The Dutch railways (NS) published a video of a SNG (Sprinter Nieuwe Generatie) trainset absolving its first meters under its own power. The video was made in Spain, where CAF is starting the production of 118 new SNG trains.
SNG will enter service in 2018. The first train is now finished and ready to be tested. In the coming months, SNG will visit Velim (CZ) for dynamic tests, a set will go to Vienna for climate testing and of course the first EMUs will come to the Netherlands, for final admission.
The SNG is based on CAF’s Civity train platform for regional and urban services, but adapted to the requirements of NS and the Dutch rail network. Special features are LED lighting that adapts to the daylight, power sockets and USB ports in both 1st and 2nd class and 10% “priority seats” for disabled people for example.
In 2015, a selected group of travellers/experts from the Netherlands were able to evaluate the SNG design in Spain. For this purpose, CAF built a life-scale moock-up. A video:
But, didn’t NS already buy new Sprinter trains from Stadler Rail? True, the Swiss manufacturer is now also delivering 58 Sprinter trains (type FFF) to NS, but these trains have been ordered extra, with special permission of the European Union (ordered without a tender). NS needed extra regional trains very quickly after the government decided to extend the free travel pass program for students (studenten-OV), instead of ending it.
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