Allegro high-speed train to be tested on Kerava-Lahti line

Helsinki-St. Petersburg train’s maximum speed is 242 km/h

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A trial run of a new high-speed train will take place on the Kerava-Lahti line this week. The Allegro train meant for operation between Helsinki and St. Petersburg is due to undergo various tests there. During the tests the train will reach speeds of up to 242 kilometres per hour.
      “The series of tests that were commenced last week have to do with the Allegro train’s type certification in Finland”, says Ali Huttunen, the managing director of Oy Karelian Trains Ltd.
     
In appearance, the Allegro resembles the Finnish State Railways VR’s existing high-speed train, the Pendolino, but technically it is its own entity and requires a separate certificate of compliance with Finnish standards.
      On the Kerava-Lahti cut-off track the train’s power usage is measured at different speeds. The last one of the tests will be performed while the train is travelling at its maximum velocity of 242 km/h.
      “We will exceed the train’s nominal operating speed of 220 km/h by ten per cent. The 220 km/h is the highest permissible velocity for the track, but in test runs the speed limit is always exceeded by ten percent”, Huttunen explains.
     
The tested Allegro train is one of the four units that are likely to commence operations between the Finnish capital and St. Petersburg in Russia later this year.
      With the present locomotives the journey time between the two cities is five and a half hours. Allegro is meant to reduce this to just three hours.
      “In the first stage the journey time will be three and a half hours. Later, after the tracks have undergone certain upgrading measures, the total travel time will be shortened by another half an hour. I cannot say, however, in which year this might happen”, said Huttunen on Monday.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  New high-speed rail link between Helsinki and St. Petersburg likely to attract business travellers (21.4.2009)

Links:
  VR Class Sm6 Allegro (Wikipedia)
  VR Press Release on the Allegro rail connection

Helsingin Sanomat