NEWS
IEP and Thameslink deals leave taxpayers at risk, say MPs forecasts being wrong.
The Department for Transport’s decision to buy the new trains for Intercity Express Programme and Thameslink itself has left taxpayers bearing “all the risk”, MPs have warned.
The cross-party Public Accounts Committee’s (PAC's) new report, ‘Procuring new trains’, says the DfT’s decision to lead the procurement, despite having no previous experience of doing so, was a break from its old approach of leaving it to the ROSCOs and operators to buy trains. By buying the fleets directly, the DfT has forced taxpayers to take on the risk of passenger demand
The PAC said these two major projects demonstrate, yet again, that the DfT has limited capacity and capability to manage large- scale procurements, and that it remains overly reliant on consultants. PAC chair Margaret Hodge MP said: “The Department has no previous experience of running a procurement of this kind, let alone two with a combined value of £10.5bn.”
The DfT’s actions have “led to confusion over the respective roles and responsibilities of government and the industry,
which need to be clarified”, the PAC added.
A DfT spokesmen rejected some of the PAC criticism, saying: “Successive governments have
considered how best to deliver these orders and have come to the same conclusion, that government should lead with expert support and advice from the TOCs.”
Ex-LU stock being converted into DEMUs – next stop the north?
Rail union RMT is outraged, however. General secretary Mick Cash said: “[The government] are being forced to consider replacing one lash-up (Pacers) with another by press-ganging 30-year-old LU stock into service, raising serious safety issues.”
A DfT spokesperson said: “There is no government proposal to replace Pacer trains with old LU trains.”
A rolling stock company has purchased the outgoing London Underground D78 stock with plans to convert them into DEMUs – with suggestions that they could be used to replace Pacers “at a fraction of the cost of buying conventional new rolling stock”.
In November Vivarail acquired 150 driving motor cars and about 300 vehicles of ex-District Line stock with plans to form 75 units of two, three or potentially four-car trains. A Vivarail spokesperson confirmed the purchase to RTM and said the first batch is due to arrive “shortly”, as they are withdrawn from LU operations and replaced with S Stock.
Vivarail plans to have a converted prototype ready by May or June of this year.
The spokesperson also confirmed there had been expressions of interest from TOCs regarding the scheme but would not go into further detail. But its website makes a point of mentioning that the new train meets all the regulations on disability access – a key flaw of the Pacers, which would need an expensive overhaul before the regulations become mandatory in 2020.
The company calls the proposed converted units ‘D-Trains’ and says: “The Vivarail D-Trains are purpose-designed DMUs. They are ideal for local rail services, where the requirement is for fast acceleration, minimal station dwell times, easy movement through the train for passengers and staff, and capacity combined with comfort.”
6 | rail technology magazine Dec/Jan 15
Vivarail, created in 2012 specifically to produce the D-Train concept, is led by a team with a huge amount of rail experience under their belts, headed up by former Chiltern Railways chair Adrian Shooter.
The company says: “D-Trains are much more than London’s cast-offs. Instead they offer a new concept in sustainable travel for local rail services, with a first- class engineering pedigree.”
The ‘flexible frame’ bogies are barely 10 years old, and Vivarail has promised new engines and generators; new auxiliary equip- ment; new traction control sys- tems; new national rail safety systems; a new cab structure; new gangways; new lighting; new or refurbished interiors, based on client requirements; upcycled corrosion-free alumin- ium bodyshells; and upcycled ‘nearly-new’ bogies. More at the RTM website.
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