Sleeping cars for the Azerbaijan State Railways

Sleeping cars for the Azerbaijan State Railways (ADY), Azerbaijan

In June 2014, the ADY (Azerbaycan Demir Yollari) ordered thirty sleeping cars from Stadler Altenrhein AG, which are intended for international use on the route from Baku (Azerbaijan) via Tbilisi (Georgia) to Kars (Turkey) and further to Istanbul. This operation not only crosses national borders but also track gauge boundaries. So that the cars can operate both on the Russian broad gauge commonly used in Azerbaijan and Georgia as well as on the standard gauge commonly used in Turkey (and thus in Central Europe), the cars are equipped with bogies with gauge-change wheelsets. The bogies are developed by Stadler, using a proven construction for the wheelsets that has proven itself over many years. In total, five different car types are being built, namely 18 second-class sleeping cars (34 beds in four-berth compartments) and three first-class cars each (16 beds in two-berth compartments), first and second class (total 20 beds in two-berth compartments), second class with a disabled compartment (total 18 beds) and dining cars (28 seats). Each car is equipped with an emergency power unit so that the cars can be used even without a train collector rail supplied by the locomotive.