The Anonymous Widower

c2c Signs The First Deal On Porterbrook’s Class 387 Trains

This article on Global Rail News is entitled C2c signs short-term lease for Class 387 EMUs to cope with “unprecedented” demand, which tells how c2c have decided to go for a stop-gap lease of six of the twenty Class 387/1 trains, that were ordered by Porterbrook, when they saw a gap in the market.

c2c’s Future Fleet Plans

At present c2c has a one-class fleet of seventy-four Class 357 trains, which I think are leased from Porterbrook. These trains, like the Class 387 trains, are Electrostars. Wikipedia, also says this about c2c’s future fleet.

As part of its new franchise, c2c has committed to leasing new trains to cope with rising passenger numbers, which were boosted especially by the opening of the DLR station at West Ham in 2011 and the rise of Canary Wharf as a financial centre, 17 new four-car trains will be introduced by 2019, followed by 4 more by 2022 and 4 more by 2024.

This would bring the fleet up to one short of a hundred four-car trains.

One curiosity about the Class 357 trains is that they are 100 mph units, but the maximum line speed of the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway is only 75 mph. So any new trains will have to be 100 mph units, in case the line speed is increased.

The Global Rail News article says this.

Porterbrook Leasing will supply 24 new Bombardier-built Class 387 carriages on a three-year lease. In November 2015, Porterbrook announced it would be ordering 80 additional Class 387 EMUs to meet the increasing demand for electric rolling stock.

The timing of delivery in the Autumn of this year fits, as Bombardier will have finished building the Class 387/2 trains for Gatwick Express.

The Class 387 trains will certainly do the job in the short term, but running a 110 mph train on a line with a maximum speed of 75 mph in the long term, might not be the best use of resources.

The Crossrail Effect

c2c has a problem in that, when Crossrail opens fully to Shenfield in 2019, this will mean that a lot more places will be easily accessible from South East Essex by changing to Crossrail.

But c2c has no easy connection to the new line.

• At Fenchurch Street, you could walk to Liverpool |Street.
• At West Ham, you could take the Jubilee Line to Stratford or Canary Wharf.
• At Upminster, you could take the Romford and Upminster Line to Romford.
• At Southend Central, you could walk to Southend Victoria and get a train to Shenfield.

To make matters worse, the current time of 65 minutes between Southend Central and Canary Wharf, could possibly be challenged by an improved link from Southend Victoria to Shenfield for Crossrail.

It all depends, where you want to go at the London end.

c2c must be thinking hard about how to improve their services.

I believe they’ll be looking at all or some of these.

• New services to and from new stations.
• Use of London-style contactless ticketing.
• Faster train services, making more use of the 100 mph capability of the trains.
• A viable link to Crossrail.

Whoever, is the operator to Southend Victoria will be doing the same.

It strikes me that the major winners will be passengers going between South East Essex and London.

Electrostar Or Aventra?

I wonder, if the extra train buying for c2c will follow a similar pattern to the London Overground.

The Overground has got a total of 57 Class 378 trains, which like c2c’s are Electrostars, but are ten years younger and five-cars.

I thought, when it was announced that Bombardier had won the order for more trains for the Overground to serve the Lea Valley Lines and Gospel Oak to Barking Line, that it would be more of the same Class 378 trains.

But London Overground added a fleet of Class 710 trains from the new Aventra family.

The Electrostar and the Aventra are both four-card electric multiple units and I suspect once inside, the average passenger won’t notice much difference, but under the skin, the Aventra will be a more efficient train.

Aventra IPEMUs For c2c?

One of the advantages of an Aventra over the Electrostar, is that the trains are wired to be fitted with on-board energy storage. The main reasons for fitting this and making the train an IPEMU include.

• Saving energy by enabling regenerative braking. Not needed as the lines are already enabled.
• Simplifying overhead wiring in depots. Only needed if the existing depots need to be extended.
• Running trains on branch lines without electrification. Not needed unless c2c opens new services to places like London Gateway and Tilbury Riverside.

Running services to London Gateway could be the clincher, as to whether Aventras with an IPEMU-capability are ordered.

I have a feeling that a few miles closer to London, that London Overground will be using similar Aventra IPEMUs to enable the new Barking Riverside Extension to be built without electrification. I wrote about this in Defining The GOBlin Extension To Barking Riverside.

Aventra IPEMUs could run the following route.

• The service would start on the current line to London Gateway, which is not electrified, at a new station, serving the important  port and logistics area.
• After calling at East Tilbury, it would serve Tilbury Riverside, by reopening the old branch as a line without electrification.
• It would then use the existing line through Tilbury Town and Grays, before going to Upminster via the line through Chafford Hundred Lakeside.
• After stopping at Upminster, it would use the Romford to Upminster Line, to continue to Romford.

I would estimate that London Gateway to Romford via Tilbury Riverside would take under the hour and four trains could be needed to run a two trains per hour service.

Note the following.

• The Aventra IPEMUs would run normally on the electrified parts of the route, charging their on-board energy storage along the way.
• On the branches without electrification, trains would run on their stored energy.
• This service would connect London Gateway to Heathrow Airport via Crossrail and to Felixstowe via the Great Eastern Main Line.
• A service could be run from Shoeburyness and Southend to Romford, which would not need IPEMUs.
• The service to Romford also give c2c’s network a much-needed link to Crossrail.
• Calling at Tilbury Riverside would be for the cruise ships at the London Cruise Terminal and the Gravesend-Tilbury Ferry
• Calling at Chafford Hundred Lakeside would connect the Lakeside Shopping Centre to Crossrail.
• London Overground would lose responsibility for the Romford to Upminster Line.
• There would be some track adjustments at Upminster, but there would be no need to electrify the two new branches.

Given that the route connects several important commercial, leisure and housing areas, I think it could become a route, that exceeded its expectations, by a long way.

The one problem could be in linking the single track from Romford to Upminster to the single track through Chafford Hundred Lakeside.

Trackwork At Upminster

This Google Map shows Upminster station.

Upminster Station

Note.

• The line to Chafford Hundred Lakeside going off to the South East.
• The line to Romford going off to the North West.
• London Underground’s Upminster Depot to the North East of the station.
• The Romford to Upminster Line comes into a platform at the North side of the station.

I suspect that engineers have methods to get trains across the London Underground lines in a flat junction without building an expensive viaduct.

Conclusions

Obviously c2c have a plan for their new trains and extra services, all over South-East Essex. All will be revealed in the next few years!

But I do think that the Romford to Upminster Line is more use to c2c, than as an isolated single-train outpost for the London Overground.

I also think that the local authorities and the people of the area, would all like to see Crossrail, Lakeside Shopping Centre, London Cruise Terminal, London Gateway, Romford, Southend and Upminster connected together by frequent electric trains.

Aventra IPEMUs would enable the two new branches to London Gateway and Tilbury Riverside, to be added without electrification.

April 13, 2016 Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Aventra, c2c, Class 710 Train, IPEMU, Romford And Upminster Line, Trains | 1 Comment