Thoughts And Facts About Class 319 Flex Trains From Manchester And Blackburn Into The Hills
On Thursday and Friday last week, I spent two days in the Premier Inn at Blackburn and explored the rail lines around the town with journeys all over the area that should by now have been fully electrified.
Class 319 Flex Trains
The main reasons to go was to see some Friends In The North and to see Ipswich play at Barnsley, but I also wanted to explore some of the hilly routes in Lancashire.
Porterbrook in their brochure for the Class 319 Flex trains says that the objective for the train is that it can run from Manchester Piccadilly to Buxton on the Buxton Line, under the power that is available, which is electrification only as far as Hazel Grove station.
The Routes With Hills
There are three routes from Manchester and Blackburn that climb into the hills.
- The Ribble Valley Line to Blackburn via Bromley Cross and then on to Clitheroe and Hellifield stations.
- The East Lancashire Line Line to Colne station
- The Buxton Line to Buxton station.
The lines are not for low-powered trains and the current Class 150 or Class 156 trains struggled on the three climbs I did.
- Hazel Grove to Buxton in the afternoon.
- Blackburn to Clitheroe early in the morning.
- Bolton to Blackburn, crush-loaded in the rush hour.
Someone told me, that leaf fall can be a problem in the Autumn.
In no particular, these are my thoughts and some facts from other sources and my observations.
Blackburn Depot
A conductor told me that Northern Rail will be creating a depot and basing train crew at Blackburn.
This article in the Lancashire Telegraph is entitled Multi-million pound train depot set for Blackburn.
This is said.
Blackburn is to get a new multi-million pound train depot as the latest stage of East Lancashire’s rail revolution.
The stabling, maintenance and cleaning centre will include an office block and new connection to the existing Bolton junction where the tracks to Preston and Darwen divide.
If as I believe the Class 319 Flex trains could serve Clitheroe/Hellifield and Colne, then it could be an ideal location. Especially, if the Clitheroe/Hellifield and Buxton services were run back-to-back across Manchester.
Double Track Most Of The Way
The three lines have the following track layouts.
- The Ribble Valley Line has a large proportion of double track, which stretches to Hellifield.
- The Buxton Line is double-track.
- The East Lancashire Line is single-track from Rose Grove station to Colne station.
So hopefully, if two trains per hour (tph) were to be run on these three branches, passing would be possible.
Hellifield
Hellifield station is where the Ribble Valley Line connects to the Settle-Carlisle Line.
A conductor told me that he’d heard that Northern would like to serve Hellifield more regularly.
Since I first wrote this, I’ve heard that the tracki at Hellifield has been recently replaced and is in good condition.
Housing And Other Property Development
As I travelled along the lines to Clitheroe and Buxton, there was a lot of housing development along the line, at places like Clitheroe, Hazel Grove, Whalley to name just three.
The crowded trains I used in the Peak to Blackburn are going to carry even more passengers and the need for capacity with power on these lines will increase.
Tourism Issues
Buxton, Clitheroe Colne and Hellifield all have reasons for tourists and especially those that enjoy visiting the hills.
I have no figures to back it up, but I suspect leisure passengers often go loaded with children in buggies, bicycles and heavy rucksacks and cases. They certainly do in the Summer on the trains of East Anglia and that is flat.
Add in the weather forecast and the effects of new trains and at times, there could be a large increase in leisure and tourism-related travel.
If the trains connected the Settle and Carlisle Line at Hellifield to Blackburn, Manchester and perhaps Buxton, this would surely open up a tourist train route, that Doctor Beeching wouldn’t have thought was the least bit feasible.
Future Train Frequencies
Train frequencies to Manchester could possibly grow to the following.
- Blackburn – 2 tph to Manchester Piccadilly
- Blackburn – 2 tph to Manchester Victoria
- Buxton – 2 tph
- Clitheroe – 2 tph
- Hazel Grove – 4 tph
In addition, the intersecting route from Blackpool South to Colne via Preston and Blackburn, could be running 2 tph.
I do suspect though, that 1 tph to and from Hellifield will be enough. But who knows? I could just be as wrong as Beeching.
The lines probably have a Peak problem, that is fairly unusual in the UK, but probably is common in countries with real mountains like Austria, Japan and Switzerland. One direction of Peak travel is downhill, but the other is up a very steep railway.
