Hitachi Super Express for UK Railways

From the Railway Gazette website:

http://www.railwaygazette.com/

Agility Trains to supply Super Express fleet

12 Feb 2009

'UK: Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon announced on February 12 that the Agility Trains consortium of Hitachi, John Laing and Barclays has been selected as preferred bidder for the supply of ‘up to 1 400’ vehicles as part of the government-led Intercity Express Programme.

Under the £7·5bn train service provision contract, for which the financing is due to be put in place by the end of this year, the consortium will introduce a fleet of 200 km/h Super Express trains for inter-city services on the East Coast Main Line from 2013 to replace existing IC125 and IC225 trainsets. The trains would subsequently be introduced on the Great Western Main Line between London, Bristol and South Wales, with widespread operation expected from 2015. The IEP design is also expected to be used on medium-distance commuter services from London to the Thames Valley and Cambridge. Options within the contract would see the trains introduced on the London - Exeter - Penzance route and on the West Coast Main Line.

Described by the Department for Transport as ‘a British-led consortium’, Agility Trains is to assemble the trains in the UK, using Japanese-built bodyshells. Sites in Gateshead, Sheffield and Ashby de la Zouch are being considered for the assembly plant. New depot facilities will also be created to maintain the trains.

The Super Express fleet will be formed of electric, diesel and bi-mode trains, all with a maximum speed of 200 km/h. Following succesful trials of the Hayabusa powercar equipped with onboard battery energy storage, the diesel and bi-mode trains will use hybrid technology to reduce fuel consumption by ‘up to 15%’.

Vehicles will be 26 m long, rather than the current 23 m length used in the IC125 and IC225 fleets. The Super Express design for the East Coast Main Line is expected to offer an additional 113 seats with a weight saving of 86 tonnes when compared to an IC225 trainset.

The rival bidder, the Express Rail Alliance of Bombardier, Siemens, Angel Trains and Babcock & Brown, has been asked by the Department for Transport to maintain its status as reserve bidder until ‘satisfactory terms’ have been agreed between DfT and Agility Trains.'

The three basic types of trains (all with maximum speed of 125mph) are:

Electric - 5 or 10 coach Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) with motored axles.

Diesel - 8 coach plus hybrid diesel power unit at each end with motored axles - the power units will not be able to operate independently.

Bi-mode - 4 or 9 coach EMU with motored axles plus hybrid diesel power unit at one end - power from 25kv A/C or diesel power unit.





There's a video as well:
http://www.agilitytrains.co.uk/agilityt ... xpress.htm

It is a great pity that there is no longer, apparently, British capability to design and build this train.

I do wonder whether 125 as a limiting speed is enough. Considering that BR Mark 4 was capable of 140, I feel this is a step back.

Only 125 mph? That's lame.

here , we'd be happy with 125km/hr

Matt Johnson wrote:Only 125 mph? That's lame.

Matt

The new trains are 'inter-city' rather than 'high speed'. They'll be used on existing mixed use lines rather than dedicated high speed passenger lines. However as I've said elsewhere on this site, there are a fair number of 100mph+ average timings on the East Coast and newly upgraded West Coast Main Lines in the UK, even where top speeds are limited to 125mph.

George

I'm also disappointed that the electric version doesn't have a higher top speed. However it has been calculated that if 135 miles of the East Coast Main Line was upgraded to run at 140 and 155mph, the maximum time saving between London and Newcastle (285 miles) would only be 9.5 minutes.

David

125km/h is 79mph, I believe.

Here in New Zealand , top speed is 100 km/hr , some railcars are cleared for 110 km/hr , but in reality few trains get above 80 km/hr . we are dealing with 60 year old carriages , and coloinal track after all .
Back in the 70's / 80 's some trains would hit 70 mph , unoffically , but that sure was a rock and roll ride .

David Benton wrote:Here in New Zealand , top speed is 100 km/hr , some railcars are cleared for 110 km/hr , but in reality few trains get above 80 km/hr . we are dealing with 60 year old carriages , and coloinal track after all .
Back in the 70's / 80 's some trains would hit 70 mph , unoffically , but that sure was a rock and roll ride .

You won't get more passenger services unless you can get the speed up.

not going to happen in the near future , George .
focus is on providing commuter service in auckland and wellington , both need upgrading badly .
There is talk of a Auckland - Hamilton train (136 km ) , that may one day be high speed , 120 - 160 km/hr !!!
Both the Japanese and aussies have done 160 km/hr on 1036mm gauge .

Chafford1 wrote:Matt

The new trains are 'inter-city' rather than 'high speed'. They'll be used on existing mixed use lines rather than dedicated high speed passenger lines. However as I've said elsewhere on this site, there are a fair number of 100mph+ average timings on the East Coast and newly upgraded West Coast Main Lines in the UK, even where top speeds are limited to 125mph.

