Bombardier-Siemens Upgrading 131 Sprint Light Trains in Holland

Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS), the Dutch national railway operator, has enlisted the help of a Bombardier-Siemens consortium to upgrade its fleet of 131 Sprint Light Trains.

The Sprinter trains are currently being fitted with a range of amenities to make them more accessible to the visually impaired and passengers with limited mobility.

Last week, passengers in the Netherlands got their first look at their new and improved trains. To make them more inclusive and accessible, Bombardier-Siemens services technicians equipped the train with a large wheelchair-accessible toilet and a sliding step at the door as well as two dedicated places for wheelchairs with an emergency button nearby.

In addition, engineers added a tactile information system, like braille, so visually impaired passengers can easily navigate their way throughout the length of the train. They even found space to accommodate two more of the Netherland’s ubiquitous bicycles.

These upgrades were carried out in close collaboration with Dutch advocacy groups Ieder(in) (Everyone(in)) and Oogvereniging (Eye Association), who were involved in the process from design to testing.

The first two trains are already running on NS’s timetable with a third to soon follow. These three will operate until the end of the year enabling Bombardier and NS to gather valuable passenger feedback that will be used to determine if and what further renovations are needed.

The upgrade work is being carried out at Talbot Services in Aachen, Germany, a former Bombardier Transportation site. The Bombardier-Siemens consortium will continue to upgrade two trainsets at a time, a process that takes around two weeks.

The complete upgrade project for the full 131 trains is expected to be finished by the end of 2021.

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