On train frequencies, this is said in the Wikipedia entry for the Ribble Valley Line.
A six-week engineering blockade saw the existing passing loop there extended by 1 mile (1.6 km) at each end and signalling improvements made to add capacity on the line and allow for service frequencies between Bolton & Blackburn to be doubled to two trains per hour each way throughout the day from December 2017.
Could this be why, Porterbrook are planning to deliver four refurbished Class 319 Flex trains by the end of 2017, according to their brochure?
Some powerful extra trains will probably be needed to achieve the objective of 2 tph to Blackburn and four Class 319 Flex will help.
Future Train Capacity
I did two journeys in the Peak to Blackburn; in the first I took the slower service via Todmorden and Burnley in a two-car train and in the second, I took the direct route via Bromley Cross, in a four-car formation.
The second was the most crowded, but it was Friday. It also struggled up the hill from Bolton to Blackburn.
Northern’s decision to go for a four-car Class 319 Flex train which could be used on some of these routes, is understandable.
Blackburn To Huddersfield
I travelled to Huddersfield station from Manchester Victoria and didn’t see any signs of electrification on this important route.
Returning to Blackburn from Huddersfield, my train was a direct service which travelled via Manchester Victoria, Bolton and Bromley Cross.
This would be an ideal service to run using a Class 319 Flex train, until Network Rail get their act together and electrify Manchester Victoria to Huddersfield. Even if they only get the wires as far as Stalybridge, the Class 319 Flex would be an enormous improvement compared to the asthmatic Class 156, that struggled with its full load of passengers to Blackburn.
The Calder Valley Line
The Calder Valley Line goes through very picturesque countryside between Preston and Leeds.
I think that full electrification of this line could never happen.
- The line has large numbers of stone and brick viaducts and bridges, which would be very expensive to modify for electrification.
- The station at Hebden Bridge is Grade II Listed.
- There is electrification between Leeds and Bradford, which could probably be extended as far as Halifax.
- Preston is fully electrified and affordable electrification to Blackburn or perhaps Rose Grove or Burnley Manchester Road stations should be possible.
- Electrification to Rose Grove would mean that the service between Blackpool South and Colne could be run using electricity between Rose Grove and Kirkham and Wesham stations.
But the biggest problem would be the opposition to overhead gantries in the hills.
The distances are revealing.
- Burnley to Halifax is just over twenty miles
- Blackburn to Halifax is just over thirty miles.
If Halifax to Bradford wasn’t electrified then that adds another ten miles.
All distances would be within range of a modern bi-mode train, including a Class 319 Flex.
Other Destinations
From Hazel Grove, it is possible for diesel trains to access the Hope Valley Line towards Sheffield.
There must be stations on this line that are possible destinations for a Class 319 Flex train.
Chester and Windermere have also been mentioned as future destinations for the train.
Electrification
Electrification has been painfully slow in the North-West, as it has in most places in the UK.
It looks like that by the end of 2017, Manchester to Preston via Bolton and the Blackpool Branch to Blackpool North station will be electrified.
The advantage of the Class 319 Flex is that it can use this electrified set of lines to run services to stations like Barrow, Blackburn, Blackpool South, Burnley, Chester, Hebden Bridge, Sellafield and Windermere, that are off the electrified network in conjunction with the Class 319 trains.
The Need For A Train To Climb The Hills
From this brief analysis and my observations, it would seem that Northern need a few four-car trains with adequate power to get up the hills at a speed, that enables an efficient timetable. As some of the routes from Manchester Piccadilly and Victoria are electrified, the ideal train would need the capability to use the wires.
If ever, there was a series of routes that need a bi-mode train, then it is these routes.
The Class 319 Flex And The CAF Civity
The Class 319 Flex has according to the brochure I’ve seen been designed to run from Manchester to Buxton with a full load of passengers in the Peak or perhaps after a City-United Derby.
But Northern have ordered new CAF Civity trains in the following versions.
- 25 two-car Class 195 diesel trains
- 30 three-car Class 195 diesel trains
- 31 three-car Class 331 electric trains
- 12 four-car Class 331 electric trains.
This is said in the Wikipedia entry for the Class 331 trains.
