Isle of Wight trains
RAIL offers an exclusive first look at the new Vivarail trains for the Isle of Wight. The line from Ryde to Shanklin will be closed for three months this winter, to enable a major upgrade before the trains can operate.
RAIL News Special delivers an exclusive first look at Vivarail’s ex-Tube stock being readied for the Isle of Wight.
THE first Class 484 train for the
Isle of Wight is taking shape at Vivarail’s Long Marston facility.
Windows and the train cabs have yet to be fitted, but three of the five two-car trains on order will be delivered to the island before the end of this year.
They will rack up testing miles, largely at night. But they won’t be carrying passengers before next spring - major infrastructure work is needed before that can happen, including raising all the platforms to ensure safe, level access for all.
The 8½-mile railway will close in early January and not reopen until the end of March. Buses will replace trains.
“Passengers will ride on them as soon as that work is done,” promises Vivarail Chairman and Chief Executive Adrian Shooter.
“These are quite a bit bigger than the trains they will replace. They are as big, if not slightly bigger, than ordinary main line trains. Plenty of space! They are light and airy compared with the old ones.
“The aluminium shell is original and is as good as new. We found no corrosion at all. They will be good for another 30 years or more.
“We have retained the seating in the original London Underground layout, as it is ideally suited for the island - both when the train is fully loaded with passengers and all their luggage and buggies, and for quieter times when everyone has a seat.
“Everything else is new. It is basically a new train, and it meets all the latest standards of safety.”
Lying on the ground, underneath the train, Steven Strong is fitting the coupler to the front of the first vehicle.
“It’s a good challenge,” he says. “We’re stripping down a train that has been sitting around for some time and refitting it with quality components. The vehicles have been used before, and they need to be treated with a bit of love and care - which we are doing.”
Outside, more than 200 former District Line vehicles await the possibility of new owners. The Island Line trains are being built alongside others being prepared for Transport for Wales’ WrexhamBidston service.
The Welsh trains will be dieselbattery hybrids. The front and rear cars of the three-car trains have battery electric drive, while the middle car has diesel engines that charge the batteries. Once the Welsh order is complete, Shooter says he will no longer touch diesel power.
“If we were starting that project now, we would have argued for them as battery trains. Three years ago, we weren’t ready to do that,” he explains.
“We are developing a family of battery trains. On a three-car train, with a battery car at each end, you could put a pantograph on the car in the middle, so that it charges up the batteries when running under the wires. We reckon there are 70 routes in the UK where such a train could perform. We may also build a hydrogen fuel cell version.”
However, the Island trains are conventional third-rail electric. By replacing 80-year-old trains with similar second-hand trains that are a mere 40 years old in origin, South Western Railway has opted for the simplest, cheapest and arguably least ambitious version of the Vivarail train.
Perhaps that’s not surprising, as the route from Ryde is often described as the most heavily subsidised service per passenger mile in the country. Bigger and bolder ideas have come and gone (a light rail system and a tramway were both considered).
The infrastructure work will include the reinstatement of a passing loop at Brading station. This will enable trains to run at 30-minute clock-face intervals - instead of at 20-then-40-minute intervals each hour, as they have for decades. For the first time in a generation, trains will be able
to match the timetables of the Wightlink ferries from Ryde to Portsmouth.
For decades, the 1938-built former Tube trains have been something of a cultural symbol for the island - distinctive, quirky, tatty and worn out, with a ride quality often described as like a roller coaster because the track is also worn out.
The whole project is costing £26 million, although Network Rail is also investing upwards of a further £20m to secure the structure of Ryde Pier.
“That should make the pier fit for the next 20 to 25 years,” says SWR Engineering Director Neil Drury.
“We have a significant amount of work to do over an intensive three months at the start of next year. It will be quite disruptive.”
Uniquely on the national rail network, South Western Railway maintains both track and trains. It leases the track from Network Rail, which continues to have responsibility for land below the track bed - including the long pier.
“The floors of the new trains are much higher than those they replace, so we are having to raise many of the platforms to make the trains accessible,” explains Drury.
“There’s old-fashioned track on the island that is jointed and not welded. That will be replaced. The ground underneath is shingle and not ballast, so that needs to be replaced to stop the railway from moving so much. There’s also some bridge work. All for an almost exact replacement for the existing rolling stock!”
The shiny new trains will rack up testing mileage this autumn, running largely at night. Island Line can only cope with two trains at a time, so daytime running will be very limited.
Drury explains: “We need three trains to complete testing before we shut down. Once we recommence after that we can no longer use the old trains, because of the changes to signalling and gauging. The remaining two trains will come in during the blockade. We are working with Vivarail to sort out how they will achieve their running and testing during that period.”
The new trains will have WiFi and at-seat power. The driver also gets a more spacious cab, although this is currently not yet assembled.
“The old railway moves around for a pastime, and we are forever re-setting the gauge,” notes Drury.
“The bogies on the new trains are from the 2000s, not from the ’70s and ’80s when these trains were built, so they can take on much rougher track. The ride quality will improve a lot.”
Drury says there has been a lot of interest in buying the old 1938 trains. It’s hoped they will find new homes rather than be scrapped.
Meanwhile, discussions about extending Isle of Wight Steam Railway services from Smallbrook Junction into Ryde St Johns Road have been less successful.
“The steam railway is still keen, and we are still discussing it with them. But discussion is all that is happening,” says Drury.
“This is a big piece of investment on the island - a once-in-ageneration upgrade.”