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Metro was a forward looking concept – but short term pressures ruled it out
14 hours for Electrostar
Connex Metro may well have been the last gasp of the old railway procurement culture of ‘let's have something optimised for our specific application'. A least until some gets to grips seriously with HST replacement.
What sank the Connex vision of a new generation of Metro trains optimised for high density inner suburban services (Informed Sources xxx) was a combination of uncertainty and time. Mk 1 stock withdrawal on 31 December 2004 meant that 180 cars had to he in service by that date. Alstom and Hitachi were proposing new designs which immediately cast doubts on meeting the deadline – even though both firms were sure they could do it.
But there was also uncertainty over acceptance. Both Hitachi 's ability to get an electrical safety case and the reaction of the Health & Safety Executive to the proposed Metro style interior, in particular the crashworthiness of longitudinal seating.
It was simply too much risk, and so Connex cancelled the ‘Metro' procurement exercise and activated Lots 8 and 9 in options written into its original Electrostar contract with Adtranz what seems like an age ago. Bombardier Transportation, which has turned round Electrostar performance and image since taking over Adtranz, announced on 24 July that Connex had ordered 180 cars worth £132m.
At which point a pause to recognize one of the undoubted benefits of privatization. Train operators have been weaned off their expensive custom procurement and as a result manufacturers have been able to get their teeth into long runs of standard products.
These Electrostars are costing £735,000 per vehicle. Remember how Networker cost £1million a car? At today's prices that is roughly £1.3million. In ten years the cost of electric multiple units has nearly halved. And Electrostar is a much more capable train.
How's it done? Well a standard design means you can work away at simplifying assembly. According to Informed Sources, it now takes 14 hours to assemble an Electrostar vehicle on the production line.
Maintenance work will be carried out by South Eastern Train Maintenance Limited. a Joint Venture between Bombardier Transportation and Connex. Bombardier will be responsible for technical support plus material supply, worth £95million over the 30 year contract. Connex will prov0ide the workforce, probably at Slade Green depot.
Connex will operate these ‘suburban Electrostar cars adapted to the South London operation' as five car units. Probable changes to the interior layout, aimed at providing additional standing capacity, could include lengthening the vestibules and fitting ultra-slim seating.
Delivery will start in July 2004 and be all over by Christmas, allowing Connex to meet the Mk 1 withdrawal deadline.
So for Bombardier it is a rare case of zero to hero. In the Mk 1 replacement cup the final score was Bombardier 1316 – Siemems 785. And Siemens now has it all to do.
Electrostar is a proven product, past the steep part of the reliability ‘bathtub' curve and now in the happy state where rising train miles make the task of the reliability engineers easier. If Siemens stumbles on acceptance or delivery, it will no longer be compared with Alstom, but with the Montreal Machine.
I suspect that in the global scheme of things, Alstom Paris was not that fussed by losing Connex Metro, which would have been built in France . What mattered to all three European based builders was that the Japanese, in the form of Hitachi , were kept out of fortress Europe .
But if they think that Hitachi would take their ball and go home, they are mistaken. The Japanese company believe that their offer was well placed technically and commercially but lost out to a political decision.
Japanese business is all about the long haul, so while the situation has developed not necessarily to Japan 's advantage, the development programme in the UK continues, ready to support future bids. The ‘Verification Train', a Class 310 fitted with an Hitachi traction package is now at Derby and should start trials in the Autumn.