In early 2016 it was confirmed that Spanish rolling stock manufacturer CAF would construct the new electric powered trains which are planned to operate in West Yorkshire to replace Class 321 and Class 322 trains and work alongside the current fleet of Class 333 units. The four-car Class 331 units will be deployed on electrified services from Manchester Piccadilly to replace the Class 323 units which are due to return to Porterbrook at the end of their current lease in 2018.
So it would appear that the Class 319 trains will continue to operate for a few years yet! Hopefully with better seats, wi-fi and a few other smaller improvements.
I think that Northern have decided that until the Class 195 trains arrive that the Class 319 Flex trains are the best short-term solution. But given the overcrowding on the routes will the future three-car trains have enough capacity?
So I suspect, if Northern go the CAF Civity route, I feel that Northern will acquire some longer diesel trains or even some dual-power Civitys.
But at least running Class 319 Flex trains on the route will effectively produce the specification for these hilly routes.
Plans For New Rolling Stock To Replace BR DMUs
This is the title of an article on the Rail Magazine. This is said.
Diesel multiple units built in the 1980s by British Rail could be replaced in the next decade, as the Department for Transport believes there are “likely to be significant opportunities” to replace them with modern diesels.
Outlined in the Rolling Stock Perspective: Moving Britain Ahead report published on May 18, this would mean that as well as the Pacers, potentially all Class 150s, ‘153s’, ‘155s’, ‘156s’, ‘158s’ and ‘159s’ could be withdrawn. That would be 1,033 vehicles if all were replaced like-for-like.
The article is based on a Department for Transport document entitled Rolling Stock Perspective. The document says this.
Are self-powered, where required, with such trains meeting the latest emission standards and being built by a range of suppliers. New diesels are being procured as part of the Northern franchise improvements and there are likely to be significant opportunities over the next decade to replace the last remaining diesel multiple units ordered in the BR era with modern diesels that offer much more for passengers, and are designed with manufacturers and TOCs working ever more closely with Network Rail, to reduce the amounts of money needed to be spent to introduce them into service and to allow them to operate reliably and safely.
The report also says.
Good, high quality refurbishment can deliver a passenger experience comparable with new rolling stock.
So is this a feasible plan to remove the 15x trains in their present form from the network?
I will start by summing them up from a passenger perspective.
Class 150
The Class 150 train probably suffers from being too small and inadequate for a lot of the routes it serves. This alone means that they should be replaced, probably with something of at least three cars, as many are on routes, where ambitious train operating companies are endeavouring to grow traffic.
There are only so many elephants you can get in a Mini!
In 2014, I went to St. Ives and wrote St. Erth Station And The St. Ives Branch, where an immaculate Class 150 trundles the few miles along the branch.
This use sums up the class well.
- The two-car train was totally inadequate for the route.
- They can be cleaned up to be adequate for some purposes in their present form.
- Step free and wheelchair access is not very good.
- There is not enough space for bicycles.
- Seats are not the most comfortable.
On short branch lines like the St. Ives Branch, two refurbished units coupled together, might provide the service needed, but would it be better to spend more money on either a refurbished Class 165 train or even a new train?
In A Trip Around Wiltshire, I encountered a Class 150 train. As it was Glastonbury, it was loaded over capacity with heavy baggage. At least a five-car formation of say Class 165s was needed, not a two-car Class 150.
These days the Class 150 trains are mainly used in the North, Wales and the West Country, with some in the Midlands.
I would love to know the train operating companies attitude to these trains.
They may be cheap to lease. But!
- Running costs can’t be much less than say a three-car Class 165 train.
- The difficult train access must mean despair for the disabled and staff.
- Station stops are probably slower than needed, leading to late trains.
- Passengers will be turned away by the bad experience.
- They are not large enough for a lot of their routes.
Some like those in the North and Wales are planned for replacement and hopefully once GWR electrification is sorted and the Class 165 trains are replaced by electric ones, most of the Class 150 trains can go to appropriate retirement in the scrapyard.
Class 153
If anything sums up the cheapskate approach to the railways under successive governments it is the Class 153 train.
In my travels around Europe, I’ve never seen another single car train, excerpt on something like a mountain railway.
