A winning combination

Hitachi is leveraging the benefits of collaboration as it seeks to solve present-day problems, while looking firmly to the railways of the future, reports RICHARD CLINNICK

Hitachi Rail Europe prepares to transform the passenger experience in Scotland

It has been an exciting year for Hitachi Rail Europe, and with over 200 new trains to deliver over the next few years, things are only going to get busier for the brand. Delivery of the Class 800/801 trains for the Intercity Express Programme is in full swing at the new manufacturing facility in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, and the company is recruiting for a huge number of roles across the UK to work on various upcoming projects including new rolling stock for TransPennine Express and GWR West of England routes. But at the heart of this busy delivery schedule sits one underlying theme: collaboration. For Hitachi, collaboration isn’t an unwanted complication - it’s a necessity. A prime example of this is the IEP trains which have been specified and ordered by the Department for Transport. In turn, HRE has financed them through Agility Trains, a consortium comprising Hitachi and John Laing, which has brought together other outside financiers. From there, HRE is building the trains in Japan and at Newton Aycliffe, with a supply chain of UK and European companies. Forging partnerships and collaboration is what Hitachi Rail Europe’s ten-year history in the UK has been built upon. This way of working has been imported from its roots in Japan, and Hitachi’s historic values have a remarkable way of staying relevant, none more so than the theme of ‘harmony’. For Hitachi, ‘harmony’ means working closely with suppliers, customers and all who have a stake in each current project - which includes the next major delivery project, Class 385 trains for ScotRail.

The first complete AT200 will have arrived in the UK by the time this issue of RAIL went to press. Built in Japan by Hitachi Rail Europe, it is set to transform the travel experience of passengers in Scotland from next year when it begins operating on newly electrified railways.

Transport Scotland ordered the trains in October 2014, and little more than a year later the first vehicles were rolling off the production line in Kasado for testing, before being shipped to the UK. As well as the two complete four-car trains being sent to Europe during the summer, six bodyshells were shipped from Japan earlier this year to Newton Aycliffe, and they will be used to implement the assembly process at Hitachi Rail Europe’s County Durham facility.

Hitachi is building six Class 385s in Japan, with the remaining 64 to be assembled in Newton Aycliffe. Hitachi’s construction process in Japan uses the Friction Stir Welding (FSW) process.

Of the two four-car trains that have been shipped from Japan, one has been delivered to the Velim test track in the Czech Republic and will remain there until March, while the second set is destined for Scotland.

The UK-bound trains are delivered to Teesport, and are then re-formed and commissioned at Hitachi Rail Europe’s assembly facility before heading north of the border. The first train is scheduled to begin testing in Scotland in November.

The first ‘385’ to be assembled at Newton Aycliffe will be a three-car set, and assembly has already begun. This will be used as a blueprint vehicle from which the production line staff will learn the processes needed to assemble the rest of the order. This ‘385’ will be followed by another three-car train, which will be the first one officially put through the production line.

Initially, the trains will be maintained at Craigentinny depot, to the east of Edinburgh, when they are introduced.

ScotRail has placed an order for 70 Class 385s, comprising 46 three-car and 24 four-car trains. The electric multiple units will enter traffic from autumn next year.

These are the first of Hitachi Rail Europe’s AT200 platform, launched in July 2014, to be ordered for the UK.

The train is designed for regional or outer suburban routes with typical journey times of between 50 and 80 minutes. Although the Scottish trains (Class 385s) are limited to a maximum speed of 100mph, the design has the potential for 125mph. Hitachi Rail Europe believes that the AT200 will improve connectivity between larger conurbations to city centres and bring more people within commutable reach of other job markets. And that will be good news for Rail Minister Paul Maynard, who said, on September 7, that giving people access to more jobs was the biggest challenge facing the railway in the next decade.

The AT200 can be configured in anything from three to 12-car formations. The 46 three-car and 24 four-car trains will operate in seven and eight-car formations, meaning an increase in the number of vehicles ScotRail is currently running on certain routes.

