The new design was the first high-speed train design in modern times that had inter-vehicle articulation and distributed traction. The design used Alstom Onix IGBT based traction inverters; the weight reduction associated with IGBT technology allowed an axle load of within 17 tonnes per axle. The trainsets were to be made up of modules of 3-car sets with two powered bogies per module. Each motor bogie had two body-mounted self-ventilated motors, one per axle, rated at 600 kW. The traction electronics used two taps per transformer per module, each powering two parallel connected inverters, with a separate inverter for each motor. There were two carriage designs: the driving control cars, and intermediate cars; and two designs of bogie: powered and unpowered.