Rail Engineer – July 2019

(Ann) #1
Bathtub curve
Rolling stock reliability is measured as
Miles per Train Incident (MTIN), in which a
delay of over three minutes counts as an
incident.
As with any complex engineered system,
early component failures are inevitable -
teething problems to you and me. As the
train delivery phase nears its completion,
Hitachi is close to achieving long-term
levels of high reliability. In the most
recent period, an MTIN figure of 10,
was achieved and the best to date has
been 12,172. The figures fluctuate, but
by plotting the Moving Annual Average
(MAA) of MTIN the increasing reliability of
the fleet is revealed.

Service
As has been widely reported,
electromagnetic emissions from the
new trains can cause interference to the
railway infrastructure, especially to older
signalling installations. It is for this reason
that services on the ECML are currently
operating only between Kings Cross and
Leeds. The issue has been attributed to
high frequency harmonics in the primary
return current, as a consequence of
switching the input converters rather than
the traction three-phase inverter.
In conjunction with the ORR, both Hitachi
Rail Europe and Network Rail are working
to eliminate the interference problems. The
work involves fitting isolation transformers
to signalling equipment and reactances
(filters) to the trains - adding an additional
weight of about 750kg per affected vehicle.

This programme should be complete by
August, when the first service trains are
scheduled to run to Scotland.
The IEP roll out on the ECML will see
65 new Class 800/801 Azuma trains
in operation by the spring of 2020,
bringing to an end the 40-year era of
HST services and even the displacement
of the Class 91 fleet. This represents
an important step change, not only
in terms of passenger service, but
also improved reliability and reduced
environmental impact. Within the IEP
programme, there has been a lot to
deliver - improved infrastructure, a
new manufacturing facility at Newton
Aycliffe and the investment in new
and refurbished maintenance depots
across the UK, not to mention the

866 new carriages (122 trains) being
manufactured - 369 for the GWML and
497 for the ECML.
That shiny new depot at the end of Ten
Pound Walk is vital to the success of the
IEP programme on the ECML and, under
the terms of the Hitachi Rail contract, will
continue to be so for at least the next 27
years.
Except, it seems, for one Rail Engineer
writer, it’s very easy to find, down there
at the end of Ten Pound Walk. Easier still
if you happen to be LNER or TPE with an
800 to service. Most definitely the depot
is in the right place for that.
Oh, and what of that curiously named
access road? Apparently, it was the
route taken by drivers in the days of
steam when they collected their weekly
pay. Things have certainly changed at
Doncaster Carr Depot!

Plot of MTIN and MAA shows the increasing reliability of the fleet.

2020 FE ATURE

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