They may have a use, but it is certainly not running on the Nuneaton to Coventry Line.
On a lightly-used line they probably wouldn’t be as bad an experience as a Class 150 train, but they certainly wouldn’t be any good to generate traffic.
Class 156
There are 114 two-car Class 156 trains, which are certainly much better than the Class 150 and Class 153 trains.
I’ve certainly ridden some pretty comfortable Class 156 trains.
According to Wikipedia, some are being refurbished. This is said.
38 of the 114 Class 156 sets belong to leasing company Porterbrook, which announced in mid-2011 that they will be substantially refurbished at the time of their C6 overhauls. Seating layouts will be revised to provide priority seating and wheelchair spaces, and new universal toilets are to be installed, as also a passenger information system. Interior doors between vestibule and passenger saloon will be removed, and external door sounders fitted. The trains in question are as follows; 11 leased to East Midlands Trains, 9 toAbellio Greater Anglia and 18 to Northern.
I have a feeling that a lot of this class will be replaced by new or newer trains, simply because they run on the more important lines.
In the North and Scotland, electrification will directly replace some trains and others will be replaced by newer diesel multiple units cascaded from the newly electrified lines.
I believe that refurbishing these trains to a high standard could be possible, and these trains could be ideal for lightly used lines, either working singly or in a four-car formation.
But their top speed of only 75 mph probably means on some of the routes they serve, they cause problems for train operators.
Also, because they have a good range, they might well be a good train to have as cover to help solve the problems of breakdowns and extra capacity for events like Glastonbury.
Class 158 And Class 159
I am considering the Class 158 and Class 159 trains together, as it is rather a moveable feast as to which class the trains belong.
They are slightly younger than the other trains and on some routes like Waterloo to Salisbury and Exeter, they are certainly not a bad experience.
When the Government report said.
Good, high quality refurbishment can deliver a passenger experience comparable with new rolling stock.
They might have had these trains in mind.
I think though, they have qualities that make them suitable for longer routes that have to use diesel traction.
- They are a 90 mph train.
- They have a long range.
- They could have plenty of tables.
- They can accommodate a catering trolley.
- They could be a good route-development train.
- As they are Mark 3.5 coach based, they would certainly scrub up brilliantly.
I think the only problem could be that there are two hundred trains. But seeing the way traffic is developing in the UK, I’m sure that train operating companies could find a use for them.
I have travelled on Class 158 trains on the Settle to Carlisle Line and this is the sort of journey for which the trains are ideal. So what would happen, if routes like this were given a more frequent service with refurbished Class 158/159 trains, that perhaps had the following.
- Good catering.
- Lots of tables.
- Wi-fi
- Lots of luggage and cycle space.
- London Bus-style wheelchair access.
I don’t think the affect on traffic would be negative.
Summing Up The Current Situation
If I look at the numbers of each type of older diesel multiple units we get.
- Class 150 – 137 trains – 133 x two-car and 4 x three-car. – 278 coaches.
- Class 153 – 70 trains – 70 x one-car – 70 coaches.
- Class 156 – 114 trains – 114 x two-car – 228 coaches.
- Class 158/159 – 200 trains – 143 x two car and 57 x three-car – 343 coaches.
Which gives a total of 919 coaches.
On the other hand, I think we can assume the following.
- Great Western Electrification should release a mixture of thirty seven three car and twenty two-car Class 165/166 trains.
- The Class 150 and Class 153 trains could go to a more suitable place.
- The Class 156 trains could possibly be refurbished to a standard to make them a good Class 150 and Class 153 replacement for some routes.
- The Class 158/159 trains could probably be refurbished to the required high standard.
So we’re left with a deficit of about two hundred carriages, without counting good quality trains released from Scottish and Lancashire electrification.
How Could We Bridge The Gap?
At least though we have various trains and solutions available and some have been noted in the last couple of months.
The following sections detail the various solutions.
New Civity Diesel Multiple Units from CAF
Arriva Rail North surprised a lot of people with their order for a mixture of new Civity diesel and electric multiple units from CAF.
I wrote about the order in Arriva Rail North’s New Trains.
The Civity design is modular and this data sheet from CAF describes the Civity range.
Points to note.
- Diesel, electric and bi-mode versions are available.
- It has been designed for standard gauge.
