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Forget contracts, when it comes to the interface between train and infrastructure, suck-it-and-see has a lot going for it
At the moment, the Informed Sources Military Analogy Directorate (MAD), is furiously modelling the Indo-China Wars as a paradigm for the last 10 years of railway privatisation. So I'm on my own when it comes to PUG2 and the WCRM.
And the best I can come up with is one of those camera gun films as a Fw190 closes in on a daylight bomber formation sailing serenely along. Suddenly the tracer converges on an engine which smokes and stops, then a bit of wing flutters off, another engine goes. And still the big bird flies, until the cumulative damage becomes to much and if falls out of control and you count the blossoming parachute.
Over the last 12 months PUG2, the 140mile/h dream, has fallen apart, although the architects bailed out long ago. Yet PUG2 was the ultimate cunning plan, with a contract which meant that Railtrack had no choice but to perform. The epitome of cunning was the Vehicle and Route Acceptance Contract (VRAC – say it veer-ack)
Yet VRAC revealed the problem real-world railway life poses for those who believe that all would be for the best in the best of all possible railways if only we had more, and better, contracts. Its role was to ensure that Railtrack would give Virgin, to pass onto Alstom. all the infrastructure information needed to get the Class 390 Pendolino fleet built and accepted.
It sounds logical, until you recognise that, even in this computerised age, engineering is an art. All the computer aided design and simulation cannot predict what happens on a wet Wednesday at the trackside when the power supply is a bit feeble.
So while VRAC may well have shaped the Pendolino and influenced the modulation of its drive software, acceptance is now forging ahead in the old fashioned way. Running the train and seeing what objects at the lineside.
And highly effective it is proving, with the first Pendolino running into Euston under power on the night of 7 November. This was helped by some sterling work from London Underground who sent 17 people out onto their adjacent lines to spend the small hours watching nothing untoward happening to their S&T equipment.
What they, and they Railtrack oppos, are doing is what was done when No 87.101 introduced thyristor control to BR. A Class 390 runs by several times while engineers and technicians monitor signalling, telecommunications and other electrical systems for interference.
Of course, there are double checked safety case documents metres thick saying that Pendolino is safe to run. But you still need a reality check.
And, so far, problems have been local and down to the infrastructure not the train. Not surprisingly what problems there are have been attributed to poor earthing of equipment.
Even ‘poor' is relative. At Proof House Junction, recently resignalled with Solid State Interlocking (SSI - the CBI that actually works in Britain ) a run-by triggered alarms on one of two non-vital data links.
Post-run investigation showed that the length of the links was near the limit of the performance specification, making them more vulnerable to interference. Adding an extra transformer solved the problem. Just to reassure the nervous in the readership, drive-bys at other SSI installations along the WCML, including 21 in the Willesden area, have not revealed similar interference.
There were also media reports that Pendolino was affecting closed circuit TV monitors, Boundary Lane Crossing in particular. This is indeed the case, But signallers pointed out that these screens already suffer interference from existing traction, although the effects are not so marked.
In fact, my chums at Alstom tell me that lineside interference measurements by independent observers have shown that Pendolino's Onix three phase drive is ‘quieter' that existing traction on the West Coast Main Line. Well they would say that, but I believe them, because we have been there before.
Back in the year dot, BR was testing the interference generated by No 87.101 by putting it into cyclic slip in Kilsby Tunnel. The recorder was left on during a break and the traces showed that the thyristor controller generated less interference than other passing locomotives with tap-changers.
That said, Pendolino will make its presence felt more, because has a higher power rating than a Class 90, say, and the inverter generates high frequencies. These frequencies will tend to expose any weaknesses in the wiring at these high powers.
So far where problems have occurred, Railtrack has not ‘blamed the train', but tweaked the infrastructure. A lot of the recent progress must be down to the attitude of the new Bechtel team at the top of the WCRM. As one Alstom chum remarked approvingly, ‘the West Coast Route Modernisation team are in delivery mode'.
Meanwhile, West Coast Trains, the contractual name for the Virgin West Coast franchise, has issued an OJEC Notice for up to 15 nine-car tilting trains under a service provision contract. These are the additional trains which will be needed to run the timetable because of the reduction in line speed from 140mile/h to 125mile/h
Obviously more Pendolinos are what Virgin wants, but European Procurement rules mean you have to swim through the treacle. The minimum quantity is quoted at five units with alternative lots of 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 or 15 trains.
Procurement will be under a train service provision contract. Virgin says that payments under the service contract ‘should be assumed to provide a neutral cashflow' to the applicant. I think what this means is that the trains will be funded separately and leased to the train service provider.
There some pretty hairy delivery dates. For example, the service contract is to start on 1 March 2003 ; we'll be lucky to see half the Pendolino fleet accepted by then. Bidders also have to demonstrate their capability ‘to deliver all rolling stock for commencement of passenger services on or before October 2004 including all relevant consents and compliance with all applicable laws'. Alstom should have all 53 Class 390s running by then, but I'd risk a fiver if the odds against were long enough.
Technical and operational compatibility with the existing Class 390 fleet is required ‘in all respects'. A maximum speed is 140 mile/h despite SRA's decision to run at 125mile/h for the foreseeable future.
And there was a wry smile at the end. Virgin requires bidders to give details of ‘arbitration or litigation or disputes arising over the past five years on similar contracts undertaken'.
Meanwhile, with the Voyagers and Super Voyagers bursting at the seems, my fellow columnist Tony Miles is leading the charge to get an extra coach for the Class 220s. The trouble is that Bombardier has stopped doing Voyagers and is now building Class 222 Meridians, which are different in several ways, not least symmetrical door spacing.
Informed Sources suggest that even if an order were placed now, it could be a couple of years before the extra cars were delivered. And with the Cross Country franchise up for renegotiation as an SDU, and the Strategic Rail Authority skint, I can't see an order being authorised in the next six months.
Mind you, given that a four car Voyager has 3000hp of Cummins finest horsepower under the floor, Virgin could save a few bob by adding an unpowered fifth car, fed of the auxiliary supply from the adjacent power cars.
Meanwhiile, when you think about it, what Virgin needs now is a 125mile/h long distance eight car crush buster, ideally with a better ambience for the longest cross country journeys. Any ideas?