More and more of Alstom's customers are thinking about Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) before they buy.

For rolling stock buyers, the concept is quickly becoming an economical and environmental game-changer. Cost calculations take functional and performance targets over the train's lifetime into account. This leads to improvements and new developments in train architecture, energy consumption, lightweight and maintenance-friendly train designs, reliable performance, digital solutions and much more - making TCO an enabler for innovation and green mobility.

All of this is especially interesting for commuter trains, as they offer a broad range of operations from inner-city to regional networks, combining the challenge of high passenger volumes and short dwell times with passenger comfort for longer journeys.

What is Total Cost of Ownership

TCO is a financial estimate used to help operators assess the complete cost of acquiring, operating, and maintaining a product, service or system over its entire lifecycle. TCO takes into account not only upfront costs, such as purchase price, installation and setup, but also ongoing costs, such as energy consumption, maintenance, support, training, operational expenses, and potential downtime.

Why should our customers adopt a 'TCO approach'

Thinking about TCO before making a purchase helps operators to make more informed decisions about their investments. Not only will it reduce costs in the long term; it can help them anticipate and plan infrastructure management and maintenance activities. This approach is particularly important in the railway industry, where the trains run for at least 30 years, meaning that long-term reliability, efficiency, and operational continuity are critical factors in decision-making.

Optimising TCO isn't just good for the operator - when you optimise the train design with a view to improving energy efficiency and requiring fewer spare parts, it's also good for the environment.

How does Alstom offer commuter solutions with optimised TCO

Building a TCO-optimised train calls for energy-efficient propulsion systems, lightweight materials and maintenance-friendly designs, as well as standardisation and a modular approach for more streamlined manufacturing. Alstom has all of these capabilities, as demonstrated by our new, highly standardised product platform, Adessia. Adessia commuter trains are composed of Alstom's state-of-the-art subsystems, all of which undergo constant optimisation and can be customised as required. This allows us to offer the very latest energy efficiency technologies, such as our lightweight Flexx Eco bogie, energy-efficient HVAC systems, traction heat recovery technologies, digital solutions, and more.

Working with experts all over the world, we use sophisticated optimisation tools, simulations and algorithms to offer TCO-optimised trains to our customers. Alstom backs up all of its TCO optimisation calculations with guaranteed cost savings for our business partners.

But Alstom is not just a manufacturer; we are the market leader in rail services, and operate and maintain fleets around the world, including commuter train fleets. We take care of all aspects of train operations, including train drivers and crew, dispatching, and customer service, and maintain the fleet and the entire system including signalling, railway infrastructure, stations and maintenance facilities. Our operations and maintenance experience gives us much greater insight into how our trains perform, and allows us to close the design loop with the feedback from maintenance to continuously optimise our solutions for TCO.

What's the best way for commuter solutions purchasers to adopt a TCO approach

It's all about communication! At Alstom, we are always happy to be in transparent dialogue with our customers and business partners on tender preparation. We propose to our stakeholders to focus on functional requirements in their specifications, rather than giving in-depth technical descriptions, which only closes the door to eventual optimisation down the line. We always recommend using business models that take the complete lifecycle cost into account.

There are many other steps operators can take to ensure TCO-optimised trains in their tenders. These include clearly defining expectations, implementing performance-based contracts, and requesting comprehensive lifecycle cost assessments right from the tender stage. Benchmarking proposals against industry best practices is a good way to assess the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the solutions being proposed.

Finally, building long-term partnerships with suppliers fosters ongoing developments and allows continuous optimisation of entire transport eco-systems to achieve the best TCO balance.

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