British Rail Class 390
The vehicles also called Pendolino Britannico British class 390 are electrically driven tilting trains, which are used by the railway company Virgin Trains on the West Coast Main Line in the UK. Built by Alstom trains, the active tilting technology comes from Fiat.
History
As Virgin Trains won the bid for the Intercity traffic on the West Coast Main Line in 1997, it was decided to replace the there trains running through new rolling stock. In the old trains, it was all about electric locomotives of type BR Class 86, BR- 87 and BR- class class 90, and coaches of the type BR and BR Mark 2 Mark 3 in push-pull operation. Alstom / Fiat was then entrusted with the construction of tilting trains; most of the components come from Fiat, but the final assembly was done in Washwood Heath. 53 units were built between 2001 and 2004, with the numbers 390001-390053.
This is not the first time operated tilting trains on the WCML. Already twenty years before the British Rail Advanced Passenger Train ( APT; British Rail Class 370) was constructed. Although this was ultimately failed, much has survived of its technology - they had been sold to Fiat, and so is the Class 390 in some ways a successor to the APT.
Originally, the trains should run at a speed of 225 km / h ( 140 mph ). However, the expansion of the West Coast Main Line was more expensive than planned, therefore, was extended only for a maximum speed of 200 km / h ( 125 mph ). Correspondingly, also the trains were designed for this maximum speed. In order for the trains, although at the same speed as before the APTs of British Rail; However, these were originally designed for a speed of 155 mph and had reached on test drives once actually 162 mph (261 km / h).
On 21 May 2004, the authorization to operate at a maximum speed of 125 miles per hour has been granted ( with tilting). Mid-2004 were 45 of 53 trains on the WCML in use. Weekly 566 trains were offered. On 20 September 2004, the then British Prime Minister Tony Blair sent the first 200-km/h-Zug on the way. On 27 September 2004, the scheduled time of operation at 200 km / h was recorded. The travel times were thus reduced by 20 percent, increases the supply at the same time by 22 percent.
To use the trains arrived for the first time on the route from Euston Station to Manchester Piccadilly Station on 23 July 2002, at the opening of the Commonwealth Games in Manchester. In the following months the Class 390 trains took over traffic to Manchester and completely Station Birmingham New Street, Wolverhampton and Preston were also to Liverpool Lime Street station, used. End of 2003, the last class 86 locomotive was replaced by Pendolino.
2004, the Pendolino were then used after Glasgow Central Station and later on all routes north of Preston; so could the BR Class 90 locomotives are completely eliminated. Due to technical problems the Pendolino but some BR Class 87 locomotives were still in service.
In the same year, the Pendolino were also released for the North Wales Coast Line from Crewe to Holyhead. Since this route is not electrified, the trains of BR Class 57 diesel locomotives are drawn (which also are used when Pendolino be diverted to non- electrified lines ).
Technology
The Class 390 is the fastest British trainset; only the Franco-British Euro Star is faster, but the signal system and limited him to a speed of 125 mph (200 km / h) on upgraded lines. In September 2006, a class 390 a new best time for the 401 miles ( 642 km ) long route from Glasgow to London; 3 hrs 55 mins he was faster than the previous record of 4 hours 14 minutes, set up by the Advanced Passenger Train in 1981.
In contrast to the other Pendolino tilting trains that use a hydraulic tilting system, an electromechanical tilting technology was incorporated in the class 390 (developed by SIG, later FIAT -SIG and today ALSTOM Railway AG and ESW GmbH). In contrast to the FIAT - tilting technology, no pendulum, but on rolls of continuous, inclined scenes. This should be more efficient and cause less maintenance costs. Instead of a traditional dining car, there is a board - bistro. There is an electronic information system that displays at the car ends and the outside of the doors. On the seats, there are headphone jacks for the onboard radio. For seat reservation, there are also electronic displays; these have proved to be unreliable, so the reservations are still made with paper labels. The compartment doors open onto a button. With the older cars of the type British Rail Mark 3 and Mark 4 British Rail there was criticism of the draft, when the doors were equipped with a sensor held open by a piece of luggage. However, it is criticized today that the doors close when waiting for passengers to exit. The doors have retractable steps that adapt to platform height. This was already the APT -P.
The Pendolino fleet is based in the Manchester Train Care Centre in Longsight where major maintenance is performed; plus there is a lift that can lift a whole train. Minor maintenance will be carried out in the other workshops Alstom, namely in Wembley ( London ), Oxley ( near Wolverhampton ), Edge Hill ( Liverpool ) and Polmadie ( in Glasgow ).
Each unit consists of nine car; the first 34 units were built with only eight cars, a ninth was added in 2004. One unit is assembled as follows:
Problems and incidents
In October 2004, a train collided with the buffer stop at the platform beginning in Liverpool Lime Street train station; A similar accident happened a few weeks later at the same station. The cause was loud Rail Safety and Standards Board, a software error in the anti- lock brakes, the brakes at low speed after prolonged coasting (as happened at the entrance to a train station ) is disabled. Up to remedy the error was a top speed of 110 mph
Another problem (even with the diesel-powered sister trains Class 220 occurred that) concerned the toilets; the stench did occurs presumably, therefore, that the vent for the waste tanks are right next to the suction of the air conditioner. To fix the problem, air fresheners were installed, the waste water tanks cleaned ( with a liquid, which is also used in the aircraft of Virgin Atlantic ), replaced the sewer pipes and modifies the waste tank ventilation.
The heavy weight of the trains caused a significantly higher wear on the rails. In addition, the tilting technology requires a lower carriage cross section, and also the ground is compared to other trains increased to accommodate including the inclination mechanism can. In addition, disabled toilets are available. All this reduces the seating capacity in comparison to the old trains and provides for a higher weight per passenger and thus more energy consumption, which was criticized in 2006 by the British Transport Secretary Alistair Darling. Other criticisms are the smaller windows that allow less light in the train (the thick window frames are also due to an increased crash safety ), and the lack of bicycle parking spaces.
Finally, each several trains had to be pulled from the market to retrofit sand spreader - which had been strangely not installed during construction.
Derailment at Grayrigg
On February 23, 2007, a Pendolino derailed at Grayrigg in Cumbria. The train with the number 390 033 and the name "City Of Glasgow " was Euston Station (departure 17:15 clock ) to Glasgow Central train station on the way; in the accident, 115 passengers were on board, one person was killed. Cause was a defective switch; but overall was confirmed by the accident, the crash safety of the train.
Future
After the number of passengers was increased significantly by the distance modernization, the Department of Transport Department for Transport decided to increase the capacity. To this end, in September 2008, additional vehicles were ordered from Alstom Transport. Four 11- car trains will be completely re- produced and 31 existing sets supplemented by 2 cars. In addition, an option has been agreed, after the remaining 21 trains can be extended. The new sets are to be put into operation in 2011 and 2012. With this measure are associated modifications to the depots to treat the extended trains can.
Since the previous production plant was closed in Washwood Heath, carried out the production of new cars in the Italian Alstom tilting center Savigliano.