Rail passengers on the country’s most overcrowded services get extra carriages


by Paul Clifton


First Great Western is to add 46 carriages to its fleet, easing acute capacity problems through the Thames Valley. The refurbished vehicles, which will be


delivered between February and September next year, will add 4,500 seats into and out of London Paddington during the peaks. First Great Western runs all of the 10 most overcrowded trains into London.


On the 07:40 from Reading, passengers are


delighted by the news. The five-car train carries twice as many people as it has seats. Five Class 180 Adelante trains will replace


most Turbo trains on the Cotswold services. FGW handed back these unloved Birmingham-built trains several years ago because they were too expensive and too unreliable. The trains will now return from Northern and East Coast.


Fifteen former HST buffet cars will be


converted into standard class carriages and used to lengthen existing HST services from South Wales and Bristol. Two three-car Class 150 trains will move from London Midland to operate the shuttle between Reading and Basingstoke, increasing capacity by 13 per cent. Thames Turbos released from this re-shuffle will be used to strengthen other commuter services. In all, peak capacity will be increased by nine per cent. The 06:37 from Reading to Paddington – identified as Britain’s most overcrowded train – will be strengthened from three cars to six. For passengers, the extra carriages will come as


a long overdue, but pleasant, surprise. First Group has only 18 months of its franchise remaining, and this extra investment amounts to around £20m. FGW managing director Mark Hopwood has been working on finding extra carriages for


months. ‘The great thing about this project is that it delivers very quickly,’ he said.


‘Some of the trains will be in the business in the next few weeks. We’re going to refurbish them and get them into the trains early in the New Year. This is a very sensible plan that brings a large chunk of extra capacity and our customers will see a real difference.’ But it won’t mean everyone gets a seat.


Growth in the Thames Valley is so fast that the extra carriages will absorb just over one year’s increase. So in reality it will only stop the journey becoming even more overcrowded for a little while. The long term solution of electrification, new


trains and improved signalling is still years away. Refurbishing buffet cars doesn’t come cheap. The bill for the 48 carriages is almost £29m. With First Great Western’s franchise ending in 18 months, most of the cost will be borne by the DfT.


‘Key’ card launched ScotRail gears up for winter Norman Baker, left, with Chris Burchell


Scottish rail chiefs have armed themselves with new technology in an attempt to limit service disruption in the coming winter. Thermal imaging by helicopter and an ice-busting train cleaner imported from Finland are among the measures at the ready. But ScotRail emphasised it could not guarantee full services in sub-zero


temperatures. ‘There is no doubt that services will be disrupted if there is a repeat of the extreme conditions last year,’ said customer services director, Jacqueline Taggart. ‘However, we will do all we can to keep people informed and to take care of them.’ The operator ran a series of station roadshows last month to encourage


n


Southern Railway has launched a new smartcard, which it calls the ‘key’. A pilot project is running


between Brighton and Seaford for season tickets. Over the next year, it will be extended to the whole Southern network outside London, followed by suburban services in 2013. The routes closest to London come last because Southern must wait for Oyster card readers to accept ITSO compliant cards in two years’ time. Touch pads similar to the Oyster card system have been fitted at stations involved in the trial. The card is the first in the


region, so Norman Baker, the junior transport minister and local Lib Dem MP for Lewes, came to his local station to unveil it. ‘The Department for Transport is


committed to having the majority of public transport journeys in England useable by smart card technology by the end of 2014. This opens up more options for passengers: Southern


could look at carnet tickets, where you buy a season ticket for a certain number of days, rather than every day of the week.’


The smart cards are a franchise commitment for Southern, and Baker said they would be a requirement of all future franchises. Southern says the ‘key’ will be


much more flexible than paper tickets, allowing it to adapt fares more easily. The scheme will be introduced on Brighton & Hove Buses, also run by Go-Ahead, by next September, and the same technology is being introduced on its London Midland franchise. Southern’s managing director Chris Burchell said: ‘In time, our ticket should be the same ticket you could use on buses in Brighton or in Crawley. So people won’t have to carry lots of different cards with them.’


Shelly Atlas, chair of Brighton


Line Commuters, welcomed the cards.


DECEMBER 2011 PAGE 5


people to sign up for travel alerts. Its other innovations include a ‘power shower’ system, regarded as best practice in Finland, which will be used at all depots to remove snow and ice from the undersides of trains. Meanwhile, Network Rail in Scotland unveiled a new £1m winter-


weather engineering train, which can be used to defrost key junctions and to transport engineers and equipment around the network during road closures. The company will also use its helicopter – more routinely used for monitoring – for thermal imaging, to identify spots where severe weather could cause difficulties. New heater insulators and snow displacers will be deployed to try to


keep points running. Heaters installed on the points were overwhelmed by volumes of ice and snow last year. ‘We are confident that the Scottish rail network will be as well prepared as possible for another severe winter,’ said David Simpson, Network Rail route managing director for Scotland.


www.railimages.co.uk


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