TransPennine Express Mk 5A coaches receive safety authorisation
The Office of Rail and Road has authorised the new TransPennine Express Mk 5A coaches, meaning that they meet all relevant safety standards to operate in the UK.
The process of getting them through this hurdle was led by CAF, which built the trains. The next stage is to get them tested and then signed off for passenger use, although much still has to be done to get them ready for service, according to TPE’s Head of New Trains Robin Davis.
He told RAIL that this includes the completion of testing on the Automatic Selective Door Opening (ASDO) system, and integration with the Passenger Information System (PIS) on board.
“The actual operation of the train in passenger service over the routes they are planned to operate over is another step beyond this. This process is led by TPE under our Safety Certificate,” he said.
Six rakes of CAF Mk 5As have been delivered to Longsight depot in Manchester, with a seventh at Portbury Docks. TPE has 66 coaches on order, with the operator targeting their entry into traffic in the spring. Fourteen Class 68s have been sub-leased from Direct Rail Services to haul them.
Davis added: “We are also working with CAF to do test runs across the TPE routes, to check stopping positions in stations and that these align with the assessments we have made in advance.”
He explained this includes verifying that the position of the wheelchair ramp isn’t impeded by station furniture, while the on-board databases for the ASDO and PIS systems need to be checked to ensure that the right location is announced on the approach to a station, and that only doors that should open do so.
Davis explained that fault-free running will be carried out on all Mk 5A sets by CAF, through its test operator Freightliner. He said the first few sets will be tested over a higher number of miles, to shake out any fleet-wide bugs.
He added that CAF must ensure every set is ready for acceptance, with the sets are ready for service before they are handed over.
Once that is done, staff training will be required. This particularly relates to drivers, although Davis added: “We also need to provide sets to our maintenance and servicing partners of Alstom in Manchester [and Siemens in York], so they can train and brief all their staff ready for passenger service.”
On route clearance, he said TPE was “in a really good place”, with a Statement of Compatibility for passenger service for all the routes on which it plans to use the Mk 5As, plus more besides.
He said a key tunnel on the Calder Valley line that was causing issues for lots of new (and old) trains has been sorted by Network Rail in the last few weeks, ensuring that an important diversionary route for TPE is clear.
Beacon Rail owns the stock, and Davis said it was important to get other routes cleared for the stock in case of changes in their operation. They have been cleared to run to Glasgow and Edinburgh via the West Coast Main Line, and to the Scottish capital via the East Coast Main Line from Doncaster, as well as on the Hope Valley from Manchester to Sheffield and Doncaster.
Meanwhile, the CAF Class 397 fleet “is in a similarly good position on gauge clearance ready for network testing in the New Year”. Davis said that in the run-up to Christmas, testing was continuing at Velim in the Czech Republic, using 397001 and 397002.