News analysis
says Evans. ‘It is possible to link toilet emptying to the door locking, to prevent a passenger from flushing a toilet while the doors are open when the train is standing at station. But I am told engineering solutions to fit retention tanks and electric plug doors are both feasible. What we haven’t done is work on the costs yet.’ The HSTs were built at Litchurch Lane in Derby, which today
is run by Bombardier. ‘We refurbished the Great Western HSTs four years ago, so we know them intimately,’ says Neil Harvey, Bombardier’s communications director, who worked on the trains as a young apprentice in the 1970s. ‘To get them to 2030, they will need stripping back to the shell and any corrosion dealt with. Some of them will need new sections where the corrosion is bad. ‘Toilets and electric doors are both do-able. There is space on a
Mark 3 carriage to put a tank in. But my gut instinct is that it would be expensive. So is it absolutely necessary? They are running around without tanks at the moment, so presumably grandfather rights would allow that to continue. Modifying the doors is a bigger issue and again it would be expensive. To make them electrically operated, the structure surrounding the door would have to be re-designed. The current doors are curved at the back and swing outwards. To have sliding doors instead would involve a lot of chopping of steel around the door frame. The strength of the carriage lies in its tube design. So to cut it about is serious engineering. ‘It would be cheaper than building brand new trains, so it is
viable,’ Harvey concludes. ‘But is it justifiable? If refurbishment is around 60 per cent of the cost of new-build, is it the right thing to do? Or would it be more cost-effective to buy off-the-shelf carriages and electric locomotives that are tried and tested around Europe?’ Rail consultant David Smith from Warminster favours changing
the HST fleet to make the trains run more slowly, but accelerate more quickly. On the Great Western there are more station stops in the timetable than there were when the trains were first designed, meaning the 125 mph top speed is rarely reached. ‘Re-gear the power cars for 110mph max speed to clip time out of the schedule by sharper acceleration,’ he advises. ‘With the current stopping pattern, 125 mph is barely attained before braking for the next stop commences. ‘Note that much of the main line mileage is sub-125 mph anyway,
and there is little prospect of the limit being raised. Acceleration within schedules should lead to reduced numbers of trains being required – and crews – substantially reducing costs. A target should be Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington in one hour 40 mins. Thus a 20 minute turn round would enable Bristol crews to do two round trips in a shift.’ Smith says the original Bristol to Paddington timetable had
trains calling only at Bath and Reading, allowing the full 125mph potential to be exploited. But not enough passengers were on board, so gradually more stops at Chippenham, Swindon and Didcot were added.
‘The key to matching capacity to demand is to look seriously at
the options for express peak hour trains from Reading to Paddington. Currently FGW haul empty seats from all over the west to satisfy the Reading to Paddington market. In a logical world, the HST or its successor would terminate at Plymouth, with services beyond Plymouth being operated by stock with a power to weight ratio suited to the terrain in Cornwall. The greyhound of the Brunel Thames valley speedway becomes a lumbering elephant once it stumbles across the Tamar.’ When the HSTs were last refurbished, there were 10 spare trains available each day. So it was possible to take several trains at a time
SEPTEMBER 2010 PAGE 17
‘It would be cheaper than building brand new trains, so it is viable. But is it justifiable?’
out of the fleet. Class 180 Adelantes were available to fill in the gaps. That is no longer the case. First Great Western has 54 HST sets, of which 50 are used each day. The remaining four are scheduled for routine maintenance. So if the HSTs are to be re-built to last another 10 to 20 years, other rolling stock will have to be found if the timetable is to be maintained. Russell Evans says: ‘There isn’t a spare HST anywhere.’ He says that corrosion of the carriages is not a major issue. The
MTU engines have proved reliable, but will need a major overhaul. Alternators will have to be replaced and there are likely to be wiring issues. ‘We haven’t done masses of work on this yet,’ he admits. ‘Because no decisions have been taken; nobody has asked us about it. But we are assuming that pretty soon the Department for Transport is going to come knocking on the door. ‘There is no “do-nothing” option,’ Evans concludes. ‘Whatever the
Department chooses, it has to provide something in place of what we are currently using by 2016.’
PAUL CLIFTON IS THE TRANSPORT CORRESPONDENT FOR BBC SOUTH:
paul.clifton@
railpro.co.uk
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