New D-Train fire
Reliability work under way to improve the availability of Class 230s on the Marston Vale route.
WEST Midlands Railway is working with Vivarail to improve the reliability of three Class 230 D-Trains on the Marston Vale route, after 230005 caught fire at Millbrook on October 26.
The two-car Vivarail train was working the 1555 Bedford-Bletchley when a generator set (genset) caught fire. However, the ‘230’ was able to move back to Bedford for investigation, and it returned to service three days later.
Vivarail Product Support Director Andy Hamilton told RAIL on October 29 that the ‘230’ had suffered a small electrical fire on cabling on one of its gensets. He said the fire was contained, that the train was undamaged, and that there were no injuries.
To offset the reliability problems suffered by the trains, he said that each genset was being cycled through the company’s Seaham facility for reliability upgrades.
“Between now and Christmas we are implementing Phase 1 of an upgrade that will give an uplift in performance,” he said.
From January, Vivarail will focus on Phase 2, to upgrade remote monitoring systems on the trains.
The fire occurred more than a month after a joint letter to users on the line was published by WMR Customer Experience Director Jonny Wiseman and Vivarail Chairman Adrian Shooter, as a result of ongoing reliability issues.
In the letter, Wiseman explained: “The Class 230s previously ran on the London Underground District Line, but were rebuilt by a company called Vivarail, specifically for lines such as the Marston Vale. This included the installation of power generators and door locking systems to allow them to work on the national rail network. It is the poor reliability of this equipment which is causing trains to be taken out of service so often for repairs.
“I understand calls for the old trains to be brought back, but unfortunately these are already in use elsewhere. That’s why we’re focusing all our efforts on working with Vivarail to resolve the issues.”
Wiseman said that change would not happen overnight and warned of bus replacements.
Shooter wrote: “The difficulties we have had are primarily with the gensets (power generators). Most issues relate to the cooling of the units, although some faults have only become evident with longerterm use.
“Performance to date has been hampered by having insufficient spare gensets to support the failures. However, we are pleased to report that our maintenance team in Bletchley now has access to additional gensets, with four spare units available.
“These spares, together with the team we have in place to effect repairs, are expected to have a significant impact on performance. In addition, we will bring extra support for the team at Bletchley whenever necessary.
“We have also set out a further medium-term plan to make additional resources available at both Bletchley and Seaham (our base where gensets are repaired). And we have started a programme of re-work on all gensets, utilising the additional spares that are now available.”
Hamilton told RAIL: “During the summer we planned to always have two trains available, but if one failed there was not a replacement. We have experienced improved performance since.”
ORR is making preliminary enquiries that may lead to an investigatiobn.