From central Italy to Denmark and not on its natural track, but loaded onto special transporter trucks that took three weeks to drive across Europe. That was the journey made in August by the first of 83 IC4 Intercity trains, which the Pistoia-based Ansaldo Breda will be delivering to DSB, the Danish State Railway before the end of 2005.
The IC4 project, which forms the subject of this issue of Auto & Design n° 143, is an all-Italian affair in its technology and much of its styling. In fact, the constructor Ansaldo Breda worked in partnership with the Pininfarina Style Centre and DSB’s own Design Division on the creation of a new train for the Danish state railway.
Much of Ansaldo Breda’s and Pininfarina’s work was completed during the tender phase, so that by the time they won the contract, the project was already well on the way to completion, which may well have helped them win out over the competition.
The development of the train’s exterior, interior, mechanicals and technology was a complex and diversified process, in some respects very like, in others very different from, automotive design. In the case of a train, though, there is almost no room for error, since unlike what happens with cars, it’s not possible to build a working prototype of a train and the first one built is also the first one delivered to the client.
Various aspects of the project are explained by Breda engineer Carlo Pellegrini, as well as Pininfarina’s Lorenzo Ramaciotti and Filippo Cappadona. DSB’s Director of Design, Pia Bech Mathiesen, also has her say, having been directly involved in the design process right from the start.
The article continues in Auto & Design no. 143
