Ivolga EG2Tv/EGE2Tv

Ivolga-1.0

ЭГ2Тв (Электропоезд городской (city electric train), 2-й тип (2nd type), Тверской (Tver plant)) and ЭГЭ2Тв (Электропоезд городской экспресс (city express electric train), 2-й тип (2nd type), Тверской (Tver plant)), also known under the common commercial name “Ivolga” is a family of 3 kV DC electric trains produced at TVZ. In 2014, the basic version of the EG2Tv electric train was created as the ancestor of the basic universal platform of Russian electric trains of the new generation.

Ivolga-1.0

History

In 2013, simultaneously with the start of large-scale reconstruction and electrification of the Small Ring of the Moscow Railway for passenger traffic, a competition was announced for the development of DC electric trains for passenger transportation on this line. In accordance with the developed technical specifications, the design of electric trains had to meet the conditions of urban transportation in a mode close to the metro.

Ivolga-2.0

The requirements stipulated that the electric train should have a spacious cabin with no vestibule layout with areas for standing passengers and disabled people, spacious toilets and doors of increased width or a large number of them for faster boarding and disembarkation, as well as good dynamic characteristics for rapid acceleration and braking in conditions of frequent traffic on fairly short areas between stopping points.

Ivolga-2.0

The ED4M suburban electric trains, which were mass-produced in Russia at that time, were not suitable for full use as a city train due to insufficient acceleration and braking dynamics and the location of two doorways at the edges of the car, which slowed down the boarding and disembarkation of passengers from the middle of the car.

Ivolga-1.0

Electric trains of the Lastochka family (ES2G series) with an urban interior for DC lines were considered as one of the rolling stock options. These trains had five cars and a vestibule-less interior with two wide doors located in the middle part of each half of the car, and were more suitable for urban transportation than traditional commuter trains, superior to the latter in technical terms.

Ivolga-3.0

However, due to the use of a significant amount of imported parts and electrical equipment, “Lastochka” were quite expensive to produce, therefore, as an alternative to these trains, both the use of the ED4M-500 standard train, which was inferior in comfort and technical characteristics, produced at the Demikhovsky Machine-Building Plant, and the creation of one of the enterprises of the Transmashholding group of a fundamentally new train based on domestic components, similar in comfort and characteristics to the “Lastochka”.

In the fall of 2013, the Tver Carriage Works, part of Transmashholding, on its own initiative began developing a conceptually new family of electric trains for urban, suburban and interregional transportation, which in terms of technical equipment and safety could compete with the Lastochkas at a lower cost and could subsequently be used for urban, suburban and interregional passenger traffic.

Ivolga-3.0 interior

Ivan Ermishkin, who at that time held the position of first deputy chief designer of the plant, was appointed chief designer of the new trains. Since the Tver plant specialized in the production of trailed passenger cars for long-distance trains and over the past decades had no experience in the production of electric train cars, except for intermediate cars of electric trains 81-760/761 “Oka” for the metro, Mytishchi specialists were also involved in the work on creating the train plant “Metrovagonmash”. The exterior and interior design was developed by the Spanish (Barcelona) design bureau “Integral Design and Development”.

Passenger seats of a Ivolga-2.0

At the beginning of 2014, the plant produced a full-size demonstration model of the front half of the head car of the electric train, designated the EG2Tv series, in the form of a body with full interior decoration of the cabin and passenger compartment in urban design, as well as part of the electrical circuits. The first presentation of this model in a closed format for specialized specialists and the press took place on May 15, 2014 at the Tver Carriage Works. After some time, it went to Moscow and was first exhibited in front of the Kazansky railway station in September, and later in October it was transported to VDNKh, where it was demonstrated during the ExpoCityTrans-2014 exhibition.

Ivolga 3.0

In 2018, a new demonstration model of the front half of the head car of the EG2Tv version of the “Ivolga-2.0” was created with a shortened front part of the cabin, having a new, smoother shape of the front part. The interior of this model, compared to the interior of the Ivolga-1.0 trains, also received a number of differences in the design of handrails, USB sockets and intercoms. Also, for demonstration purposes, the seats were made with black, gray and red upholstery instead of the blue used on production trains. This model was exhibited and opened to the public in December 2018 near the Kiyevsky Station, on the square of Europe.

Interior of a Ivolga-1.0 wagon

At the beginning of 2020, Transmashholding was already working on the next version (“Ivolga-3.0”). The electric train of this series was designated EGE2Tv. According to the head of the technical department of the directorate for the development of passenger transport of Transmashholding, Mikhail Kupriyanov, one of the main directions of the new project is increasing the design speed to 160 km/h, as well as changing the configuration (including the number) of doors.

Toilet cabin

At the beginning of July 2021 in Moscow, at a site next to the Yaroslavsky railway station, as part of the Moscow Urban Forum, Transmashholding presented the head car of the Ivolga-3.0 version of the electric train. Also in 2021, it became known about the development of suburban modifications of the Ivolga train (modifications with vestibules, a different door arrangement and seating layout, repeating most Russian models of electric trains, for example EP2D).

In the summer of 2022, the Ivolga-3.0 electric train passed certification.

In the autumn of the same year, work began at TVZ on the construction of a prototype electric train of the Ivolga-4.0 version, which is already noticeably different from previous versions (in particular, its cars have three entrances for passengers). A prototype electric train has been tested and received a certificate of compliance with the requirements of the Technical Regulations of the Customs Union in 2023. At the same time, plans were announced to use the first production trains of the new version on the MCD in 2024.

Bogies of a Ivolga-4.0

Assembly: Tver (Russia)

Years of production: 2014—

Production: +65 units (439 wagons)

Length (head car/intermediate): 23 800/22 800 mm

Width: 3480 mm

Track gauge: 1520 mm

Car material: stainless steel

Capacity: 333 passengers/wagon (39 seats/wagon)

Type of current and voltage: 3000 V DC

Output power: 300 kW

Max speed: 160 km/h

Weight: 56 t

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