- There is a UK version called Civity UK.
- Top speed is 160 kph, but 200 kph is available.
- The list of interior options is wide.
Reading the data sheet, I get the impression that operators get standard trains with the features they want.
I don’t know the answer, but I suspect that like the Class 378 trains of the London Overground, the Civity trains can be lengthened or shortened, by adding or removing trailer cars between the two driving cars. This concept has worked so well on the Overground, I doubt that a train manufacturer wouldn’t copy it.
Thus you could have four car DMUs on a route like the Calder Valley Line. If and when the line gets electrified, you do a bit of swapping and add two electric driving cars and get four-car EMUs and two-car DMUs.
I believe the flexibility of the design, means that we’ll see more Civity trains in the UK.
New Diesel Multiple Units from Other Manufacturers
I said earlier, that there could be a total need of about two hundred carriages, but this is probably not many, unless you have a proven product ready to be built.
Given that CAF have already sold ninety-eight assorted trains to Arriva Rail North and another twelve 200 kmh-capable trains to TransPennine Express, it would be hard to sell a new design of modern diesel multiple unit into the UK. More Class 172 and Class 185 trains are probably not an option.
Rakes Of Coaches From CAF
Rakes of coaches seem to be making a comeback, as I wrote in Are Train Coaches Making A Comeback In The UK?
Fitted with a suitable and available locomotive at one end and a driving cab at the other, these could be used in some of the difficult and perhaps scenic routes.
Again CAF seem to have got the proven product, which has been sold to Caledonian Sleeper and TransPennine Express.
Have the clever Spanish designed a driving cab with bags of style and panache, for the TPE rakes? It certainly won’t be a driving van trailer knocked up from the parts bin.
One of the advantages of coaches, is that there are a lot of suitable and acceptable locomotives available. Fleet details for the Class 68 locomotive, already show a new order for seven extra units for TransPennine Express.
Anybody, who doesn’t believe that Class 68s and coaches, are a viable option, should be forced to go to Birmingham from London on Chilton and see how good upgraded 1970s-built Mark 3 coaches hauled by a modern diesel locomotive can be.
Rakes Of Refurbished Mark 3 Coaches
If buying new coaches from CAF is a viable order, why didn’t TransPennine Express, do what Chiltern have done and refurbish some of the many Mark 3 coaches.
I think it comes down to these factors.
- Mark 3 coaches need a driving van trailer, so a five-car train is effectively seven units long if you count the locomotive and the DVT.
- Are Mark 3 coaches coming to the end of their lives?
- Is there a shortage of DVTs?
- If CAF build a stylish driving cab in the end coach, the train will have an enormous wow factor!
- The operator can get the interior layout they want.
- Could the cost be not much different between the new and refurbished trains?
In the end the CAF route gives the operator exactly what they want.
The only thing that might happen, is that somebody copies the CAF idea and creates a short rake of Mark 3 coaches, with a driving cab in the last coach. But that is probably a more expensive option.
Chiltern Railways
Chiltern Railways could have a valuable part of play in the replacement of older diesel multiple units.
They currently run some of their Chiltern Main Line services to Birmingham and Oxford using rakes of Mark 3 coaches and Class 68 locomotives.
They currently have the following stock for this.
- 8 Class 68 locomotives
- 31 Mark 3 coaches
- 6 Driving Van Trailers.
Is that enough, given that Oxford will be served later this year?
Probably not! So is Chiltern scratching around searching for coaches and DVTs to create some extra rakes of coaches?
I don’t know, but with the three stations of Bicester Village, Oxford Parkway and Oxford on the new branch, two and three-car multiple units will surely not be big enough.
I would certainly suspect that as Chiltern is an ambitious company, one of their aims is to have all services between London and Oxford and Birmingham, run by modern rakes of coaches hauled by Class 68 locomotives.
These could either be new rakes from CAF or refurbished ones of Mark 3 coaches.
The big side effect would be that Chiltern may be able;e to release some of their modern diesel multiple units.
This probably illustrates why Class 68 and other locomotives pulling rakes of coaches could be very important in improving the quality of diesel multiple units in the UK.
Playing The Joker
There is even a joker in the pack of available locomotives to pull and push the coaches.
