Posted 20th April 2013 | 9 Comments

Unwanted, unreliable - but these trains are the answer

IN ONE of the most unusual engineering solutions ever adopted, a fleet of trains that no one wanted any more and another that was once hailed as the least reliable in Britain – but has now actually become the most reliable – are being brought together to answer the calls for extra capacity on suburban lines to London Waterloo.

Eight redundant 8-car class 460 electric trains, once used by the former Gatwick Express franchise, and 30 4-car class 458 units, currently run by South West Trains on outer-suburban services, are being re-engineered in a £42 million project to create  ‘new’ 5-car trains, which will operate as 10-car pairs on suburban services on the Windsor lines, including the Hounslow Loop and to Weybridge.

The first pair of ‘new’ trains, each classified 458/5, is due to be delivered for trials to Wimbledon train maintenance depot in June and to go into public service during the summer. 

All 458/5 units – there will be 36 in total – will be put into service during the next year, marking the start of SWT’s aim to become a 10-coach railway, which also means major changes to the infrastructure, including signaling and longer platforms.  At Waterloo, the 10-car 458/5 pairs of units will use one of the former Eurostar platforms, the first to be brought into use for domestic services, which are situated adjacent to the existing ‘Windsor Lines.’

Tim Shoveller, managing director of the South Western Railway Alliance between SWT and Network Rail, says the trains are desperately needed:  “Although many old trains have been replaced since privatisation, we are still basically using the same number of trains in and out of Waterloo – even though we are now carrying 100 million more passengers a year.”

Referring to the innovative general manager responsible for wide-scale third-rail electrification of the Southern Railway in the 1920s and 1930s, Tim Shoveller said: “Sir Herbert Walker would thoroughly approve of our project that involves re-manufacturing trains to increase their length and the number of services we can operate on a railway that has become terribly congested.

“The South Western Railway is now so busy that even a minute’s delay to one train can destroy the peak service.”

Christian Roth, Fleet Director for the South West Trains-Network Rail Alliance, said creating the new fleet of class 458/5 trains was “much more complicated and more complex than buying new trains – but from an industry cost position it is better value for money.”

This, he explained, is because without the project Porterbrook Leasing would have had to scrap the former Gatwick Express trains and write off the cost across the industry in higher lease charges.
 
Both the class 460 and 458 units are part of the family of ‘Juniper’ trains built by Alstom at Washwood Heath, Birmingham, between 1998 and 2002. The Gatwick Express class 460s are mechanically similar to the Class 458s built for South West Trains, but the ‘Darth Vader’ nose cones on the Gatwick units gave them a very different look from the class 458s.  But the front ends will look completely different when the class 458/5 units appear, as they will be similar to the Siemens-built Desiros operated by SWT.

In their early years of operation, the 458s suffered major technical difficulties and became so unreliable that SWT planned to replace them with some of the large fleet of Desiros it had then opted for. However, reliability improved – so much so that by the end of last year the 458s, measured by the miles per technical incident, had become the most reliable trains in Britain.

Meanwhile, the class 460 units had been made redundant in 2010-11 after the Gatwick Express and Southern franchises were merged and the trains were replaced by refurbished BR-built class 442 units – which had been displaced from SWT by the new Desiros.

The idea of combining the 460s and 458s into new trains came from Porterbrook Leasing, which owns both fleets, and was agreed by the Department for Transport in December 2011. The re-engineering is being undertaken for Alstom by Wabtec Rail at Doncaster – where the trailer cars are being transformed – and at Wabtec Lougborough, where the class 460 driving luggage vans are being converted into passenger vehicles with windows, and where driving cabs are being fitted to the new fleet.

The cab ends on both Class 458 and on Class 460 vehicles will be compatible with the Class 450 Desiro fleet. Although there are no plans for it to happen in normal operations, it will be technically possible for the Alstom and Siemens units to operate together.

New Train Management System software is being installed to improve reliability together with Automatic Selective Door Opening, which is being added to SWT’s Desiro fleet as well, for use at suburban stations where it is not practicable to lengthen platforms.

The project also involves replacing the existing couplers and the retractable gangways between coaches. Internally, the refurbishment for suburban passengers includes reconfiguring the layout to provide more standing room, so most seating will be 2 + 2, although there will be some 2 + 3.

Traction motors on both the existing 460 and 458 units are being re-geared from 100mph (160km/h), which is not required on suburban services, to 75mph (120km/h) maximum to avoid overheating.

As the existing class 458 Alstom units are incorporated into the new fleet, they will be replaced on the Waterloo-Reading route by class 450 Desiros they will replace on the Windsor lines.  First Class accommodation, which was removed when the trains were sent to the Windsor route, will be restored.

The swap with units on the Reading route is necessary because platforms west from Virginia Water are not yet long enough for 10-car trains, except at the rebuilt Reading station, and the electric power supply requires upgrading.  Both projects are planned during the next control period – 2014 and 2019.

Together with 48 2-car class 456 units – which will be transferred next year from Southern to SWT to lengthen trains on Waterloo-Woking-Guildford via Cobham, Kingston loop, and Waterloo-Hampton Court services from 8 to 10 coaches – the class 458/5 units will create space for 23,000 extra peak-time passengers by December 2014, according to SWT.

