Controversies during the 2000s
In 1991, 100 4000 Series railcars from AnsaldoBreda were delivered to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. On 4 July 2010, after several incidents where the doors would open while the train was in motion, Metro removed the fleet for repairs until 20 July that year. On 17 November 2016 Metro discovered an error in which a 4000-series car would display an incorrect speed limit to a train operator while in manual mode (which is the only mode used since the June 2009 Washington Metro train collision). On 7 June 2017 Metro announced that the 4000-series cars would be fully retired and removed from service on 1 July 2017, and by that date all cars were taken out of service.[12]
Delivery of 83 IC4 AnsaldoBreda trainsets for the Danish State Railways DSB was originally planned for 2003–2006. However, the last train was delivered only in 2013 and IC4 trains have seen many technical problems during their service.[13][14][15][16] DSB announced in 2016 that the trains would be withdrawn from service from 2024.[17][18]
After winning a big contract for the Dutch-Belgium Fyra project in 2004, nine V250 train units were delivered to the Dutch partner NS over five years later than originally contracted. Soon after the trains went into service on the high-speed line between the Netherlands and Belgium, the V250 suffered a number of severe technical problems. The Fyra had a poor reputation for reliability. After a month of operations more than 5% of all trains were cancelled and less than 45% of them ran on schedule.[19] On 31 May 2013, the Belgium partner NMBS/SNCB announced that they would exit the Fyra project and cancel the contract with AnsaldoBreda.[20]
The City of Gothenburg in Sweden has ordered 40 one-directional Sirio trams which were to be put into service on the Gothenburg tram network during 2005 and onwards. The trams were delivered late and functioned poorly when put into traffic. Among reported problems were corrosion, excessive track damage caused by the trams, malfunctioning air conditioners inside the trams and poor ride quality. The City of Gothenburg therefore withheld a large part of the payment for a delivered tram until fully operational.[21][22][23][24]
The 32 two-directional trams delivered for the Oslo Tramway from 1999, called SL95, have met several difficulties with rust during snowy weather and the heavy weight necessitates much maintenance to streets and tracks, which make the trams expensive to operate.[25][26] They are also considered to create more noise than necessary. The replacement of the trams will start in 2020 and the last trams will be taken out of service in 2024.[27][28]
After 7 years on a 4-year project the region of Stockholm decided to cancel the contract on new signal system for the red metro line in Stockholm with Ansaldo on 1 billion SEK. The prepayment of hundreds of million SEK is currently up in arbitration court.[29]
The maintenance issues experienced by MBTA AnsaldoBreda Type 8 Vehicles delayed the retirement of the Boeing LRVs by several years. According to MBTA Chief Operating Officer Jeff Gonneville, they present a "maintenance challenge".[30] In October 2016, the Boston Globe reported that the MBTA Green Line had the most derailments in the nation due to the Type 8.[31]
The Italian high-speed trains program
In spite of its overall terminal crisis, AnsaldoBreda managed to successfully participate in the Italian high-speed trains program until the very end of its existence. The ETR 500, that entered service in 1993, was continuously upgraded and ran at a record speed of 362 km/h in the Monte Bibele tunnel between Florence and Bologna in 2009, setting a speed record for trains in a tunnel.[32] A new generation high-speed train, the Frecciarossa 1000, was developed in a consortium with Bombardier Transportation and entered service in 2015.[33][34] On 26 February 2016, a Frecciarossa 1000 reportedly attained a peak speed of 393.8 km/h while traversing the Torino-Milano high speed line.[35]
