Notes

Another one in response to a picture by HerrDrayer, this time about EMU Coupler. The Scharfenberg Coupler is used on all new DMUs and EMUs in Germany. On the Euregiobahn, Bombardier TALENT trains are regularily split up and recombined in Stolberg main station, so you can see it in action here.

This is uncoupling, but coupling is nearly the same, just in reverse. At first, you see the coupled state. Next, you can see that the pieces at the side are retracted pneumatically. Those pieces contain all electrical connections between the two DMUs here. In this phase, you’ll also hear the distinct sound of the air lines that are uncoupled, which is why this takes the most time. Finally, the front TALENT just drives away. During the entire procedure, which took about a minute. nobody had to ever step between the two vehicles.

Those two aren’t class 423 EMUs like HerrDrayer took pictures of, but the coupler system is basically the same. Basically is the important point here, though: There are many variations of the coupler, so two cars equipped with it will not necessarily couple. There are even more variants for the electrical connections, so two cars might be able to couple, but won’t be able to have any MU control and similar niceties.