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Author Topic: Intercity Express Programme (IEP) - ongoing discussion  (Read 743823 times)
Network SouthEast
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« Reply #240 on: July 18, 2013, 11:11:45 »

This morning the DfT» (Department for Transport - about) have confirmed an order for IEP (Intercity Express Program / Project.) trains to be used on the ECML (East Coast Main Line).

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-gives-green-light-for-more-state-of-the-art-intercity-trains

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Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin has today (18 July 2013) confirmed a ^1.2 billion order for more state-of-the-art trains to transform rail travel on one of Britain^s busiest intercity routes.

The 270 carriages will be manufactured in Britain by Hitachi Rail Europe at its new purpose-built factory in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, as part of the government^s overall ^5.8 billion Intercity Express Programme (IEP).

The latest order for the trains, called the class 800 series, will be operational on the East Coast Main Line from 2019 and will deliver significant benefits to passengers, including boosting capacity by 18 per cent, improving train reliability by a factor of five and cutting journey times between London, Leeds, Newcastle and Edinburgh by up to 18 minutes.

The order is a boost for Hitachi^s North East manufacturing facility and its 730 planned jobs. It will further enhance the factory^s ability to win lucrative rail contracts across Europe and give the UK (United Kingdom) another runner in the global race to build the world^s best trains.

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said:

By signing this deal we have provided further proof of our determination to transform Britain^s railways into a world-class operation through continued investment and state-of-the-art technology.

This new order for class 800 series trains is part of the government^s commitment to invest in our nation^s infrastructure. This will not only deliver significant benefits to passengers by further slashing journey times and bolstering capacity, but will also stimulate economic growth through improved connectivity between some of Britain^s biggest cities. This is good news for rail passengers and for British manufacturing.

Hitachi has recently completed a deal to build its Newton Aycliffe factory with a local development firm Merchant Place Developments and has said that it will be operational from 2015 with full production starting in 2016.

Alistair Dormer, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Hitachi Rail Europe, said:

This follow-on order by the Department for Transport is great news for passengers on the East Coast Main Line who can look forward to quicker journeys travelling on high-quality trains, with more seats and passenger space, built to the latest safety standards. This order is a tremendous boost for Hitachi Rail Europe^s new factory with its 730 future employees in County Durham and for the British supply chain. This order extends firm orders at the factory until the end of the decade with significant capacity remaining available for further UK and export contracts actively being pursued.

Last year the Department for Transport agreed an initial order for 596 carriages with Agility Trains, a consortium of Hitachi and John Laing. As well as building the new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility, Hitachi is also planning to construct maintenance depots in Bristol, Swansea, west London and Doncaster, and will upgrade existing maintenance depots throughout Britain to service the class 800 series trains.

The first batch of class 800 series trains will enter revenue-earning service on the Great Western Main Line in 2017 and on the East Coast Main Line in 2018.

Notes to editors


To follow the announcement follow the Department^s Twitter account at twitter.com/transportgovuk.

Intercity Express Programme written ministerial statement by the the Secretary of State for Transport.

The Intercity Express Programme (IEP) was launched in 2005. The key driver for the programme is the need to replace ageing intercity trains which were introduced in the late 1970s to early 90s and would require significant investment to continue in operation.

The programme will deliver a comprehensive package of improvements to intercity train services on the East Coast and Great Western routes. New faster, more reliable, and higher capacity class 800 series trains will facilitate improved frequencies and journey times, relieve crowding and improve the passenger experience. There will be electric-only (class 801) and bi-mode (class 800) variants of the class 800 series, enabling them to operate on both electrified and non-electrified routes.

This new order has a total contract value of around ^1.2 billion covering the design, build, finance and maintenance over a 27.5 year period. This is part of the wider ^5.8 billion programme for the class 800 series fleets that will run on the Great Western and East Coast Main Lines.

The new trains will be capable of running at 140 miles per hour, which would lead to further journey time reductions, although operation at this speed will require signalling and infrastructure upgrades.

The government announced in July last year that it had agreed a contract with Agility Trains to supply and maintain 596 carriages as part of its Intercity Express Programme. The Secretary of State has now exercised a phase 2 option for an additional 270 carriages, bringing the total to 866.