The possibility of quicker journeys on the flagship route between Edinburgh Waverley and Glasgow Queen Street was a key factor in the decision to order AT200s, and while linespeed will be limited to 100mph, as per the capabilities of the existing diesel stock, the AT200’s acceleration (1m/s²) will improve the service performance. The AT200 has a maximum acceleration of 1m/s². This means that the electric multiple units will be able to leave stations quicker and reach their top speed faster than the older trains they are replacing.

The trains are fitted with 1/3 and 2/3 doors, meaning reduced dwell times as passengers no longer need to queue at the end of vehicles to file through narrow doors.

SR will introduce its new EMU fleet not only on the Edinburgh to Glasgow route, but also on other routes being electrified as part of the Edinburgh to Glasgow Improvement Programme (EGIP), which includes the lines between Stirling, Alloa and Dunblane, as well as via Shotts. The Class 385s will also be used on trains to North Berwick and on various Strathclyde suburban services. They enter traffic in the latter half of 2017, initially on the Edinburgh-Glasgow line, before extending their sphere of operation.

The contract for the 70 trains, which includes an option for a further ten if TS requires them, also includes a ten-year maintenance component.

The ‘385s’ will play a crucial role in the development of the EGIP route, which is a vital part of the ScotRail franchise. They will play a role in providing long-term economic sustainability says TS.

The AT200s bring broader benefits. Their introduction helps reduce Scotland’s carbon footprint too, while the innovative hire deal signed with Caledonian Rail Leasing, means that the cost of finance is reduced, and guarantees that these trains cannot be cascaded elsewhere.

At Hitachi Rail Europe, there is a genuine focus on the future, and not just in terms of train design; development of its staff is a key part of this company’s plans, as is innovation, and so the opportunity to work with leading education establishments around Britain shouldn’t be ignored.

HRE and Royal College of Art (RCA), which is located in Kensington Gore, West London, have worked together for several years to come up with innovative ideas that challenge the very essence of traditional design.

RCA is renowned for its automotive design, and has expanded its expertise in this area into other areas of public transportation design.

In the latest competition, students were tasked with creating new concepts for London’s Deep Tube, as well as high-speed rail travel. HRE competes in both of these markets, for example the New Tube for London and High Speed 2 contracts that are due to be let over the next couple of years.

At a ceremony at the London Transport Museum on May 18, HRE and RCA rewarded students whose ideas had the potential for further development.

This marked the sixth year of HRE and RCA’s collaboration and their third joint project, as part of the Vehicle Design Studio Partnership that was created to nurture the next generation of designers to identify problems with current rail systems, and create new concepts to overcome them.

The high-speed design award went to Team Hive, which consisted of Andrei Nour, Kaize Zheng, Anna Ekstrom and Rosie Green. The overall Deep Tube award went to Team Revitalise + Empower, which was made up of Cas Dahmen, Sam Philpott, Kate Webster and Oliver Dixon.

Managing Director of Hitachi Rail Europe Karen Boswell presented the awards. She says: “I am delighted that this year’s students have developed exciting new concepts for London’s Tube, as well as high-speed trains.

“As a business, we are continuously looking for new sources of inspiration and innovation to improve journeys, and collaboration of this kind is the starting point for transforming rail travel here in the UK.”

Professor Dale Harrow, Head of the RCA Vehicle Design Programme said: “We are fortunate to have had Hitachi Rail Europe partnering with us for our third vehicle design competition. Working with a leading train manufacturer means that our students have access to up-to-date technology and expertise in rolling stock design as they develop their own innovative ideas.”

The work of all the team winners was displayed at the MetroRail World Congress exhibition in London, and subsequently displayed at InnoTrans in Berlin, Germany, the largest rail exhibition in the world.

All of the winning students won paid research project trips to attend InnoTrans. The students, Andrei Nour and Cas Dahmen, were also invited to undertake a bespoke internship at Hitachi’s Design Division Office in Tokyo. Hitachi hopes that one day we’ll be travelling on trains designed by them, and others like them, as new and innovative ways of thinking are brought into the industry.