SIEMENS was due to complete the first bodyshell for its Desiro UK electric multiple-unit fleet last month. Unveiling a full-scale mock-up of a 20m driving power car on February 5 in Britain, Siemens said that the trains will be supplied from its Krefeld and Wien plants, with bogies from SGP in Graz.
Siemens has two contracts for its Desiro UK design: 25 four-car dual-voltage sets (25 kV 50Hz and 750V DC third rail) as a speculative build for Angel Trains, to be known as Class 350, and 21 four-car 25 kV sets for Angel that will be leased to First Great Eastern. These Class 360s will be fitted to accept third rail DC equipment to retain residual value. An option exists for five more sets.
The trains will be tested at up to 160 km/h on the large loop at Wildenrath which is being equipped with a third rail power supply and ’antiquated’ signalling equipment to simulate conditions on the DC routes south of London in an attempt to reduce the time taken to obtain a Railtrack safety case. Around 10 months of trials will be possible before the first Class 360 units are due to enter service with the winter 2002 timetable on FGE services between London, Ipswich and Clacton.
Both builds will have aluminium bodyshells, with extrusions supplied by Corus. ’Crashworthiness will be well beyond requirements - we wanted to make sure that the lessons of Ladbroke Grove were taken on board’, said Chris Adams, Angel Trains’ Project Manager.
Each set seats 280 passengers, including nine fold-down seats in the disabled area. The FGE sets have an eight-seat first class saloon at each end, but no end gangways. The other build will be fully gangwayed and standard class throughout. Seats are to an upright Grammer design with lightweight steel frames, allowing relatively generous legroom of 670mm and a face-to-back pitch of 760mm. Doors are from Bode with pneumatic actuation and Pintsch-Bamag controls. Air-conditioning is in a roof-mounted unit from Air International with a cooling capacity of 28 kW.
Although several subsystems are the same as on the Desiro builds for German Railway, Hellenic State Rail-way and Slovenian Railways, the design is ’a new train’, according to David Wilson, Director & General Manager of Siemens Transportation Systems UK. Siemens will be responsible for maintenance of the Class 360s for the remaining life of the FGE franchise, and maintenance by Siemens is an option available to the lessee of the speculative build.
Siemens is meanwhile looking at a 23m version Desiro UK version and is also examining the market for 20m trains with three sets of doors per side that would allow shorter station dwell times. A possible user for the speculative build is South West Trains, which said last month that it would place orders for up to 700 Desiro UK cars with options for 500 more if it is chosen to continue as the operator in the refranchising process. n
SIEMENS was due to complete the first bodyshell for its Desiro UK electric multiple-unit fleet last month. Unveiling a full-scale mock-up of a 20m driving power car on February 5 in Britain, Siemens said that the trains will be supplied from its Krefeld and Wien plants, with bogies from SGP in Graz.
Siemens has two contracts for its Desiro UK design: 25 four-car dual-voltage sets (25 kV 50Hz and 750V DC third rail) as a speculative build for Angel Trains, to be known as Class 350, and 21 four-car 25 kV sets for Angel that will be leased to First Great Eastern. These Class 360s will be fitted to accept third rail DC equipment to retain residual value. An option exists for five more sets.
The trains will be tested at up to 160 km/h on the large loop at Wildenrath which is being equipped with a third rail power supply and ’antiquated’ signalling equipment to simulate conditions on the DC routes south of London in an attempt to reduce the time taken to obtain a Railtrack safety case. Around 10 months of trials will be possible before the first Class 360 units are due to enter service with the winter 2002 timetable on FGE services between London, Ipswich and Clacton.
Both builds will have aluminium bodyshells, with extrusions supplied by Corus. ’Crashworthiness will be well beyond requirements - we wanted to make sure that the lessons of Ladbroke Grove were taken on board’, said Chris Adams, Angel Trains’ Project Manager.
Each set seats 280 passengers, including nine fold-down seats in the disabled area. The FGE sets have an eight-seat first class saloon at each end, but no end gangways. The other build will be fully gangwayed and standard class throughout. Seats are to an upright Grammer design with lightweight steel frames, allowing relatively generous legroom of 670mm and a face-to-back pitch of 760mm. Doors are from Bode with pneumatic actuation and Pintsch-Bamag controls. Air-conditioning is in a roof-mounted unit from Air International with a cooling capacity of 28 kW.
Although several subsystems are the same as on the Desiro builds for German Railway, Hellenic State Rail-way and Slovenian Railways, the design is ’a new train’, according to David Wilson, Director & General Manager of Siemens Transportation Systems UK. Siemens will be responsible for maintenance of the Class 360s for the remaining life of the FGE franchise, and maintenance by Siemens is an option available to the lessee of the speculative build.
Siemens is meanwhile looking at a 23m version Desiro UK version and is also examining the market for 20m trains with three sets of doors per side that would allow shorter station dwell times. A possible user for the speculative build is South West Trains, which said last month that it would place orders for up to 700 Desiro UK cars with options for 500 more if it is chosen to continue as the operator in the refranchising process. n
CAPTION: A 20m long mock-up of a Desiro UK driving power car on the Siemens premises in Sunbury will be used to test customers’ reactions over the next few months
CAPTION: Left: Compared with rival designs, the Grammer seat chosen for the Siemens Desiro UK EMUs allowed an extra row to be fitted in standard class without reducing legroom
Photo: Brian Morrison
CAPTION: Right: Body side for the first shell for the Desiro UK EMU fleet awaits assembly in Krefeld on February 13
