INFORMED SOURCES e-Preview May 2007
This month’s Informed Sources is a traction and rolling stock
spectacular. The subject is the Intercity Express Programme (IEP) – the train
formerly known as HST2.
As reported last month, DfT Rail has begun the formal procurement
process and issued the initial Functional Specification. All concerned
emphasise that the spec’ is very much a work in progress, which will
continue to be refined and modified during the procurement process.
So, with Mr Editor Abbott giving me extra pages, I have spent several
happy hours on my favourite topic – traction and rolling stock to
produce the first detailed description and analysis of the nascent IEP.
To avoid giving readers indigestion, I have split the analysis into a
number of topics.
IEP – great expectations
IEP highlights diesel limitations
Weight dominates IEP design
Challenging standards to save weight and energy
Coming to a railway near you
Track quality vital to IEP
Pendolino lengthening no early resolution
There are two sets of criteria in the Functional Specification –
‘essential’ and ‘desirable’. Essential requirements are the minimum level
needed by the IEP business case, legislation or standards. Desirable
features would make the business case even more attractive.
Readers will be amused to know that nowhere in the spec’ does the ‘D’
word appear. Techno-correctness requires the use of ‘self powered’ but
in the absence of any credible alternative to a 2MW (2,700hp) diesel
engine I use the ‘D’ word shamelessly.
On performance, IEP is required to match the acceleration of a Class
220 Voyager, full stop, rather than up to 50mile/h as I said last month.
Even greater performance is desirable – easy with the electric version,
expensive and heavy with diesel traction .
Maximum speed is 125mile/h, but 140mile/h is now added as
‘desirable’. Journey time reduction is another essential feature, to be achieved
through high acceleration and shorter station dwell times.
As you might expect there is a lot on environmental issues.
Performance is given in terms of improvements on the trains IEP will replace,
IC125 on Great Western and IC225 on the East Coast.
Essential energy savings are 35% for the electric IEP and 20% for the
diesel train. These sound demanding, but with IEP based on 26m long
coaches and 10 car formations, the increased capacity reduces energy per
seat km by 20-25% and regenerative braking makes up the difference for
the electric train.
Diesel limits
One of the bees in my hard hat at the moment is the tendency to assume
that there is no difference between diesel and electric traction. I
have had one or two rants about this heresy at recent conferences and I
reprise the issue in Informed.
Apart from the operational and performance constraints – imagine
running commuter services into Waterloo with an all diesel multiple unit
fleet, power-for-power electric traction has a huge advantage. To make the
point I have produced a table showing the kw/tonne for a range of
diesel engines and transformers. And special thanks to Cummins for weighing
a QSK60 for me to get the dry weight.
And the short answer is that for a 2MW power unit – assuming the
inverters and traction motors are distributed along the train – a diesel
package, including fuel weighs 20 tonnes and its electric equivalent 5
tonnes.
One big issue for diesel is emissions regulations. I am still getting
my head round these, but IEP will have to meet what is known as Class
IIIB and the potential engine suppliers are very cagey about how their
engines will achieve this. Subscribers have already been helping me up
the learning curve on this issue, ditto the weight of the MTU 4000
Series V12 requested in last month’s e-Preview.
Weighty matters
Having dealt with traction packages, next comes a reality check on the
train weight aspirations. The essential weights are demanding, the
desirable weights suggest wide scale use of Unobtainium – the wonder metal
with infinite tensile strength and zero mass.
In a crafty bit of reverse engineering I have converted a Pendolino
trailer car, into a 26m coach, running on lightweight bogies and with
seating at the same density as the refurbished First Great Western IC125s.
An engineering chum has carried out the same exercise, with a lot more
skill and experience, but we both get a vehicle weight of 39-40 tonnes.
More reverse engineering gives the ‘essential’ weight of an IEP trailer
car at 31 tonnes. So to meet the spec’, we have to take 8-9 tonnes out
of a lengthened non tilting Pendolino trailer car.
Of course, the Japanese are seen as the paragons of light weight train
design. And one of the reasons for this is claimed to be higher track
quality allowing lighter weight bogies. Yet the bogies for the Class
395 Channel Tunnel Rail Link Domestic Stock have come in at a similar
mass to, say, the Bombardier B5000.
My chums at Hitachi have very kindly supplied a table showing that this
is a function of the fatigue and proof loading calculation in UK
standards. At which point I can give subscribers an exclusive.
The IEP specification assumes that Improved track quality will help
reduce weight, According to Informed Sources, Network Rail’s IEP-quality
track will match current plain line track standards on the ECML with
higher quality switch and crossing work.
