The Anonymous Widower

Is TransPennine Going For A One-Class Fleet?

This report on Rail News announces the awards of the two rail franchises in the North.

It says that First TransPennine will be committed to acquiring forty-four new trains comprising 220 vehicles. The article also says this about increasing services.

The frequency on many routes will be increased, so that there will be six trains an hour between Manchester and Leeds, and 35 a day between Manchester and Scotland — twice as many as now. A new route between Liverpool and Scotland will be introduced in 2019.

The numbers say they are five-car trains, which will certainly sort out some of their capacity problems.

At present First Transpennine has the following fleet.

• Class 156 DMU – 6 of two cars
• Class 170 DMU – 4 of two cars
• Class 185 DMU – 51 x 3 cars
• Class 350 EMU – 10 x 4 cars

All except the Class 350 are diesel-powered.

Add up the current carriages and you get two hundred and three.

So if some of diesel multiple units were retained, there would be a useful increase in fleet size.

But surely from the train maintenance and staff points of view, it would be better if there was one fleet of all the same type of train.

There may also be a slight problem with Scottish services, especially as the number of them is more than doubled.

This will mean that between Preston and Glasgow, they will need extra paths on the overcrowded West Coast Main Line.

I think we’ll see trains between Manchester Airport and Liverpool, and Glasgow, joining and splitting at Preston, as this will mean that Liverpool to Scotland services will not need any extra paths on the West Coast Main Line. Some could also split at Carstairs, with one train going to Glasgow and the other to Edinburgh.

I’ve used the Class 350 trains from Glasgow to Preston and despite being too small, they are also only 110 mph trains, whereas the Class 390 Pendelinos used by Virgin, usually run at 125 mph.

Simple common sense says, that if all trains cruised up the West Coast Main Line at the same speed, this maximises capacity. Also as parts of the TransPennine network in the East are also 125 mph lines, this might be desireable design speed. The government press release about the franchise award also talks about 125 mph trains.

But the biggest problem as is pointed out in the press release is that full electrification is not expected to be complete until 2022.

So trains will need some form of independent power source to bridge the gaps in the electrification.

• Five carriages
• The ability to run in pairs.
• 125 mph cruising speed.
• Some form of independent power.

Logic says that this means they will be Hitachi Class 800 trains, which would use their on-board diesel engines as required.

Currently, the factory at Newton Aycliffe is busy with Class 800/801 trains for Great Western Railway and Virgin Trains East Coast and EMUs for Scotland, so like the extra Class 800s for the South Western routes, they would probably have to be built in Japan.

Would this mean that early introduction into service would be very difficult?

The only alternative would be to stretch the current four car Class 387 trains to five cars and make them IPEMU variants, which would then use their on-board energy storage to bridge gaps in the electrification. If the technology can be proven for a route like Leeds to Manchester, then they could probably start to be delivered next year.

These are some points and questions about Class 387 trains and Bombardier’s IPEMU technology.

• Class 387 trains are built in Derby by Bombardier.
• There are currently a total of fifty seven four-car Class 387 trains either built or on order.
• There must be some standard Class 387 trains sitting in sidings, as they are destined for routes on the Great Western Railway, where there are no overhead wires.
• I doubt it would be difficult to lengthen the trains to five cars, as the closely-related Class 378 trains have received an extra car twice.
• This report in the Derby Telgraph, says that Bombardier have recently received an award for their IPEMU technology.
• This article in Rail Technology Magazine, states that Bombardier are doing extensive testing of the batteries at Mannheim
• IPEMU trains could be more efficient, as regenerative braking is used to recover energy instead of always recharging from external sources.
• As IPEMU technology improves, the range will get longer making it possible for electric trains to serve more destinations in the TransPennine network.
• Bombardier’s next generation train, called the Aventra, will all be wired for the fitting of on-board energy storage,
• The new franchise for First TransPennine has effectively started, as it just a continuation of more of the same. So early train delivery would show they meant business and it wasn’t just jam tomorrow.
• The standard Class 387 trains could be introduced on Scottish services as soon as trains were delivered.

If the IPEMU technology can be proven to be viable on First TransPennine, a lot of companies and groups will benefit.

• Network Rail will be able to avoid a lot of difficult, sensitive or expensive electrification.
• Bombardier could sell a few more trains.
• Passengers will get new electric trains in many places, as fast as they can be built.
• Some politicians and others could get a lot of credit.

It’ll be interesting to see what First TransPennine have decided to do!

December 9, 2015 - Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Class 387 Train, Class 800 Train, IPEMU, Trains, TransPennine Express