The Railway Magazine – August 2019

August2019 •TheRailway Magazine•

ARRIVARail North hasconfirmed

thatsomeofi ts unpopular‘Pacer’

railbuses will berequired beyond

the December 31 withdrawal

deadline.

Delays in the deliveryand

commissioning of newCAFClass

195DMUsand Class 331 EMUs,

which enteredlimited public

servicesix months late on July 1,

mean Northern will not be able

eliminate its fleet of 102railbuses

entirely beforethe end of the

year.

The23Class 144s,basedat

NevilleHill in Leeds,should all

have beenretiredby March2019,

but will nowberetained into

2020 forshort-distancediagrams

in SouthYorkshire.

OnlyPorterbrook’s No.

currently meets new PRM

(persons withreduced mobility)

accessibilityregulations,with

the 22 other‘144s’receivinga

derogationto allowthem to

continue untilat least mid-2020.

Northern hopesto have

enough new and cascaded trains

availableto withdraw manyof

the Class 142sby December,but

some arelikely to surviveintothe

new year.

TheLeyland-built sets are

expectedtostart going off-lease

this month.

TheDepartmentforTransport

has askedcommunitygroups

to submit ideasforrecycling a

redundant‘Pacer’vehicle into a

meeting space, playgroup,cafe

or village hall.The winninggroup

will receivearailbusvehicle free

of charge fromPorterbrookto

bring their ideato life.

Northern ‘Pacers’ to nodalong until 2020

GATWICK Express operator

GoviaThameslinkRailway (GTR)

has been fined £1million and

orderedto pay£52,000 incosts

afterapassengerwaskilled while

leaning out ofaClass 442EMU in

sout hLondon.

Railway enthusiast andHitachi

Rail Europe technician Simon

Brown, 24,wasleaning out of the

guards’compartmentdroplight

windowofthe train when he

hit his head onasignal gantry,

with limited clearance, near

WandsworthCommon.

Thetrain, one of thefewonthe

routewith droplights accessible

to passengers,was tr avelling

at 61mph when the incident

occurred onAugust 7,

2016.

Ian Prosser,OfficeofRail

and Road(ORR) directorof

safet yand HM ChiefInspector

of Railways, has writtento

operators instructing themto take

“immediate actionto preventa

similar tragedy occurring again”.

Action will include making the

warning notices clearer around

droplights and adding window

bars to preventpassengers

leaning out.

Chartertrain operators using

olderrolling stock alreadywarn

passengers notto lean out of

anywindows,including sliding

ventilators,top reve nt accidents.

ORR says arou nd 1,500rail

vehicles still have droplight

windows,mainly Mk3 HST and

loco-hauled stock and charter

sets.Manyoft he Mk3s aredue

to be retired shortly,but main

line charterstock will needto be

modifiedto makeits afer.

The‘442s’werewithdrawnby

GTR in 2017, but arecurrently

beingrefurbished andreturning

to servicewith SouthWestern

Railway.

GTR fined£1m afterpassengerdeath

Thebetter-than-expectedcondition of Class 144‘Pacers’means

they will almostcertainlycontinue into 2020 because of the

on-going delayofi ntroducing newrolling stock.OnJuly 17,

No.144001 leavesLeeds with the 12.48to Sheffield.CHRIS MILNER

LNER THEN AND NOW:
‘AZUMA’MEETSMALLARD
Thelaunch of LNER’s ‘Azuma’
trai ns to operate over the
section from Doncasterto
Edinburghtook placeatYork
on July 30.It provided arare
opportunitytomove‘A4’
No.4468Mallardoutoft he
NationalRailway Museum
to be presentednextto
Class 800 No.800113.The
steamto bi-mode transition
represents nearly 80years
of railway development.
PAUL BICKERDYKE

HitachiwinsEastMidlands bi-modeorder

ByBenJones

HITACHI Rail Europe has wona

£400 million dealto supply 165

bi-mode inter-cityvehiclesforthe

MidlandMain Line.

They will beformedinto 33

five-car trainsforAbellio’s new

East MidlandsRailway (EMR)

franchise,which iscommitted

to replacing the currentfleet

ofInterCity125s and Class 222

‘Meridians’. Describedby Hitachi

as an‘evolution’ofthe IET/AT

electro-diesel trains nowinuse

with GWR and LNER, and soonto

be introducedbyTransPennine

Express and HullTrains,the EMR

sets will be in serviceby2022 on

routes fromLondonSt Pancras

to the EastMidlands andSouth

Yorkshire. In manycases,they will

run as 10-car sets.

