriving at
Woodlands MRT station | |
 Interior of one of the driving motor cars. | |
| In service | 31 January 2020 – Present |
| Manufacturer | |
| Built at | Qingdao, Shandong, China |
| Constructed | 2017 – 2022 |
| Entered service | 31 January 2020 |
| Number built | 364 Vehicles (91 Sets) |
| Number in service | 364 Vehicles (91 Sets) |
| Formation | 4 per trainset DM1–M–T–DM2 |
| Fleet numbers | 2001 – 2091 |
| Capacity | 1,280 passengers |
| Operators | SMRT Trains ( SMRT Corporation) |
| Depots | |
| Lines served | TEL Thomson–East Coast line |
| Specifications | |
| Car body construction | Welded aluminium |
| Train length | 92.8 m (304 ft 5+1⁄2 in) |
| Car length |
|
| Width | 3.2 m (10 ft 6 in) |
| Height | 3.7 m (12 ft 1+5⁄8 in) |
| Doors | 1,450 mm (57+1⁄8 in), 10 per car, 5 per side |
| Maximum speed |
|
| Weight |
|
| Traction system | Mitsubishi Electric MAP-124-75V298 hybrid SiC- IGBT– VVVF [1] [2] |
| Traction motors | 12 × Mitsubishi MB-5162-A 120 kW (160 hp) asynchronous 3-phase AC |
| Power output | 1.44 MW (1,930 hp) |
| Auxiliaries | Mitsubishi HF-IBT190A IGBT Auxiliary Power Supply Box |
| Electric system(s) | 750 V DC third rail [3] |
| Current collector(s) | Collector shoe |
| UIC classification | Bo′Bo′+Bo′Bo′+2′2′+Bo′Bo′ |
| Safety system(s) | Alstom Urbalis 400 moving block CBTC ATC under ATO GoA 4 (UTO), with subsystems of ATP, Iconis ATS and Smartlock CBI [4] [5] [6] |
| Coupling system | Dellner |
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge |
The Kawasaki Heavy Industries & CRRC Qingdao Sifang T251 is the first generation electric multiple unit rolling stock in operation on the Thomson–East Coast line of Singapore's Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system, manufactured by a consortium of Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) and CRRC Qingdao Sifang (formerly CSR Qingdao Sifang) under Contract T251.
91 four-car medium-capacity trainsets were purchased by LTA for the Thomson-East Coast line and the first set was delivered on 25 May 2018. [3]
Seven additional trains were supposed to be procured for the RTS Link as both the Singapore and Malaysian governments agreed to both lines sharing largely identical technical specifications. [7] Since then, a new agreement signed on 30 July 2020 meant that these trains would not be built and will be replaced by LRT trains.
Tender
The tender for trains under the contract turnkey 251 was closed on 15 November 2013 with six bids. The Land Transport Authority has shortlisted all of them and the tender results were published on 28 May 2014. [8] [9]
| S/N | Name of tenderer | Amount (S$) [9] |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alstom Transport S.A. / Alstom Transport (S) Pte Ltd Consortium | 954,410,000 |
| 2 | Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. / Kawasaki Heavy Industries(Singapore) Pte Ltd & CRRC Qingdao Sifang Consortium / Singapore CRRC Sifang Railway Vehicles Service Pte. Ltd. Consortium | 749,840,000 |
| 3 | Hyundai Rotem Company | 765,856,000 |
| 4 | Bombardier (Singapore) Pte Ltd | 810,179,619 |
| 5 | Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles, S.A. | 939,645,996 |
| 6 | CRRC Zhuzhou Locomotive (formerly CSR Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive Co., Ltd.) / Siemens Pte Ltd, Singapore Consortium | 849,623,569 |
Kawasaki will be responsible for the overall project management, design, manufacturing of bogies and procurement of major components. CRRC Qingdao Sifang will be in charge of manufacturing, final fitting and assembly of complete MRT trains and factory testing. Kawasaki (Singapore) will be responsible for the delivery of complete MRT trains to the depot, on-site testing and commissioning. [3]
Design and features
The T251 trains have a new livery of yellow and brown stripes running around the cars, similar to C951(A) trains, which bear teal and blue stripes. They include several features unique to this rolling stock, such as: [10]
- LTA's new passenger information display, which is Train Vision supplied by Mitsubishi Electric;
- Perch seats which are located at the ends of each train car;
- Tip-up seats in 60 of the 91 trainsets;
- 10 doors per car (5 per side)
Two of the T251 trains would also be fitted with the automatic track inspection system, comprising cameras, lasers and sensors which would help to detect defects on the tracks, such as rail cracks, missing track-rail fasteners or even foreign objects. [10]
Train formation
 |
The coupling configuration of a T251 in revenue service is DM1–M–T–DM2. D stands for "driver's desk", M for "motor" and T for "trailer".
