Saft to supply emergency back-up batteries for new Moscow metro trains
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Project will prevent trains being stranded in power outages. Photo: Emre Kuzu / Pexels
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French battery company Saft is to provide emergency traction power for new trains to be used on the Moscow metro.
Saft said it will be supplying its MSX nickel-cadmium batteries for the underground system’s first use of onboard batteries to prevent trains being stranded between stations in the event of a power outage.
The value of the order, from Metrowagonmash, part of Russia’s largest train and coast firm Transmashholding, was not disclosed.
Saft is starting to deliver batteries and accessories for the first trains being manufactured this year, under a contract that could eventually be extended to 1,376 battery kits serving a total of 172 metro trains.
Autonomous power
The batteries will enable the trains to run on autonomous power for distances up to 6.5km and on gradients of up to 4%, the maximum on the network.
The batteries have been designed and built at Saft’s Bordeaux factory, with technical support from Saft Russia. The batteries will be installed beneath the floor of the new ‘Moskva-2020’ rail carriages.
Saft said its MSX cells are up to 30% lighter and 40% smaller than conventional onboard back-up batteries. They also operate across a wide temperature range and "will deliver specified performance up to -40°C for Moscow’s overground sections” – to withstand the extreme cold of Russian winters.
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Total-Saft and Opel's PSA Group appoint battery cells joint venture leadership team
Saft said it will be supplying its MSX nickel-cadmium batteries for the underground system’s first use of onboard batteries to prevent trains being stranded between stations in the event of a power outage.
The value of the order, from Metrowagonmash, part of Russia’s largest train and coast firm Transmashholding, was not disclosed.
Saft is starting to deliver batteries and accessories for the first trains being manufactured this year, under a contract that could eventually be extended to 1,376 battery kits serving a total of 172 metro trains.
Autonomous power
The batteries will enable the trains to run on autonomous power for distances up to 6.5km and on gradients of up to 4%, the maximum on the network.
The batteries have been designed and built at Saft’s Bordeaux factory, with technical support from Saft Russia. The batteries will be installed beneath the floor of the new ‘Moskva-2020’ rail carriages.
Saft said its MSX cells are up to 30% lighter and 40% smaller than conventional onboard back-up batteries. They also operate across a wide temperature range and "will deliver specified performance up to -40°C for Moscow’s overground sections” – to withstand the extreme cold of Russian winters.
Related article in our archive:
Total-Saft and Opel's PSA Group appoint battery cells joint venture leadership team