The Anonymous Widower

Are Alstom Going To Build All FLEXX Eco Bogies For The UK In Crewe?

The Zefiro 300 is a high speed train, that was built by a consortium of Bombardier and Hitachi Rail in Italy.

This is said in the Wikipedia entry for the Zefiro 300.

An evolution of the Italian version of the Zefiro 300 was also offered by Bombardier (joined with Hitachi Rail) for High Speed 2 commercial tender.

Note that the Zefiro 300 uses FLEXX Eco bogies.

Aventras also use these bogies, as do some other Bombardier trains in the UK, like Class 172 trains.

In The Value of Research, I said this about FLEXX Eco bogies.

Sad though, that although design is still in the UK, the bogies are now made in Germany. Here‘s the brochure.

The brochure link doesn’t work anymore.

Conclusion

I think it would not be a bad commercial and operational decision by Alstom to build and maintain all FLEXX Eco bogies for the UK in one factory at Crewe.

December 10, 2021 - Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , , , , , ,

2 Comments »

  1. Providing Service Provision Contracts become the rule rather than the exception having a Bogie Overhaul Centre could work, however when trains come in for heavy exam overhaulers are often uneasy about removing large assemblies off site due to the logistics complexity of moving things like bogies as well as ensuring a float of equipment to deal with turnaround times. Moreover you need a steady stream of work to maintain a dedicated service centre. It is no good if you have enough work for say 18 months if the exam cycle is say 4 – 6 years.
    Having identified that it’s not a straightforward subject, Siemens Mobility set up a Bogie Overhaul Centre in Lincoln to service all of the units in the UK.

    Comment by fammorris | December 10, 2021 | Reply

  2. Just checked out the FLEXXEco bogie. This is the lightweight inside frame bogie design that had its origins in BRB Research and was made a dowry for the post BRB privatisation start up bogie manufacturing company SRP in Doncaster. When SRP failed the IP passed to Bombardier in 1998 as the P3 and T3 bogies and was initially manufactured in Derby before being incorporated in Siegen’s business as the FLeXXEco in 2004.
    The bogie used on Zefiro vehicles is definitely an outside frame bogie design and as I mentioned before is known as the FLEXXSpeed

    Comment by fammorris | December 11, 2021 | Reply


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