| Car Type | Quantity | Driver Cab | Motor | Collector Shoe | VVVF inverter | Auxiliary power supply | Car Length | Wheelchair Bay | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| m | ft in | ||||||||
| DM | 2 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | 23.6 | 77 ft 5.1 in | ✗ |
| M | 1 | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | 22.8 | 74 ft 9.6 in | ✓ |
| T | 1 | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | 22.8 | 74 ft 9.6 in | ✓ |
Kawasaki and CRRC Qingdao Sifang (formerly CSR Qingdao Sifang) built sets 2001 – 2091.
The car numbers of the trains range from 2001x to 2091x, where x depends on the carriage type. Individual cars are assigned a five-digit serial number. A complete four-car trainset consists of one trailer (T), one motor car (M) and two driving motor cars (DM1 & DM2) permanently coupled together.
- The first digit is always a 2.
- The second digit is always a 0.
- The third digit and fourth digit identifies the set number.
- The fifth digit identifies the car number, where the first car has a 1, the second has a 2, the third has a 3 and the fourth has a 4.
For example, set 2005 consists of carriages 20051, 20052, 20053 and 20054.
Doubts about the consortium
The award of the T251 turnkey contract to the Kawasaki Heavy Industries & CRRC Qingdao Sifang (formerly CSR Qingdao Sifang) consortium was briefly politicised in Singapore, when the defects from the relatively new C151A trains constructed by the same consortium were made public on 5 July 2016. This was after Gerald Giam from the Workers Party commenting through an official Facebook post doubting the decision by the Land Transport Authority to award the subsequent contracts, specifically both the design and supply of C151C and T251 rail cars to the same consortium in 2015. [11] This was despite the Land Transport Authority and operator SMRT Trains being officially acknowledged on the C151A crack defects as early as 2013. [12] [13]
References
- ^ "#TELTheFullPicture". Retrieved 27 February 2019.
- ^ "MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC Semiconductors & Devices: Product Information | Power Modules [SiC Power Modules]". www.mitsubishielectric.com. Archived from the original on 18 August 2019. Retrieved 8 July 2019.
- ^ a b c Singapore Government, Land Transport Authority (28 May 2014). "Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd/CRRC Qingdao Sifang Co. Ltd/Kawasaki Heavy Industries (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. Consortium Awarded Prestigious Contract Worth $749 million" (Press release). Archived from the original on 6 January 2016. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
- ^ "Singapore's Thomson–East Coast metro line opens". Railway Gazette International. 31 January 2020. Archived from the original on 15 June 2020. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
- ^ "GE Transportation Chosen by Singapore's Land Transport Authority (LTA) To Supply the Signaling of New Thomson and Eastern Region Lines". Archived from the original on 11 March 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
- ^ "Singapore's LTA selects GE Transportation for driverless CBTC solution". Railway Technology. 7 May 2014. Archived from the original on 5 August 2017. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
- ^ hermesauto (16 January 2018). "7 things to know about the upcoming Johor Baru-Singapore Rapid Transit System Link". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 7 February 2021. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
- ^ TENDER INFORMATION Archived 20 August 2016 at the Wayback Machine - Land Transport Authority, 28 May 2014
- ^ a b CONTRACT T251 Archived 20 August 2016 at the Wayback Machine - Land Transport Authority
- ^ a b "Factsheet: Unveiling the First Thomson-East Coast Line Train". Land Transport Authority. 4 July 2018. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
- ^ So the vendor's dismal track record can become a point in their favour? Archived 8 February 2023 at the Wayback Machine - Gerald Giam Facebook page, 8 July 2016 9:35am (GMT+8)
- ^ "Defects on SMRT trains 'not safety-critical', to be repaired by manufacturer: LTA". Archived from the original on 26 January 2017. Retrieved 5 July 2016.
- ^ "26 China-made MRT trains sent back to fix defects". The Straits Times. 5 July 2016. Archived from the original on 12 March 2022. Retrieved 5 July 2016.
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