The full train fleet will comprise 122 complete train sets, some five-vehicles long and others nine-vehicles long. A class 800 series train has a higher seating capacity than existing units in its class. A 9-car train will have wider aisles and 131 more seats than the equivalent Intercity 125 High Speed Train (HST (High Speed Train)) and 188 more seats than a comparable off-the-shelf new 9-car train, with no compromise on leg-room. For an equivalent 200 metre train, the class 800 series train provides over 30% more seated capacity than an existing diesel Intercity 125 (HST). By 2030, following the deployment of the rolling stock on the East Coast and Great Western routes, there will be a 40% increase in morning peak seats on main line services into Paddington and a 28% increase into King^s Cross when compared with the May 2011 timetable.

The new trains will contribute to a reduction in emissions and CO₂ when compared to alternatives. The class 801 trains (electric) consume 17% less energy per passenger kilometre than an existing diesel Intercity 125 HST and 12% less than an existing electric Intercity 225 train. A class 801 train (electric) will emit over 40% less CO₂ per passenger km than an HST, and almost 10% less than an IC225. On a typical journey between London and Edinburgh, a class 801 train (electric) would emit 84% less CO₂ per passenger km than a domestic flight.

The modern vehicles will offer a step-change in passenger comfort through increased leg space compared with the stock they are replacing with no compromise on luggage space and electronic seat reservations. A performance regime will encourage the trains to run reliably throughout the life of the fleet, with reliability predicted to be around 55,000 per 3-minute delay, which is over five times the rate of performance of current intercity trains.

The contractual responsibility for delivering and maintaining the trains and depots will pass to Agility, as train service provider, leaving the operator to concentrate on running services, building demand and revenues and improving customer satisfaction. Hitachi will manufacture and maintain the trains.

Deployment of the class 800 series trains on the Great Western and East Coast routes is expected to generate ^3.3 billion (net present value) in additional revenue through delivering improved journey time, services and quality of travel.

The deployment of class 800 series trains will grow and protect the key East Coast intercity rail markets in readiness for HS2 (The next High Speed line(s)) deployment from 2033.

The following figures are predicted average reductions in journey times for class 800 series trains. They are delivered by a combination of revised timetabling and increased performance of the train.
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« Reply #241 on: July 18, 2013, 11:14:23 »

Along with the DfT» (Department for Transport - about) announcement, they have also released some pictures of what the IEP (Intercity Express Program / Project.) exterior and interior will look like.

I've seen exterior pics before, but never interior ones. http://www.flickr.com/photos/transportgovuk/sets/72157634690519950/with/9313244146/

There's also a YouTube video from Hitachi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=26dSSyZS_A8
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« Reply #242 on: July 18, 2013, 16:04:43 »

I like the mention of 140mph compatibility.  I like the mention of 120 minutes from Paddington to Worcester getting rid of all the slack.  I like the stated reduction in typical journey times to other destinations which I feared might get forgotten over time.  I like the mention (again) of increased leg room and no compromises on luggage space.  I don't like the cost and time it's taken to sort out since way back in 2005.

Will I like the train itself when it arrives is the only question...  Wink
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« Reply #243 on: July 18, 2013, 18:18:05 »

A diagram from Hitachi, showing how many of the components of IEP (Intercity Express Program / Project.) will be British built:

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« Reply #244 on: July 18, 2013, 18:28:43 »

Brakes from Melksham, then. That will please somebody!
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« Reply #245 on: July 18, 2013, 18:39:29 »

Pants from Somerset.  Cheesy
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« Reply #246 on: July 18, 2013, 20:03:05 »

Will I like the train itself when it arrives is the only question...  Wink
Having heard the presentation to the IET (Intercity Express Train) at Swindon a few weeks ago and having travelled on the 395 (Javelins) I am expecting good things.  Hitachi whilst they are "building" (or should that be assembling) the units the interiors are specified by the TOC (Train Operating Company)'s

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« Reply #247 on: July 19, 2013, 09:54:16 »

Having heard the presentation to the IET (Intercity Express Train) at Swindon a few weeks ago and having travelled on the 395 (Javelins) I am expecting good things.  Hitachi whilst they are "building" (or should that be assembling) the units the interiors are specified by the TOC (Train Operating Company)'s

And speaking to the FGW (First Great Western) IEP (Intercity Express Program / Project.) project manager (name escapes me) at the same presentation in Swindon, it seems that FGW are having a significant input into the interiors. Whether that is a good or bad thing is a matter of opinion but I would hope that they reflect the quality of the HST (High Speed Train) refurb in first class and less of the rather cramped perspective (although I find the legroom OK) of standard class.
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« Reply #248 on: July 22, 2013, 21:43:04 »

Brakes from Melksham, then. That will please somebody!