George

I'm also disappointed that the electric version doesn't have a higher top speed. However it has been calculated that if 135 miles of the East Coast Main Line was upgraded to run at 140 and 155mph, the maximum time saving between London and Newcastle (285 miles) would only be 9.5 minutes.

Understood, although if you're going to order new rolling stock, I can't imagine it adds much to the cost to design it for 140 or 150 mph vs 125 mph. Why not give yourself the option to upgrade? It seems especially odd given that the IC225 trains being replaced are designed for 140 mph operation. Heck, they could have ordered Acela Express trains from Bombardier and had a 150 mph trainset!

Understood, although if you're going to order new rolling stock, I can't imagine it adds much to the cost to design it for 140 or 150 mph vs 125 mph. Why not give yourself the option to upgrade? It seems especially odd given that the IC225 trains being replaced are designed for 140 mph operation. Heck, they could have ordered Acela Express trains from Bombardier and had a 150 mph trainset!

British trains have to be narrower and lower in profile than even in the rest of Europe because the overall loading gauge is less generous. Therefore US trains could not fit - probably not even in Continental Europe.

I agree that they should have allowed for faster maximum speeds. In British Rail days a single design committee would have made the decision and they would have been built in British Rail Engineering Limited (BREL), probably very quickly. Now many people have to put their oars in: The Ministry; the Banks that will own the trains; Network Rail that operates the track; the Japanese company that will build them etc.

Matt Johnson wrote: Understood, although if you're going to order new rolling stock, I can't imagine it adds much to the cost to design it for 140 or 150 mph vs 125 mph.

My guess is that there's a limiting factor, i.e. weight, loading gauge, or such, that says 125mph is a better choice, likely to get slightly better acceleration. AC ain't magic, even if it beats the pants of DC. If you need X horsepower to get to 125, and X+Y to get to 150, it makes little sense to add that Y, unless it's really going to be used, if it adds undue weight.

Why not give yourself the option to upgrade? It seems especially odd given that the IC225 trains being replaced are designed for 140 mph operation.

Because they never use it? The IC225, IIRC, are locomotive hauled, the new stuff is MU. Adding extra HP and regearing a loco's easy, but craming all that into an MU, especially in the tight British loading gauge, might not be worth it.

Heck, they could have ordered Acela Express trains from Bombardier and had a 150 mph trainset!

Ok, once you've removed your tongue from your cheek, you DO realize that the Acela's too big to fit on British tracks, and isn't certified to run in Europe anyway. I doubt you'd get the Germans or French to allow such a heavy train to tilt at any useful speed anyway (the Acela runs at a cant deficiency below what even requires tilt in a few countries), add a history of stability issues, extreme weight (with attendant track wear, which means higher costs to the operator in some countries), high power consumption for such a low speed (TGVs, IIRC, are only 2X 5 MW, and go MUCH faster)....

Anyway, there's a reason they've not sold any Acelas overseas - better trains existed 20 years ago....

Matt Johnson wrote: Understood, although if you're going to order new rolling stock, I can't imagine it adds much to the cost to design it for 140 or 150 mph vs 125 mph. Why not give yourself the option to upgrade? It seems especially odd given that the IC225 trains being replaced are designed for 140 mph operation. Heck, they could have ordered Acela Express trains from Bombardier and had a 150 mph trainset!

The British Government invited bidders to put forward proposals for an electric train running at up to 155mph. Despite the announcement, it's not clear at the moment what was agreed.

Chafford1 wrote:

Matt Johnson wrote: Understood, although if you're going to order new rolling stock, I can't imagine it adds much to the cost to design it for 140 or 150 mph vs 125 mph. Why not give yourself the option to upgrade? It seems especially odd given that the IC225 trains being replaced are designed for 140 mph operation. Heck, they could have ordered Acela Express trains from Bombardier and had a 150 mph trainset!

The British Government invited bidders to put forward proposals for an electric train running at up to 155mph. Despite the announcement, it's not clear at the moment what was agreed.

The fragmentation of the rail industry in the alleged privatisation process has made all this far more difficult - and made impossible building and designing the trains here.

george matthews wrote:It is a great pity that there is no longer, apparently, British capability to design and build this train.

I do wonder whether 125 as a limiting speed is enough. Considering that BR Mark 4 was capable of 140, I feel this is a step back.

Although not mentioned by the Department for Transport or Agility Trains/Hitachi , the electric version of the Super Express will have 140mph capability:

Roger Ford who is a contributor to the (UK) Modern Railways magazine has commented on another website:

'I quote Hitachi " Max speed (mph) 125 (capable of 140 with minor modifications)'

For those who are interested, there's a technical data sheet for the new trains at:

http://www.agilitytrains.com/assets/pdf ... ed-1_5.pdf

'Self-powered' versions have hybrid diesel power units at each end of the train.

'Bi-mode' versions have a hybrid diesel power unit at one end of the train and a transformer/pantograph car at the other