• Observant readers will have noted that the 8 Class 460 trains and the 30 class 458s comprise a total of 184 vehicles, – but 36 5-car class 458/5s only require 180 vehicles. Alstom explains that the four class 460 vehicles not required for conversion will be retained as a source of strategic spare parts.

Reader Comments:

Views expressed in submitted comments are that of the author, and not necessarily shared by Railnews.

  • Jon Porter, CALNE

    Mr. Williams, the unreliable label was for the class 458s, not the 460s. Even so it took Stewarts Lane a great deal of hard work to get the 460s up to the reliability level required.
    SWT did place the 458s off lease for a while as they were deemed too unreliable. Hard work by Wimbledon Depot eventually made them the UKs most reliable units.

  • John Edwards, Woodford Halse

    Shaun Spencer, for reliability issues read "teething problems" with braking systems, software and air-conditioning; these were resolved by Alstom and the units have been running reliably for a couple of years now.

    The argument that the old units (class 73s with secondhand mk 1s) were bad so these replacements can be as well is nonsense. People complained back then and used the other London airports. Let's remember that the 460s were exclusively used on the Gatwick Express services and were popular with users.

    As for the profiteering, you only have to ask the question who is benefiting from the reallocation. Well, the 460s are owned by Porterbrook who bid a while back for a SWT contract to supply extra EMU units to deal with the extension of formations from 8 to 10 cars. In order to help Porterbrook achieve their contractually agreed number of units, the 460s are being "converted" and some near life-expired 442s replace them.

    What is now the point of the Gatwick Express if users can buy a cheaper ticket and get to central London using normal commuter services in just the same time and probably better comfort? Where is the gain to those commuters using those normal BML services and who have to put up with lots of travellers with their luggage blocking the aisles and gangways? What sort of impression does this give of Britain to the international visitor?

  • SHAUN SPENCER-SALLIS, BASINGSTOKE

    'John Williams' Look at the history of the 'Juniper' fleet and you will find they started off very unreliable and very unwanted, it took years to sort all the issues out.
    As for 442s being 'unsuitable' what was used before? Loco and coaches, same size doorways as a 442, same seating layout too, No one moaned then!

    As for as you put it 'This whole debacle illustrates very well how the interests of passengers come a distant second after corporate profiteering' the 442's were used to provide more seats per service and for the additional stops and extensions to Brighton for some i think that is putting the wider passenger needs 1st not just Gatwick passengers and as for corporate profiteering, well it costs more to lease and maintain a 5 car 442 than it did an 8 car 460 and 10 460s were replaced by 24 442s so i believe that more money is spent on providing more seats for everyone on the Brighton Line, i don't call that profiteering!!!

  • James Palma, London

    Can someone please explain this obsession with continuously wanting to buy new things when it is clearly more expensive to do so and will potentially have similar problems to the introduction of the 458s in the first place? Is it a sign of today's disposable society? The Metropolitan Line 'A' stock were 50 years old (some older) when finally withdrawn from service. These were only replaced when they were a hindrance to improvements to the railway such as increased speeds, closer headways and automatic operation systems, that will be introduced over the next 10 years. They were well maintained and kept working becuase that was the most economical solution.

    As such, I suggest hat there is no reason why this should not be done on the main line. After all it will be the passenger and tax payer who ends up footing the bill anyway.

  • John Williams, Woodford Halse

    Unwanted, unreliable? I'm sorry but this is pure nonsense. These units were built to serve Gatwick Airport and were adapted to accommodate passengers with luggage (wide doorways, level platform access, luggage racks etc). They were much appreciated by airport users until the decision was made by the DfT in 2010 to replace them with inferior 442s which are unsuitable for an airport service. The decision has been criticised not only by the airport operator, county council and passenger groups.

    This whole debacle illustrates very well how the interests of passengers come a distant second after corporate profiteering. Please railnews can we have some neutral reporting?

  • Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex

    Lutz, London the railways WERE fully privatised by John Major its the private companies that have failed to invest in new trains!

    After all they are happy to take leasing costs so where has this money gone to?
    It's time we abolished ROSCOS as they have not even purchased a rolling replacement of trains of let's say 5% per year!

  • Lutz, London

    @Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex
    Except that it is the civil servants in Whitehall that determine if the purchase of new stock is to be authorised - which is another good reason for the railways to be fully privatised.

  • Tony Walmsley, York

    Minor correction - there are 24 2-car class 456 units (48 vehicles)

  • Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex

    When on considers how privatebus companies have continued to order new buses one has to ask why ROSCOs have failed to set up any proper ongoing train replacement program. They have been one of they failures of rail privatisation and when new trains are ordered they are often ordered by the government making you wonder why privatise in the first place?

    In fact the latest orders by the present Tory government have been from government via Southern Railway.

    Odd thing is that when refurbished many users think they have new trains !

    This project raises the question of whether District Line D Stock should be scraped or modified for further use elsewhere on the rail network?

    Afterall think of the number of users in the north have just single carriage trains while D Stock offers 8 carriages per train. Perhaps tests to convert to either AC or even DEMU should be investigated ?