The Anonymous Widower

Are The Elizabeth Line Trains Ready To Be Lengthened?

When Transport for London updated the North and East London Lines of the London Overground in the early years of this century, they felt that four-car Class 378 trains would have enough capacity for the lines. But the lines proved more popular than, they had expected and the trains were very overcrowded. So it was decided to lengthen the trains to the five cars they are today.

This wasn’t as easy as it seems, as platforms at several stations had to be lengthened, which was disruptive and expensive.

One day last week, I was in Farringdon station and took these pictures of the platform edge doors at the back end of a Class 345 train.

Note how, that when a train is in the station, it doesn’t reach to the end.

But this is not always the case, as this picture from Paddington station shows.

Does this mean that some underground Elizabeth Line platforms are longer than others?

In Bombardier’s Plug-and-Play Train, I discuss the plug-and-play design of Aventras.

• This plug-and-play design allows trains to be lengthened or shortened by adding or removing carriages.
• Class 345 trains are actually two half-trains, with a trailer car in between them.

So is this why Class 345 trains have run services as both seven-car and nine-car trains?

The former have three-car half-trains and the latter have four-car half-trains, with an extra MS car.

Talk Of Eleven-Car Trains

If you search the Internet, you’ll find forums and web pages speculating about. whether the trains will be lengthened to ten-cars or even eleven-cars.

Consider.

• The current trains are 204.73 metres long.
• Extra intermediate cars are all 22.5 metres long.
• The trains also are probably fitted with selective door opening or can be as most modern trains have it.

This would mean, that a ten-car train would be 227.23 metres long and an eleven-car train will be 249.73 metres.

The eleven-car figure is just 27 centimetres short of 250 metres.

I wouldn’t me surprised if the maximum train length was given to Bombardier as 250 metres.

I certainly feel, that if it should be decided to lengthen the trains by adding another carriage or two, that this will not be a problem.

The Elizabeth Line’s Two Problems

These posts talk about the two problems.

In TfL Needs More Elizabeth Line Trains Because Of HS2 Delays At Euston, I talked about what happens, if High Speed Two doesn’t link initially to Euston.

In Elizabeth Line: Commuters Say Service ‘Not What Was Promised’, I talked about problems of overcrowding at the Western end of the line.

The solutions to both problems are either more trains or adding more carriages to existing trains.

In this article on Ian Visits, which has the same title as the first post, Ian says this about ordering more trains.

Although HS2 isn’t expected to open until some point between 2029-33, TfL is warning that it will need to place the orders for the new trains soon, as the cost of doing so later will be significantly more expensive. That’s because the factory lines to build Elizabeth line trains at Alstom’s factory in Derbyshire are still in place, but will be demobilised soon. If the trains aren’t ordered before that happens, then the cost of reactivating the factory lines has to be included in the bill.

I suspect, it probably applies to an order for extra carriages as well.

Problems For Alstom

But will a substantial order for more Class 345 trains or carriages cause problems for Alstom at Derby?

This extract from the Wikipedia entry for High Speed Two rolling stock, describes how the Hitachi-Alstom joint venture will build the Classic-Compatible trains for High Speed Two.

Vehicle body assembly and initial fitting out of the trains will take place at the Hitachi Newton Aycliffe factory, the bogies will be manufactured at the Alstom factory in Crewe, and final assembly and fit-out, including the interiors, electronics and bogies, will take place at Alstom’s factory in Derby.

If more Class 345 trains are to be built at Derby, does it mean a rethink by the joint venture?

In Battery EMUs Envisaged In Southeastern Fleet Procurement, I talked about how Southeastern were looking for new trains. Given that Aventras from Alstom could be in the frame for these new trrains for Southeastern, does that give Alstom more complications?

July 23, 2023 - Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Alstom, Class 345 Train, Class 378 Train, East London Line, Elizabeth Line, High Speed Two, High Speed Two Classic-Compatible Trains, Hitachi, London Overground, North London Line