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Will it be 180 views of Hitachi 's Kasado factory when Connex introduces its Metro electric multiple units?
At last, we have a really interesting rolling stock procurement exercise. So far, bidding to supply trains for the replacement and extended franchises has had all the unpredictability of Olympic heavyweight gold medallist Audley Harrison's professional fight career.
But the competition to supply Connex South Eastern's new Metro EMUs has real tension. This is Lewis versus Tyson.
Why the excitement? First, Connex is breaking the mould. Many people have talked up the Sarf Lunnon Metro - Connex is actually doing something about it by proposing to order 180 Metro-type cars to replace Networkers on inner suburban services.
Already we have had the London Evening Standard and commuter groups complaining about trains with fewer seats and no toilets, which suggests that Connex has some hearts and minds work to do on the Metro concept. The proposed trains are optimised for what urban railways do best – high capacity short distance runs –which means longitudinal seating Tube-style and no toilets, especially full access toilets, so that floor space is maximised.
Other features are likely to be wide inter-car gangways, as close to full width as possible, effectively making the unit one long vehicle. This encourages people to move along the train. Off peak, through visibility enhances security.
But what is really grabbing procurement aficionados is the line up of short-listed bidders. Siemens has ruled itself out because of the delivery schedule – up to 20 vehicles a month, but a three way contest has been restored by the arrival of Hitachi .
Well, arrival is not quite the right word. Hitachi has been active in the UK since the company short-listed for the Strategic Rail Authority's abortive Mk1 stock replacement procurement exercise in 2000. There has also been much going on in Japan , as Mr Editor Abbott reported in the April 2001 Modern Railways.
Naturally, given the appalling English tendency to national self loathing, many old-railway people in the industry are already talking about importing some of that famed ‘Japanese Reliability'. And you will recall that the Editor reported that Hitachi is promising a Mean Distance Between Technical Casualties for its proposed UK EMUs of 130,000km in the first year, rising to 160,000 in subsequent years.
This is, I think, hopelessly optimistic, although I will be delighted to eat my words. Certainly reliability at that level is eminently doable – see my article on the Northern Line trains elsewhere in this issue. But I reckon a first year will be tough.
Translating technology to an entirely new culture is not easy, particularly with a brand new design on a different infrastructure maintained by a gaijin workforce. Should it win a UK contract, I would counsel Hitachi to go for a total train service provision contract and poach some managers from one of the Japanese car factories in the UK to smooth the cultural interface.
Am I being a bit of a chauvinist on this technology transfer thing? I don't think so. Remember the Underground's enthusiasm for the Kawasaki bogie which it imposed on the Central Line stock? Sadly the bogie emulated the Lady of Shallot's mirror and Adtranz made the resulting rectification campaign a profitable sideline. Now the Northern Line rides on Adtranz' own highly successful flexible frame bogie.
Talking of bogies, note how the Junipers and Coradia's ride badly on French bogies which no one thought to test on British track. In contrast, the Class 220 Voyager rides well, in my experience, on that great unsung British invention the B5000 bogie.
But even before you enter service there is the UK acceptance process and the dreaded electrical safety case. Here Hitachi will never have a better chance.
While short-listed competitors Alstom and Bombardier already have 750V DC safety cases for their traction packages, Hitachi should find a route-specific electrical safety case for the new inner suburban units relatively easy. Under the British Rail Networker programme, signalling equipment on the ‘Kent Inner' lines was modified to improve track circuit immunisation. And the power supplies were also beefed up.
Could the Japanese company get away with a route-specific safety case? With previous EMUs for service south of the Thames the SRA has insisted on dual voltage (750V DC/25kV AC) capability, to maximise alternative uses. But if Connex does push through its Metro train units, they will be optimised for that duty and a route specific safety case might not hit residual value that hard.
With the SRA known to be keen to break what it sees as the European monopoly in the UK market, I would not be surprised to see the dual voltage requirement waived for the Connex deal. That said, First Group is known to interested in a 25kV AC Metro train for its Greater Anglia Franchise bid and is already working with Hitachi .
In the UK Hitachi has been signing up a support team. The first contract was with AEA Technology Rail on acceptance and related issues. Next came HSBC Rail which has supplied a Class 310 EMU for use as the traction package verification train (V-train). Finally, this year Babcock and Brown was signed up to advise on finance and related issues.
Now that Hitachi is short-listed for Connex Metro, the V-train, already at Derby, is ‘go' and should be running by the end of this year.
Meanwhile, in Japan , a new bogie, optimised for UK track and loading gauge has been designed and prototypes built. These will be shipped to the UK and fitted under the AEA Technology Mk 3 for running trials. However, Informed Sources are musing how a suspension more used to running on Shinkansen will cope with the Dartford Loop.
Hitachi 's use of friction stir welding for the bodyshells fabricated from long aluminium extrusions is another plus. Most aluminium bodyshells are electric welded along the seams of the extrusions. This puts heat into the metal on both sides of the weld, reducing its strength.
What Hitachi does is use friction to bond the join between the two surfaces, generating less heat and producing an exceptionally homogenous join with a smooth surface. Crashworthiness tests to Railway Group Standards have already been completed on a UK gauge bodyshell fabricated using this construction.
In the power hungry lardbutt stakes, Hitachi are believed to be closer to Alstom than Siemens. However, power supplies should be less critical on the modernised Networker routes.
Finally, a mock-up of Hitachi 's proposed Metro EMU is on its way to the UK as I write.
So where does this leave the home teams – although ‘home' now means Europe-based rather than British?
Technically Alstom ought to be unstoppable. The best 750V DC safety case in the business, the least power hungry traction package and a real understanding of the Southern Region power supply and signalling going back to Eurostar and Networker. And, on the Tube side, they have long term experience of Metro-type operations. But, the company's reputation in the UK is in tatters and, as Andred points out this month, there is no sign of recovery.
Adtranz, as was, has similar problems, since its performance on Connex South East has been even less impressive than Alstom's on SWT. The Bombardier takeover should have an effect on Derby 's performance, but it will take time.
That said, there are big advantages in an homogenous fleet and Connex still has options on more Class 375 Electrostars to complete Mk 1 Stock replacement. For the Metro deal, Bombardier is understood to be offering a UK version of its Movia urban EMU platform which would, presumably, use the same traction package and auxiliaries as the Class 375.
Of course, there is an element of those who never felt a wound jesting at scars here. Hitachi talk a good train and have done their homework. They have a good team and acceptance is easier now. But note that I said ‘easier' not easy. And kit shipped halfway round the world is harder to support if things go wrong.
There could also be a political issue. No doubt Alstom and Bombardier will be playing the ‘ UK factories under threat card', to which Hitachi could respond by pointing to a high proportion of esteemed British equipment in or under humble aluminium body.
But the real political pressure will fall on my chum Connex Chief Olivier Brousse. Is he ready to be branded as the Frenchman who let les Japonais into the mainstream European traction and rolling stock market via the back door?
Bonkers betting guideConnex South Eastern Stakes Alstom 10/1 Bombardier 5/1 Hitachi 2/1/ (fav) |
Source: Rail Index