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INFORMED SOURCES January 2004

Traction and rolling stock reliability reviewed (continued)

Green rules - OK

Now we come to the sexy stuff. I have grouped all the three-phase drive EMUs together, spanning the privatisation gap. And we get some very surprising results.

Let's start with a quote from the Chairman of the SRA who in a recent interview described Networkers as ‘very unreliable' and a ‘good thing to have invested in but not terribly good in the execution'. Well, I would not have demurred at that.

At Network SouthEast Chris Green was forever pushing his engineers and the Networker EMUs were the great man's personality in the metal. Extruded aluminium construction, three phase drive, regenerative braking, real state of the art stuff. If ever there was a train where the customer was going to be part of the on-going development team it was the Networker.

In the run up to the 1992 election the Government threw in the Class 365 fleet to keep York Works open. This order benefited from Class 465 service experience and it shows.

After privatisation, new owners HSBC, put in a lot of work to get the AC safety case for operation on WAGN. London Lines engineering team, yes them again, have worked diligently on reliability.

Table 5 Three phase drive EMUs

Manufacturer-maintained

Pushing the Networker Express hard is another London Lines fleet – the new Bombardier Class 357s at c2c. From this, we draw another lesson

Ever since I helped maintain Deltics under contract at Finsbury Park it has been clear that the best people to maintain trains are the people who built them. Another case in point is the Northern Line fleet.

But while the Class 357s are a dedicated fleet on what is, effectively, a self contained railway, and maintenance is the responsibility of the builder, to get up to nearly 40,000 miles per casualty in such a short time is probably the greatest achievement in these tables. Remember all the angst and hard words during the teething troubles when the Electrostars were first introduced?

While nothing works out of the box, quality eventually comes through. Similarly with third spot. Operation on the third rail, plus Southern passenger loadings is more demanding on traction and rolling stock than life up here in Hertfordshire but Networker Express still shines.

Surprises

There are more inversions of perception in the table. Everyone knows that Almost's Juniper EMUs were total pants. So what are Gatwick Express Class 460s doing in fourth place, not that far behind the Networker? Even the much maligned ScotRail Class 334s are into a five figure MPC just.

Class 460 is, of course, another example of ‘small is beautiful'. A dedicated depot with a small fleet certainly helps. But from my footplating experience, a cadre of well trained intelligent drivers who understand how to use the Train Management System to advantage has to be an important factor in the trains' performance.

Also in the ‘Five Figure Club' is North Western's Class 323 fleet with three phase drive traction package (including the only network wide AC safety case) by Holec of Holland. And the presence of the Class 466 reinforces my predilection for repeat orders.

Moving downwards, there is very little to choose between the original Networker builds. But if the South Eastern Class 375 is a guide, the Electrostars are on the way up and should be in five figures during 2004.

Which brings us to the bottom three. And, despite the much vaunted test track, not to mention being based on the Heathrow Express units, the Nemesis (anag) Class 333s are only kept out of last place by Central's Class 323s and the SWT Class 458s. Siemen's reservations have been mentioned already, but the fact that in the most recent four weekly period the much derided Class 458 had a better MPC than the Class 333 has to be noted.

As for yardsticks, I think we have to be demanding for these modern trains. So a minimum MPC of 10,000 is proposed, 20,000 expected and 50,000 the aspiration. And even this may not be good enough, as we shall see later.

New DMUs improving

It was widely expected that after privatisation demand for DMUs would be small. Only Adtranz, as was, developed a design and Adrian Shooter at Chiltern placed the lead orders. By the time it became clear that there was more than a niche market at stake, the Turbostar was up and running and became the standard-off-the-shelf purchase that the Class 66 was for the freight operators.

Table 6 New Generation DMUs

Table 6 combines the post privatisation DMUs, with the Networker Turbos. And the Thames Class 166 fleet – the Ultimate Networker Turbo comes top of the list – hotly pursued by South West Trains' small fleet of Class 170s.

Behind the success of the Class 166 lies some heroic work by ROSCO Angel Trains and engine builder Rolls-Royce. BR never knew when it was onto a good thing and had a horror of monopoly suppliers. So with the Cummins 14 litre engine working well under the Sprinters, it decided to dual sources and specified the Perkins 11 litre engine for the Networker Turbos.

Absolutely bonkers, of course, and the price was paid in massive unreliability. Perkins ownership changed but new owner Rolls Royce stood by the product and spent much time and effort re-engineering the power unit.

Adtranz with the Turbostar faced similar problems. At the design stage the company was part of part of the Daimler Benz group. As such it has to use MTU engines.

Now MTU make big engines to die for, but their DMU engine was a tractionised Mercedes Benz bus and truck engine. And also had fewer litres than the Cummins.

Once the Turbostars were exposed to UK operation, the cylinder heads started giving trouble. Predictably, the German engine builders response was, ‘This does not happen in German, you must be maltreating our wonderful engines'.

Eventually, since Adrian Shooter is a forceful engineer, the message that the engines couldn't hack everyday UK service got through. Re-engineering and replacement engines followed and you can see the results in the table.

So Networker Turbos and Turbostars dominate the ‘Five Figure Club'. The Voyagers are almost there, and since they are maintained by the manufacturer from a purpose built maintenance centre, they should join the Club soon.

What is interesting is the comparatively lacklustre performance of the Chiltern units, whether Class 165 or Class 168. Perhaps Mr Shooter needs to get his overalls out too.

And finally, there are Great Western's Class 180s. Only the Wales & Borders Pacers have a lower MPC and DMUs which left the same factory 46 years ago are better.

Time for some more MPC yardsticks. Minimum 7000, 15,000 expected, 25,000 aspired to.

507 heaven

Naturally, I have saved the best performing equipment for last. Not only are all the fleets over 20,000 MPC, but we have a Six Figure superstar. In the form of SWT's Class 421/5 fleet.

Two things to note, the first is the clear hierarchy, with SWT at the top of the Table. But what should give everyone cause for concern are the figures themselves.

Taking the Table as a whole around 390 units ran some 3.2 million miles in the latest four week period, suffered 120 faults for an MPC of around 27,000. SWTs overall MPC was a staggering 49,000. South Eastern averaged 17,500 and South Central 24,000

Now consider. Over the next 18 months all these paragons of reliability are due to be replaced by Electrostars and Desiros. The DC Electrostars will have to double or treble their current MPC, but the sheer excellence of SWT's maintenance of its Mk 1 fleet leaves Siemens with the biggest challenge, a challenge the company has accepted with a 50,000 MPC as their contractual yardstick. s in the co

Best of Breed

So now for the top performers.

From which we can see that the stars are:

Top TOC – South West Trains

Top mechanical parts manufacturer – Litchurch Lane Derby

Top electric traction equipment manufacturer – Preston

Top diesel engine manufacturer – a draw.

Top ROSCO – HSBC.

Continues.........

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