Baku-Istanbul train review

By Railway Professionals on 28 Feb 17 • ( 1 Comment )

Azərbaycan Dəmir Yolları (ADY – national railway of Azerbaijan) ordered 2014 thirty coaches for three sleeping car trains. Stadler (Switzerland) got the contract and has the first units under construction.

The new connection Baku-Tblisi-Kars-Istanbul was agreed by the government of Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan in 2007 and the line should open 2010. Now seven years later the last part of the track between Kars and Achalkalaki is under construction and will be ready for diesel operation end of this year.

According to Stadler the first ten coach train could be moved to ADY beginning of 2018. Then certification on 1,520 mm gauge network has to be done in Azerbaijan and/or Russia. The authorization on standard gauge will be done in Switzerland and Germany in the near future. In 2018 another trainset will be delivered, 2019 the third unit.

ADY coaches — The next five cars were under construction at Stadler’s assembly plant in Altenrhein/Switzerland in February 2017.
© P.Trippi-Services

ADY-sleeping car composition

1 x WLA with 16 beds (8 cabins), shower and toilet. „Luxury Coach“.
1 x WLAB with 20 beds. „Comfort Coach“ with shower/toilet in one cabin and ad joint a smaller cabin with wash basin only. Always two of those cabins can be connected as a “Family compartment” for four travellers.
6 x WLB with 32 beds as „Standard Coach“ with four people compartments and one shower and two toilets at the end of the car.
1 x WLBb with 18 beds, including a department/shower/toilet for a disabled person and a caretaker as „Standard Coach with PRM“.
1 x WR with 28 seats „Dining Car“.

ADY-class WLAB with four family-departments, a standard four person sleeper cabin and the service staff cabin. © Stadler

As the travel time between Baku and Istanbul will be about 50 hours, the equipment has to be designed accordingly:

Lunch and dinner is provided in shifts at the dining car, breakfast is served in the sleeper cabins.
Two service staffs at each sleeping coach.
Each car has a 24h standby diesel generator.
Three 500 litre fresh water tanks (four at WR) are roof mounted at the end of each car. The train have to be resupplied halfway the trip.
Black waste water (toilet) tank has an 800 litre volume and will be emptied at the end of the journey.
Grey water (shower, kitchen) is collected in 100 litre tanks and are self-emptied at a speed above 40 km/h.
All cars are equipped with an entertainment systems connected to the PIS (Passenger Information System).
On-board WLAN is provided in the whole train with connection to the entertainment system.
Technical equipment is under floor installed at each car (diesel tank, compressed air system, waste water tanks, air condition system, main converter/transformer/battery package and an assistant converter.
All cars have entries for GOST-level at 200/1100 mm and UIC-level at 300, 380 and 550 mm.
The train supply line is for 3000 V DC and 1500 V AC.