Theorder is aboost forHitachi’s

NewtonAycliffefactoryin County

Durham, which iscomingtowa rds

the end of majorcontractsto

deliver IETs andScotRail Class 385

EMUs. Around 65 suppliers from

the EastMidlands will also benefit

£2bn Midlands Rail Hub plan

MIDLANDSConnecthas

submitted detailed plansfor

a£2billion investmentint he

West Midlandsrail net work to

the Government.

TheMidlandsRail Hub

would involvethe construction

of new and upgraded rail

infrastructurebetween 2024

and 2033to crea te capacityfor

an extra24trains per hour on

the region's network,and the

transfer of morethan 4,

lorryloads of freightfromroad

to rail everyday.

Almost half the moneywould

be spentont he proposed

Bordesley Chords,two new

viaducts in Birmingham linking

the Camp Hill lineto Moor

Street station, andcosted at

£900millionto £950m.

These would create capacity

forafurther 20 trains per hour

and relievethe pressureon

New Street,the busiest station

outsideLondon.

Moor Street is also closerto

the new HS2Curzon Street

terminus,and ashared‘station

square' is envisagedto provide

better integration ofregional

and high-speed services.

Also proposed isa£100m

diveunder or flyover at

Nuneatontoenable direct

trainsto run between Cove ntry,

Leicester and Nottingham, and

incremental improvementsto

the Birminghamto Leicester

routetoallow faster and more

frequenttrains.

Capacityfor 36 additional

freightpaths aday would also

be created, alon gwith higher

frequencyand fasterregional

passenger services onroutes

linking Birmingham with

Nottingham,Derby, Leicester,

HerefordandWorcester.

GBRf wantsHSTsfor parcelstraffic

GB RAILFREIGHT hasreaffirmed

its in terest in acquiring

redundantInterCity125 setsfor

conversionto high-speed freight

trains.

Thefreightoperator is keen

to tap into the rapidlygrowing

internet shopping market,which

requires speedyovernight

deliveryfromdistribution

centrestoc ustomers in UK cities,

especiallyLondon.

GBRf believes 125mph-capable

trainswould makeitmore

feasibleto obtain paths on main

line routes into Londontermini

such asEuston andPaddington,

whereparcelcagescould be

quickly transferredto local

deliveryvehicles.

Many HST powercars and

Mk3 trailers have re cent ly been

retired by GWR, and morewill be

displaced shortlyby LNER and

East MidlandsRailway,which will

replaceits MidlandMain Line

inter-cityfleet with new bi-mode

trainsby 2022.

PETER RAMPTON: 1934-

from the order.Hitachi will also

maintain the new fleet,taking

over EMR’s depotat Etche sPark

in Derby.

Four of the fivecars in each set

will be powere dand each car will

be shorter, at 24 metres,than their

ancestorsto comply with gauging

issues on the MML.Featuring free

wi-fi throughout,plugsockets

and better passenger information

screens,they will also offer an

improved and moreconsistent

‘seven day’catering servicefor all

passengers.However ,the fleet will

bringasignificantreduction in

the number of inter-cityvehicles

allocatedtoMML dutie s, dropping

from the currentcombinedtotal

of 279 (136 Mk3 trailers and 143

‘222’cars)to just 165.This will be

counterbalancedto an extent by

the transfer ofCorbyservicesto

EMU operation next year.

Taking advantage of the £1.5bn

MML upgrade they will run in

electric mode between London

and Market Harborough but even

when running in diesel mode,

the modern engines willreduce

harmful particulate emissions

by up to 90% comparedto the

currentHSTs.Theorder is being

financedby Rock Rail,which is also

funding Abellio’s new Stadler fleet

forGreaterAnglia.

Haveyougotastoryforus?Email: [email protected]

PETER JohnRampton, who

wasprima rily knownfor

hisextensiveacquisition of

locomotives threatened with

scrapping,diedonJuly 3at

the age of 85.

Mr Rampton alsofounded

BreconMountainRailway

in partnership with the late

Tony Hills and boughtValeof

RheidolRailway from British

Rail,and set aboutreturning

the lineto its former Great

Western glory(again with

Tony Hills).

Askilled engineer,

successful farmer and a

man dedicatedtosteam,

he not only savedaround

40 locomotives from all

over theworld, leadingto

him foundingThePhyllis

Rampton Narrow Gauge

Railway Trust,but had

numerous other passions,

includingAC Cars and

medieval buildingrestor ation.

Aman who shunned

publicity, his significant

contributionto preservation

will befeatured in the

September issue of

TheRailway Magazine.

CliffThomas