This may lack the ambition of the IEP spec’, but those who were on the
record breaking 3hr 29min IC225 London-Edinburgh run will recall that
IC225 ride at over 125mile/h was superb.
Redundancy
Achieving the weight savings implied in the Functional Specification is
going to involve challenging established practice. One example I quote
this month concerns redundancy in braking. Why, for example, does a
Class 390 Pendolino need a set of fully rated disc brakes plus rheostatic
brake equipment, when the primary source of stopping power is the
regenerative brake? I explore this in some detail, with examples quoted at a
recent technical conference from where I pinched the idea in the first
place.
Meanwhile the power cars for the proposed Chinese built IC125-updates
for Grand Central are looking to be heavier, rather than lighter, than a
Class 43 power car.
Delivery schedules
Having spent many happy hours as a supernumerary site engineer with the
Class 55 Deltic fleet at Finsbury Park, I will be sorely tempted to
offer my services to the Depot engineer responsible for the pre-Series IEP
fleet, due to enter service on the southern end of the ECML in May
2012.
With 10 ‘half-sets’, three electric and seven dual powered, there will
never be a dull moment. In my naiveté I assumed that a dual powered
set would be formed by coupling a diesel and an electric half-set
together.
Not so. The seven half sets will have a diesel power car plus a
transformer and pantograph.
Yet to be elucidated is whether the non-diesel ends will have
through-connections – with all that implies for crashworthiness, streamlining
and coupling times. But just imagine keeping track of the options. And
you can be sure that if a half-set goes technical at the last minute,
the spare will be pointing in the wrong direction
Initial series deliveries will be to the Great Western Main Line,
followed by replacement of the ICEC fleet. Together this would see around
1000 vehicles in service by 2020.
Track quality
Network Rail is firmly in the driving seat on track quality. The
scope cost and programme of the associated upgrade work must be agreed
with Network Rail before the Invitation to Tender is issued. Then
Network Rail will then have to be satisfied with the successful bidder’s
‘train/infrastructure interface’ before the train contract is signed. And
infrastructure upgrade costs will form part of the IEP business case.
Pendolino lengthening update
Alstom has now submitted a revised tender for the 106 coaches needed to
lengthen the 53 Class 390 Pendolinos to 11 cars. However Pendolino
owner Angel Trains and DfT Rail are at loggerheads again over the terms of
the rentals for the 11 car fleet after the current lease with Virgin
West Coast (VWC) ends with the franchise in March 2012.
But the extra capacity provided will not be needed until 2014 and the
on-going delay means that only about half the sets could now be
lengthened during the H2 bogie exam. VWC is also worried about the possible
impact on fleet reliability as sets are broken and reformed.
On top of this, DfT Rail is floating the idea of an early build of
electric IEPs for the London-Birmingham route. This would transfer more
Pendolinos to longer distance services.
Detailed examination of the damage to Class 390 033 following the
Grayrigg derailment has not yet been possible. But if the 106 extra cars
are not built, repair or replacement will be much more expensive and take
longer.
In all, a classic example of what I call a ‘Ballybunion Vortex’. For
the derivation you’ll have to read the column.
Roger’s Blog
John Armitt gave a fascinating farewell presentation to another packed
Fourth Friday Club meeting on 23 March. The following week It was off
to the Institution of Mechanical Engineers for the annual interface
seminar organised by the Railway Division. This showcases the work of the
System Interface Committees (SIC) and there will be plenty to report on
next month.
Then, at the start of April Network Rail revealed the company’s
business plan for the remaining years of the current Control Period which ends
in March 2009. As you can see from our editorial we were not
impressed. With around 100 days to go to the publication of the HLOS and SoFA,
I hope to put the Network Rail figures in context next month.
The week just past saw the Railway Forum’s annual Sustainable
Development conference. There were some excellent papers, but overall I was a
bit disappointed at signs of paralysis by analysis, especially in the
DfT Rail presentation. It’s noticeable that when it comes to doing,
rather than dithering, ATOC are now the heavy hitters.
This coming Tuesday, DfT Rail is holding an industry day for IEP. I
applied to attend with my consultancy hat on. DfT said ‘no you’re a
journalist’. Representations have been made.
On Thursday ORR announces its final decision on DfT Rail’s complaint
against the ROSCOs – look out for sparks. The week after that it’s
off to Loughborough to climb all over Porterbook’s Class 43 with an
Hitachi hybrid drive system. I have reservations about hybrid traction on
the main line so it should be a useful day.
Finally, the Electrify petition on the No 10 website has just topped
3,100 signatures. The target is 5,000 by the end of July, so please
encourage any friends and colleagues to sign up at
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Electrify/
That’s all for now
Roger
