Civia

Near train Civia at the University station (Puerto Real).

The Renfe or Civia series 462, 463, 464 and 465 is a new type of self-propelled rolling stock for passenger service, in Cercanías trains, developed by CAF for Renfe. Subsequently, Alstom has independently developed a Civia-type train based on the original CAF and Siemens design, but with traction equipment and auxiliary control from Alstom. The train concept is based on Renfe, placing special emphasis on comfort for the user; They are also the first low-floor trains, ideal for people with reduced mobility (PRM). It entered service in 2004.

The numbering of these trains would be 462, 463, 464 and 465, but since all the series could be mixed, it was decided to group them all under the name of Civia. They are the evolution of the 446 and 447 series trains.

Currently, there are units 463, 464 and 465 of 3, 4 and 5 cars, respectively, grouped into 4 series Civia I, Civia II, Civia III and Civia IV (CAF-Siemens) and Civia Modular II, III and IV (Alstom) (the Civia Modular I manufactured by Alstom is of CAF-Siemens Civia design). In 2010-2013 the Civia V entered.

The renovation of the large park of trains intended to provide commuter services in large population centers, which are currently provided mainly by units of the 440, 446 and 447 series, used intensively due to the growing demand in this type of service, especially in the services provided by the 440 series units, whose useful life seems to be coming to an end given their long period in service (40 years in service) which has led them to be considered amortized and in many cases transformed to a greater or lesser degree, is the reason for the appearance of this technological relief.

Technology

The Civia train concept was born with the aim of satisfying the highest requirements of comfort and quality, as well as meeting the objectives of reliability, frequency and punctuality of circulations. On September 28, 2002, Renfe proceeded to acquire 14 trains that are already in service. These trains specified by Renfe have been designed by CAF, and manufactured by Vossloh (currently Stadler Valencia) and Alstom, who have contributed their capacity technology and business structure adapting to Renfe's requirements and requests. The maximum speed at which they circulate is 120 km/h, although they are designed to reach 160 km/h with some reforms.

Modularity

One of the characteristics of Civia trains is their modularity, which allows them to adapt the number of cars in the unit to the existing demand. In this way, the trains can be made up of two, three, four or five cars, with only four types of cars available to form these compositions.

An electric motor Civia 465, which performs a R8 service of Rodalies de Catalunya to Granollers Centre, enters the link of the Nudo de Mollet that links the line 246 Castellbisbal - Mollet and the station of Mollet-Sant Fost.

The changes in the compositions would be made in the workshops in an average period of time, adding cars according to the need of the urban nucleus where they provide service. The existing types of cars are:

• A1 - Extreme car with driving cabin and normal floor.
• A2 - Extreme car with driving cabin and normal floor.
• A3 - Intermediate car with W.C. and low floor.
• A4 - Intermediate car with normal floor.
• A5 - Intermediate car with normal floor.

The A3 type car has the height of its floor adapted to the same height as the platforms of the Cercanías network in order to facilitate entry for people with reduced mobility.

In turn, the different types of cars are supported on two types of bogies, called BR and BM. The BR bogie is the bogie intended for the Extreme Trailer Bogie; the BM bogie is the Motor Bogie, shared by every two intermediate cars. As practically all the bogies are motorized, the train's performance is maintained regardless of the number of cars that make up the unit.

With these four types of car and according to the U.I.C. the material series 462, 463, 464 and 465 will be formed, depending on the number of cars they carry. The fact of being able to form different series, depending on the combination of cars in the unit, will make it difficult to monitor the different units formed at each moment, since it will not be possible to speak of a specific park of units of a certain series, but rather of a set of cars capable of forming different railway vehicles.

All Civia trains, regardless of the number of cars, will have the same functional, commercial and comfort features, as well as identical traction and brake features. In turn, any Civia train may run coupled with multiple control to any other Civia train with the same or different number of carriages, without technical or commercial restrictions.

Box

Inside a Civia train.

Civia at the Nuevos Ministerios station in Madrid

Structurally, the boxes are built with large aluminum profiles welded together, forming with sheets of the same material the self-supporting structure of the car. The front ends are made of polyester reinforced with fiberglass and anticlimber devices with energy absorption. The interior space is entirely dedicated to commercial use, except for the A1 vehicles, where the driver's cabs are located, and the A2 cars, where some control cabinets have also been located. The access doors to the unit have a free passage of 1300 mm, inside all the cars communicate with each other through an open corridor without doors.

In the A3 car, the low-floor area has been adapted for PRM, bicycle storage and W.C.; access to the platform is facilitated by means of automatic ramps. The interior of the box has been covered with panels molded in phenolic resins, aluminum and laminated materials. The lighting is made up of two longitudinal lines of fluorescent lights with points of light on the trunks.

The air conditioning/heating system has been replaced by an ambient air conditioning system, installed in each vehicle, reinforcing the heating system with heaters at the apartment floor level. The driving cabins have an independent and autonomous air conditioning unit controlled at will by the driver. The traveler information consists of six TFT monitors per car, two of them 17" and four of 15", where information regarding links, commercial advertising and messages will be provided. On the front and on the outer sides there are remote indicators for destination information. Inside there is a public address system and background music with an MP3 player.

In the last cars received, you can see a few new features for the user and that are mainly found in the center of Cercanías Madrid: First, the new cars received have a whistle tone different from the rest, and They have an acoustic signal indicating that the train has stopped at the station and is going to proceed to open the doors. To this day, the entire series has this sound. As this tone sounds, (known as an "Ambulance Siren" to some railroad buffs)^{[according to whom?]}, a band of led lights in the lower part of the door, to better distinguish the folding footboard, which is painted with a yellow border.

On the other hand, the TFT monitors inside have a higher resolution and the system errors that cause the traveler information system to restart and erroneously indicate the header from which it starts have been partly (not completely) resolved the train instead of the next station.^{[citation needed]} Currently, a new version is being worked on, which is used in the refurbished trains of the 447 series, based on the Linux operating system, in which traveler information is offered constantly without interruptions, in both languages and with a larger font size.^{[citation required]} Other The information regarding traveler information is that this material announces stop warning messages more clearly than its predecessors 446/447, in such a way that the traveler clearly perceives which station they will arrive at.

At the center of Cercanías Madrid, this series is the only one that transmits information to the user, along with series 447 and 450 in both Spanish and English. For the English language, the usual Renfe series 449 and series 599 public address systems have been used.^{[citation required]}

Schematic drawing of a Civia.

Onboard systems

Civia trains have:

• ASFA, ASFA Digital security systems (at present) and ERTMS (at present).

• CCTV equipment

• (CUPER)

• Traveller information equipment (videoinformation + audio + outdoor posters)

• communications equipment (GSM, GPS) and FM radio

• Train monitoring equipment (TCMS): CAF (Cosmos) or Alstom.

Similarities to other units

Exterior of an X'Trapolis Modular unit of Merval.

• These Civia units have similarities with the Chilean X'Trapolis Modular units, currently manufactured by Alstom and operating for EFE Central (ex-TMSA) and Tren Limache-Puerto (Merval). However, the interior space, the seats and the access arrangement are characteristic of the X'Trapolis family.
• In Mexico for the future Mexico-Toluca railroad, a CAF design was chosen based on the Civia Original model of Cercanías but optimized for a higher peak speed and a half-distance journey this in order to deliver a train quite versatile to adapt to the demand for the inflow of that line.