The Class 73 locomotive dates from the 1960s, but it has some unique advantages.
- They were built to run all over the Southern Region, including the narrow tunnels of the Hastings Line.
- They can run on third-rail electric lines or on diesel power.
- They seem to be reliable.
- They are capable of 90 mph, which is the same speed as a Class 159 train.
- There are over thirty still available.
- Re-engineering with modern diesel engines is being undertaken, to create a Class 73/9 variant.
- To say they scrub up well is an understatement.
Their latest application is far from their original habitat in the South, as they are now hauling the Caledonian Sleeper trains all over the Highlands, where in some places, the loading gauge is restrictive.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Class 73/9 locomotives hauling new coaches from Waterloo to Exeter.
- This would mean that new trains could serve Salisbury and Exeter from Waterloo, without extending the electrification from Basingstoke.
- The Class 73 locomotives would use the third-rail electrification at the London end of the route.
- The trains would have the same top speed as the current Class 159 trains.
- The Class 159 trains would be released for refurbishment and cascade to other routes and operators.
But the biggest advantage of this would be that South West Trains or its successor could offer a high-quality alternative service to Exeter and the wider West Country in competition with Great Western Railway’s new Class 802 bi-mode trains.
If anybody had suggested a few years ago, that you might replace a 1990s-built multiple unit with Spanish coaches hauled by a re-engineered 1960s-built locomotive, they’d have been taken away by men in white coats.
But then engineering is the science of the possible!
Battery Trains And IPEMUs
Clare Perry, who is the Rail Minister, says this in Rolling Stock Perspective about battery-powered trains and other similar developments.
Rail is already one of the most environmentally friendly forms of powered travel, but we need to go further. I want to see the industry develop and introduce uk-led innovative solutions such as battery-powered or hybrid trains which will make rail even better for the environment and reduce the industry’s operating costs.
I think we can say, that means that Government will look favourably on good innovative solutions for the replacement of diesel multiple units.
Bombardier are developing the Aventra train and trains will be wired to accept on-board energy storage, just like the demonstrator based on a Class 379 train, that I rode in January 2015.
These are now called IPEMUs or Independently Powered Electric Multiple Units. They would charge their batteries on an electrified main line, then use this power on a branch line or to perhaps bridge a section of line that was not electrified.
As a large number of diesel multiple units are used on branch lines from electrified main lines, IPEMUs could be a direct replacement without any new electrification. Some examples would be.
- Marks Tey to Sudbury
- Ipswich to Felixstowe
- Ipswich to Cambridge/Ely
- Cambridge to Norwich
- Norwich to Yarmouth
- Ely to Peterborough
- Liverpool to Preston via Ormskirk
- Oxted to Uckfield
- Ore to Ashford
Nothing has been said about the ordering and service entry of IPEMUs, but I don’t believe that the technology will be abandoned.
Conclusion
The elimination of the older diesel multiple units or their conversion into modern trains of the highest standard, is not an impossible dream.
But expect some surprises!
TransPennine Express Buys Spanish Trains
After Arriva Rail North bought 98 Civity trains from CAF, which I wroye about in Arriva Rail North’s New Trains, it probably wasn’t much of a surprise that TransPennine Express have gone to the same source for twenty-five new trains, as is detailed in this article in Global Rail News. This is said.
The new fleet, which will be maintained by Alstom at Longsight depot, will consist of 12 five-car Civity EMUs from CAF – financed by Eversholt Rail – and 13 five-car loco-hauled intercity trains.
The announcement follows an order placed earlier this year with Hitachi for 19 bi-mode train sets. Both fleets of new trains are due to be delivered between 2018 and 2019.
If there is a surprise, it is that they are going for locomotive-hauled sets or rakes of coaches.
The 12 five-car Civity EMUs will be running between Liverpool/Manchester and Edinburgh/Glasgow. According to the CAF data sheet, there will be a 200 kph version available, so these could mix it with other operators’ Class 800 trains.
The article also says this about the locomotive-hauled rake of Mark 5 coaches.
In addition to the new CAF trains and carriages, Beacon Rail-owned Class 68 locomotives will be leased from Direct Rail Services to operate intercity services between Liverpool and Newcastle.
