First D-Train on test
Vivarail’s prototype is now running, and company is ready to start building new trains “as and when an order is placed”.
VIVARAIL’S prototype Class 230 D-Train is now running as a threecar unit. Both driving cars are fully powered and the four gensets are running successfully. Apart from interior fit-out of the trailer car, the rest of the train is complete.
Currently, the prototype is the only train that will be built until an order is placed for operational units.
“We continue in discussions with London Midland and are ready to start building new trains for them as and when an order is placed,” Vivarail spokesman Alice Gillman told RAIL.
The prototype is currently going through an approvals process, and it is expected that it will be permitted for main line running in July and fully certified in August. Details of the main line tests and where they will take place have yet to be confirmed, but are anticipated imminently.
It had been expected that main line testing of the D-Train would take place by the end of 2015. Back in April ( RAIL 799), Gillman told RAIL: “We are a bit behind schedule - one of the suppliers took longer to get their systems sorted than we expected. However, we plan to have it on the main line in service by late spring/early summer.”
Asked by RAIL if these delays would cause any problems with the supply of operational units, Gillman replied: “We can supply the first
unit six months post-order. The delays we’ve had in completing the prototype have ironed out niggles in the supply chain and won’t have any effect in the longer term.”
Vivarail Chairman Adrian Shooter told RAIL that a basic, fully compliant three-car unit costs about £2 million. Only the bodyshell and bogies are being reused from the original D78 eLondon Underground donor train, and in some variants it is possible to reuse the basic seating.
There are many different variants of interiors available to operators, however, so the cost per train would depend entirely on the choices made by the operator.
Shooter said that fuel and maintenance costs are also much lower than a comparable Class 150.