The Sm3 Pendolino (originally branded as Pendolino S220, and usually referred to simply as the Pendolino) is a class of high-speed body-tilting trains operated by VR Group. It is a member of the Pendolino train family; its design is based on the ETR 460. The first two trainsets were assembled in Finland by Rautaruukki-Transtech in the mid-1990s. The rest of the series of eighteen EMUs were built by Fiat Ferroviaria (later Alstom) between 2000 and 2006. The trains serve most of Finland's major cities such as Helsinki, Turku, Oulu and Joensuu with a maximum speed of , although this speed is only attained between Kerava and Lahti. The train has a power output of and weighs .
The Sm3 had a long prototype phase before the main series was ordered, with reliability issues being brought up by the press from time to time. Negative reporting continues to haunt the series' reputation. Reliability problems cannot be proven, as no statistics of specific train types are available. The train has not managed to cope with harsh Finnish weather conditions, and the time benefit of the tilting mechanism will not be taken into account in timetables of winter 2011–2012. Nevertheless, the Sm3 has also received positive feedback from passengers and has led to increased operating speeds on the Finnish rail network.
History
1992: Ordering
VR announced its 2 billion Finnish Mark Pendolino order on 7 February 1992, consisting of two firm orders and twenty-three options. ABB's X 2000 and the Talgo Pendular were considered in addition to the Italian train; the latter was chosen due to its lower price (70 million FIM per unit) and because it was already running. Only these two tilting trains were considered due to the twisting nature Finland's railway network. Thanks to its tilting mechanism, the Pendolino – unlike such other European high-speed trains like the TGV, Thalys, and AVE – does not need to run on specialised high-speed lines, which was important to VR; instead, it runs on existing lines, and was expected to surpass the speed attained by traditional trains by 35%. This has both beneficial and negative consequences. The trains cannot run at as high a speed as, for example, the TGV, due to the lines. However, the Pendolino can also run alongside normal non-tilting trains, allowing for greater use of the railway. Building trains that could ensure passenger comfort at high speed on these routes by tilting through the curves was seen as a much cheaper solution than reconstructing the railway network itself due to Finland's low population and long distances. The train was originally called the Sm200, but in May 1995 it was officially named Sm3 according to VR's nomenclature for multiple units.
It was expected that the train would, as in Italy, run at a maximum speed of and significantly shorten the travel times between major cities. As an example, the 2-hour and 7-minute travel time between Helsinki and Turku was expected to drop to 1:28 by 2010; however, the top speed of the train was limited to and the advertised times were never achieved. As of July 2011, 1:44 is the fastest train link between the two cities (on the S126).
1993–1997: Testing the prototypes
A test carriage from an ETR 460 arrived by boat into Finland from Italy in March 1993. It was used to test how the Pendolino would cope with Finland's winter and rail network by running it in Northern Karelia between Nurmes and Vieki. The carriage had to be fitted with new bogies over night at Hanko as it was designed for standard gauge instead of the broader Finnish gauge. Another carriage was built by Transtech according to the specifications of the new train (nomenclature KOEV from koevaunu, test carriage). It was later included in the first completed unit as the fourth car, TT 7401. Before a full trainset was finished, some test runs were made with only the first three carriages of the train in late 1994.
The first finished train was unveiled to the press on 14 October 1994, and the first two trainsets started their regular test traffic on 27 November 1995 between Helsinki and Turku on the coastal track. Test traffic was stopped only after three months, at the end of February 1996, due to technical difficulties with the trains. Testing later resumed, and VR announced in 1997 that it would start normal operations with the Pendolino despite electrical problems. The ability of the train to cope with the Finnish winter was put into question, but VR denied that coldness had been a factor in the electrical failures.