So it would appear that the Class 68 locomotives could work Liverpool to Newcastle before the line is fully electrified. They would also be ideal for routes to Hull and Scarborough.
I would also suspect, that as the Class 88 electro-diesel locomotive is very similar to a Class 68, that these locomotives could also work some of the services, once the route is partially electrified.
The Mark 5 coaches, are probably similar to those being built for the Caledonian Sleeper. One question that has to be asked, is why haven’t TPE opted to bring some of the legendary Mark 3 coaches up to a modern standard.
- The concept of a quality set of coaches with a locomotive at one end has been proven to work in East Anglia, on Chiltern and on Deutsche Bahn.
- The conversion of doors, toilets and other issues, might mean that new coaches are better value for money.
- New coaches are probably good for at least thirty years.
- All the basic design has been paid for in the Caledonian Sleeper order.
- One of the five coaches in each set, could have a driving cab integrated into one end, so there would be no need for a separate driving van trailer.
- Have CAF applied all their designs for the modular Civity train to build a train, where you just plug a suitable locomotive into one end?
- New coaches sell seats, especially if they are designed for a good passenger experience.
- If you want six, seven or more coaches, you could probably just slot them into the rake.
I suspect that CAF have seen a gap in the market and have produced a design for a rake of coaches, that will appeal to the UK. I think we could be seeing these coaches appearing elsewhere.
At the end of the day, it all comes down to cost, reliability, flexibility and the quality of the passenger experience.
It does look to me, that by virtue of good design and manufacturing capacity, that CAF seem to have nicked a nice order from under the noses of the big companies.
- CAF could probably deliver coaches in 2018.
- Suitable locomotives are already in the UK and Stadler/Vossloh would probably oblige with a few more.
- The Class 68 locomotive doesn’t seem to generate bad reports in the media.
- The three previous points, might mean that TPE could be running new reliable trains earlier than anybody thinks.
- The Civity family is proven and is being built for Arriva Rail North.
- Hitachi haven’t probably got the capacity to build more Class 800 trains early enough.
- Bombardier haven’t built a high-speed Aventra, although they might have the capacity, but not a diesel variant.
I certainly think that TPE have got a good replacement at an affordable price for the overcrowded Class 185 trains.
Arriva Rail North’s New Trains
Arriva Rail North have announced a deal for a future fleet of new trains from privately-owned Spanish manufacturer; CAF.
Class 333 trains from this manufacturer, are already running in the North, so I suspect that Arriva Rail North know a lot about their quality and reliability. As a mere passenger, I’ve found the trains around Leeds to be very acceptable.
In the UK, CAF’s trams run on the Midland Metrolink and in Edinburgh, so CAF is not a manufacturer unknown to the UK.
CAF are proposing their Civity train, which comes in various modules, as summed up by Wikipedia.
The Civity is a modular concept which can be delivered as an Electric multiple unit, Diesel multiple unit, Diesel-electric or Dual mode. This family of trains is designed for 4 different power supplies: 1500 V DC, 3000 V DC, 15 kV AC and 25 kV AC. Each unit has shared motor bogies and a low floor of 860 mm. The design was launched in 2010.
So it would appear that, as a modular design, where DMUs and EMUs will share components and characteristics, it may offer cost savings to an operator.
This data sheet from CAF describes the Civity range. Points to note.
- It has been designed for standard gauge.
- There is a UK version called Civity UK.
- There is a cold-weather version called Civity NORDIC.
- There is a Russian gauge version. As CAF have sold to Ireland, I suspect there’s an Irish gauge version.
- Top speed is 160 kph, but 200 kph is available.
- The list of interior options is wide.
Reading the data sheet, I get the impression that Arriva Rail North are getting standard trains with the features they want.
I don’t know the answer, but I suspect that like the Class 378 trains of the London Overground, the Civity trains can be lengthened or shortened, by adding or removing trailer cars between the two driving cars. This concept has worked so well on the Overground, I doubt that a train manufacturer wouldn’t copy it.
Thus you could have four car DMUs on a route like the Calder Valley Line. When the line gets electrified, you do a bit of swapping and add two electric driving cars and get four-car EMUs and two-car DMUs.
The trains are already in service in three countries; Italy, Latvia and Montenegro, with an order for 120 trains for The Netherlands in the pipeline.
