Beginning of an era
A new era begins at the start of the May timetable when TfL Rail introduces the first Aventra into service. RICHARD CLINNICK provides an update on plans for their introduction
RICHARD CLINNICK previews what passengers can expect from Crossrail’s new Aventra train and TfL Rail-operated services.
The first tangible sign of Crossrail for most people will be when TfL Rail introduces the first Class 345 Aventras into traffic. The electric multiple units will eventually be used across the full Elizabeth Line (as Crossrail will be known) from Shenfield/ Abbey Wood to Heathrow Airport/Reading.
However, initially, the EMUs will be used exclusively on the eastern section between Shenfield and London Liverpool Street.
Transport for London awarded the Crossrail concession to MTR, and it operates TfL Rail. This covers the Metro service to Shenfield that was previously part of the Greater Anglia franchise. When it took over in May 2015, TfL Rail inherited 44 four-car Class 315s dating from 1980-81, and which were to be replaced.
Capacity-wise, whereas the Class 315s are fitted with 3+2 seating throughout, with 321 seats per train and a further seven wheelchair spaces, the Aventras have fewer seats and are fitted with longitudinal seats, as per Class 378s and S-Stock, and bays of four seats.
Like the S-Stock, Class 700 and Class 707 trains, the ‘345s’ have been built with walk-through gangways for increased capacity. TfL claims that the trains can hold 1,500 people (450 seated). They will be driver-operated with on-train customer information systems delivering real-time travel information, allowing passengers to plan their onward journeys on the go. Free WiFi will be available on the trains, as well as on the platforms, and people will have access to 4G, says TfL.
Aventra is Bombardier’s newest train design, replacing the Electrostar that has been on offer since 1999, and which has subsequently been bought in large numbers by Abellio for the GA franchise.
Bombardier won the contract in February 2014, and unveiled the design in November 2015. The first trains were showcased in July 2016. They have a higher top speed (90mph) than the 37-year-old EMUs they are replacing (75mph). Including the depot at Old Oak Common, the Class 345 deal was thought to be worth around £1 billion.
The first batch of trains to enter service will only have seven cars, while the remainder will all be built with nine. This is so they’ll be able to stop at London Liverpool Street, until its suburban platforms can be re-modelled to accommodate the longer trains.
The rest of the fleet will be dispatched from
the construction works at Derby Litchurch Lane. The first batch of Aventras will then move to Old Oak Common (the ‘345’ fleet’s maintenance depot) and be lengthened to nine-car trains.
There are five phases to the opening of Crossrail, and the introduction of the Class 345s is an element of Phase 1.
The first train (345002) was delivered to Ilford at the end of 2016, and began testing between the Essex depot and London Liverpool Street on January 13. By March,
The first batch of trains to enter service will only have seven cars, while the remainder will all be built with nine.
five more trains had been completed and were undergoing testing either at Derby, or at Old Dalby. This included 345018, which was the first nine-car train to be completed, but for testing only.
By early April, Ilford had also received 345005 and 345006.
TfL says that a critical element of the construction and introduction of the Aventras is the multiple on-board systems and the complex software being installed. It highlights the Train Control and
Management Systems, and the software needed to integrate them. TfL says successive software releases are tested at Derby prior to installation on the test units before trains on the national network receive the updates. And after all that, only once they have passed an Independent Safety Assessment by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) can they enter traffic.
TfL says the first Aventra in public service will be 345005, and this is undergoing testing. Meanwhile, also at Ilford, drivers are in training, with the help of two simulators.
Phase 2 of Crossrail features the introduction of trains between London Paddington and Heathrow Airport, in May 2018. Four trains per hour (4tph) will replace the current 2tph Heathrow Connect service.
To enable these trains to run so frequently, ‘345s’ will be fitted with European Train Control System (ETCS) signalling, to be compatible with the ECTS-fitted route between Heathrow and Airport Junction (Stockley). Alstom is providing the signalling and the testing is expected to commence in the second half of 2017.
Phase 3 comes in December 2018, when services start running through the Crossrail central tunnel. These will run from Paddington (serving the new underground platforms as opposed to the ground-level station served from May next year) to Abbey Wood, via Canary Wharf. At this point, the route will be officially referred to as the Elizabeth Line.
Phase 4 will feature the Shenfield to Liverpool Street services being connected to the central tunnels and running through to Paddington; this is scheduled for May 2019.
Finally, Phase 5 comes in December 2019, when services from the west are connected to the central tunnel and trains start running to Maidenhead and Reading.
But even at this early stage, TfL is looking at increasing the service frequency - and ordering more Aventras.
It is proposing to run a higher frequency service during Off-Peak and an enhanced Peak service west of London. This would come into force in Phase Five.
The proposals for the service increase include a rise from 16tph in the Central Core to 20tph, with additional trains running from Paddington to Shenfield and Abbey Wood. There would be an increase in Peak and Off-Peak services west of Paddington and a
Even at this early stage, TfL is looking at increasing the service frequency - and ordering more Aventras.
revision of the Peak services operating across the network to provide a regular interval of trains, including a train approximately every five minutes westbound from Paddington.
TfL believes that the more regular service pattern could have a positive effect on operational reliability. Precise performance and reliability of the proposed timetable is being validated in a joint modelling plan with NR, as the timetable for Crossrail is developed. TfL says the initial analysis, however, does look favourable.
All these proposals would require four additional Aventras, but TfL says that no additional stabling facilities would be required.
So, on March 8, TfL recommended that the Programmes and Investment Committee increase the order for 66 nine-car Class 345s to 70. This would also give the option of taking the eventual fleet to 84 trains, if the need were to arise.
Additional track access rights are required for the proposals and, if granted, would affect franchised Great Western Railway services. West of Paddington, to cater for the enhanced Elizabeth Line services, five GWR trains in both the morning and evening peaks would need to be removed. It is then proposed to run these on the relief lines between Paddington and Reading using a semi-fast stopping pattern. TfL says that the GWR trains to Maidenhead, Twyford, Reading and the Thames Valley would continue to be provided during Peak by “other trains which operate over the main lines between Paddington and Maidenhead”. TfL claims that these changes would mean “there is no material impact on maintenance activities in the Central Section or NR sections of the route”.
It also states that any equalities implications from the removal of GWR Peak trains are being considered in the context of the proposed Elizabeth Line services, and will be reported to the TfL Board when approval is sought.
Before the first new trains are in traffic, and before the first section of new railway is even open, capacity concerns are already forcing TfL to think ahead, which can only be a good thing. And a deal for more trains in the offing before the first ‘345s’ have even entered traffic bodes well for the success of the Aventras.