Voith Turbo will equip new suburban rail vehicles of the Chinese manufacturer Tanshang Locomotive with eight motor-transmission units each. The special feature of this order: the new suburban trains will be put in service in Ghana.

For this first contract for Central Africa, Voith not only supplies the transmissions, but 16 complete units consisting of electric motor and transmission, plus one spare unit. An option for further vehicles is already in hand.

Each powercar will receive four transmissions, each connected to a 140 kW AC asynchronous motor. Each vehicle has two powercars (front and back) and therefore features a total of eight motor-transmission units. The new drive units are particularly suitable for fast acceleration. The transmission is a fully sprung SZH-455, a double-stage final drive with single key packet coupling, constituting particularly low axle mass.

The motor is encapsulated and has its own ventilation. It therefore has no contact to outside air and is cooled in a closed circuit. In view of the climatic conditions, both measures protect the unit against dust and hence ensure extra reliability.

Voith Turbo has configured a customer-specific drive system from individual components. Delivery of the Voith components to China will take place in October 2008. The vehicles are to be shipped from China to Africa still this year.