ALSTOM - PRIMA™ Locomotive Designed for the Freight Market

ALSTOM is the leading supplier of products, services, and systems to both urban and main line rail transport providers around the world. The company offers its customers full ranges of rolling stock and equipment, and among the extensive range of products and services available, is our PRIMA™ locomotive.

ALSTOM in transport has more than 25,000 employees in over 60 countries world-wide and annual sales which exceed 3.5 billion Euros.

REPACKAGED LOCOMOTIVE OFFER USING OPTIONIC DESIGN

Our customers need locomotives that meet many different operating requirements. ALSTOM has successfully met this challenge with their new range of locomotives specifically designed for the European freight market: electric, diesel, single or multi-current, AC or DC, diesel electric or diesel hydraulic, passenger or freight transport.

PRIMA™ - THE TRANS-EUROPEAN LOCOMOTIVE

PRIMA™: a locomotive designed for Pan-European freight operators.

PRIMA™ is a modular design which allows us to answer most of the world market needs: all types of electric locomotives of medium power (1100kW/axle) and even Diesel locomotives. PRIMA™ are the world's first to use an IGBT propulsion system.Both diesel electric (AC/DC or AC/AC) and electric multicurrent versions, can cross Europe without stopping at the boarders. Among PRIMA™'s advantages are:

• Low life-cycle costs
• High traction effort
• Single current version also available for electric locomotives
• High degrees of safety and comfort inside the driver’s cab
• Simplified maintenance
• One independent traction drive for each asynchronous traction motor (except on diesel AC/DC version)
• Minimised energy consumption thanks to the use of IGBT (except on diesel AC/DC version)
• Water circulation cooling system (except on diesel AC/DC version)
• Back-up components ensuring highest service reliability
• Four voltage locomotive
• High reliability of delivery

REDUCED TRANSPORT COSTS

The optimal trade-off between pulling force and the power of the PRIMA™ , as well as the IGBT traction drive, allows for a significant reduction in energy costs, which in turn reduces the cost of freight transportation. More importantly, in addition to back-up equipment, PRIMA™ has an independent axle by axle propulsion system, so if a converter breaks down, 3/4 of the power is retained.

AN INDUSTRIAL PROCESS

All of the different modules that make up PRIMA™ are fully compatible with all ALSTOM equipment. PRIMA™ will soon cross Europe under the French National Railways’ (SNCF) logo, as the company has just ordered 300 locomotives (120 confirmed), the first of which will be delivered in 2000.