Reading the various articles about the purchase, some worries surface in comments.
One is that do CAF have the capacity to build all the trains required? I think they do for two related reasons.
They are a private company based in the Basque country and it will be a matter of pride on the part of the owners and the region to not fail. This section from Wikipedia about the countries history is interesting.
Since 1958 the company has modernized and enlarged its Beasain plant and expanded its activity to include all kinds of rolling stock. In line with this, in 1969 CAF created its Research and Development Unit, which increased the company’s competitiveness and intensified the focus on in-house technology.
CAF gives the impression, it is an ambitious, technology-led company and I believe the Arriva Rail North and Dutch orders are just steps up the ladder.
Worries are also raised that there aren’t enough trains ordered by Arriva Rail North and that the new trains will not be built in the UK.
On the number of trains, I would tend to agree, but if Arriva Rail North’s business plan is successful, then there will be money to purchase more trains and lengthen the existing ones, just as happened on the London Overground. People seem to forget we live in the New Age of the Train and Tram and the days of inadequate rolling stock orders to please the Treasury are hopefully over.
The fact that the trains will be built in Spain rather than the UK, is not that significant, if you look at what has happened in the motor industry, where a dead industry is now thriving on exports. We may not see any more train factories in the UK, but we do produce good railway technology in certain areas and as trains revive all over the world, there will be opportunities for the best companies manufacturing in the UK.
I would add a question about the order.
Over the next few years, the North will gradually develop a network of electrified trunk lines, which Arriva Rail North will exploit with the Northern Connect sub-brand.
Ever since, I rode the prototype IPEMU at Manningtree, I have believed that the technology has a place in the UK’s rolling stock and especially on routes in the North.
So I do wonder, if CAF have an IPEMU in their stable, as it would be ideal for say the Windermere and Barrow services.
But CAF did have a large hand in the creation of the Seville tram. This is said about the tram’s movement without catenary in Wikipedia.
From the start it was envisaged that part of the Metrocentro system should be able to run free from using the overhead contact wire for power. On several occasions the City of Seville administration had to dismantle the overhead wires to allow, at Easter, processions to pass without restriction; the builder of the rolling stock paid the extra cost for this.
The final system, which is now in use commenced from Holy Week 2011, the system uses advanced technology ACR (Acumulador de Carga Rápida) fast charging batteries -developed and patented by the Spanish company CAF.
As an electrical and control engineer by training, I feel that the modular design of the Civity train, which does include dual-mode trains, could possibly lead to an IPEMU.
Lets face it, Bombardier probably haven’t got much unique IPR in their IPEMU design and batteries and other energy storage devices are used in all sorts of vehicles from racing cars, to hybrid and electric cars and buses.
It’s all about putting the right modules together, to create a fleet of trains that fits the services you want to run.
If you look at the various Northern Connect routes, some could use EMUs, some DMUs and others like Windermere to Manchester Airport could use dual-mode trains.
This is said in an article in Rail Magazine.
The contract is for 31 three-car and 12 four-car electric multiple units, and 25 two-car and 30 three-car diesel multiple units. The carriages will be owned by Eversholt Rail, and all will be in traffic by December 2018.
Using the diagrams on this page on CAF’s web site, this translates into the following.
- 86 EMU cabs
- 110 DMU cabs
- 85 Trailers
Which rather unsurprisingly adds up to 281 cars, the figure given in the article.
The question has to be asked, how many, if any, of the trains will be dual-mode variants, which can run on either overhead wires or on-board diesel engines.
It should be noted that the installed diesel power on a three-car dual-mode train is 200 kW or about the same as that of a single-car Class 153 train, so it might be fine when trundling Between Oxenholme and Windermere, but it is no long-distance charger.
Until we see the full fleet running a full service, we won’t see the actual mix of trains.
I think, that we’ll see other orders for the Civity family of trains in the near future.
Some will be in the UK.
Birmingham, Bristol, East Anglia and South Wales are all places, where a flexible fleet like Arriva Rail North seems to have ordered, will go down well.
If you look at the latest offerings from Alsthom, Bombardier, Hitachi and Siemens, they lack the flexibility of the Civity design.
I think that Arriva Rail North’s order could be more significant than anybody thinks!
The Anonymous Widower 