Indeed!  Grin

Pants from Somerset.  Cheesy

That was actually a quite witty rejoinder.  Wink
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« Reply #249 on: July 31, 2013, 10:18:16 »

DCA Design of Warwick has started work on mock-ups of the IEP (Intercity Express Program / Project.) carriage interiors and cab.

http://www.dca-design.com/news/iep-super-express-mock-up-under-construction-at-dca.html

At the recent IET (Intercity Express Train) talk in Swindon, the CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of Agility Trains mentioned that carriage interior mock-up would be ready by September.  The computer-generated images shown on the DCA site have already been released by Hitachi and the DfT» (Department for Transport - about).
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« Reply #250 on: July 31, 2013, 15:55:25 »

Seems like its going to be very likely that the Swansea - London services will be formed of two, 5 carriage iep's between London & Cardiff with just 1 unit continuing to Swansea.

That is likely to cause some problems during the peaks as trains between Cardiff and Swansea can be very full even with a 8 carriage hst.

Seems  the depot facilities at Malapoint will only be able to accomodate 1x 5 carriage IEP (Intercity Express Program / Project.)  but the sidings pit will be able to take longer units. Makes me wonder why didnt they just stick to using Llandore depot.
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« Reply #251 on: July 31, 2013, 17:52:31 »

Seems like its going to be very likely that the Swansea - London services will be formed of two, 5 carriage iep's between London & Cardiff with just 1 unit continuing to Swansea.

Is that based on something you've just read in wnxx?

That's not what the spreadsheet timetable you linked to in post #220 says though, is it.  It shows the odd 10 car pair, a few single 5 car, but over the course of the day most are 9 car, eg in the morning peak. 

(You'll presumably have noted the covering explanation on the spreadsheet of type 14xx and type 10xx diagrams being 5 car and 9 car respectively.)

Paul
 
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« Reply #252 on: August 05, 2013, 10:12:25 »

I like the mention of 140mph compatibility.  I like the mention of 120 minutes from Paddington to Worcester getting rid of all the slack.  I like the stated reduction in typical journey times to other destinations which I feared might get forgotten over time.  I like the mention (again) of increased leg room and no compromises on luggage space.  I don't like the cost and time it's taken to sort out since way back in 2005.

Will I like the train itself when it arrives is the only question...  Wink
The cost has reduced slightly, but is still a little too high. I wouldn't mind it taking so long if they had actually ironed out all the problems and got the cost down to the region of a Pendolino. But many problems remain, I don't like:
  • The fact EVERY set is planned to have at least one diesel engine
  • the number of bi-mode sets ordered, far more than would be required soon after 2020 if sensible extensions (such as Swindon - Cheltenham, Bristol - Weston-S.-M. and the Hull route on East Coast) are electrified at the start of CP6 (Control Period 6 - The five year period between 2019 and 2024).
    • GWML (Great Western Main Line) should have a small number for Cotswolds and perhaps the proposed Westbury semi-fast
    • ECML (East Coast Main Line) should either be all-electric (with diesel locos used from the last wired station for Lincon, possibly Harrogate, Aberdeen and Inverness) or should have a shared fleet with the Midland Main Line (you'd still wouldn't need many bi-modes for the combined handful of beyond-wires trains.)
  • the planned short sets, every one on GWML should be at least 8-car with most being 9-car and ECML should all be 9-car or perhaps even a mix of 9-car and 10-car sets and
  • most of all, I don't like that they are planning to replace the Intercity 225s (and probably scrapping the class 91s). They are not going to be life expired until 2030 at the earliest, meaning IEP (Intercity Express Program / Project.) would send them to their graves at least 10 years early. Don't forget that IC225s also have 140mph capablility, making them less appropriate anywhere else
    • Whichever way you look at it, retaining class 91s and their associated coaches has to be cheaper than buying more new trains
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« Reply #253 on: August 05, 2013, 10:38:36 »

I agree that there are some lingering concerns over capacity in my mind as well.  Though I think having one engine on board the electric sets is a bit of a masterstroke to be honest - we're not talking about a particularly big or heavy engine in terms of how having it on board will affect the overall weight of a 9-car train and I think the benefits of having it to deal with issues with overhead wire failure and emergency diversions far outweigh the extra weight penalty.

As for the Class 91s and IC225s, I'm sure they'll be redeployed elsewhere and won't be scrapped.  Given the stalling of the eVoyager project, XC (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) and/or the MML» (Midland Main Line. - about) might end up with them.  Or the GEML (Great Eastern Main Line) are is a potential candidates to take some of them.
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« Reply #254 on: August 05, 2013, 16:16:26 »

As for the Class 91s and IC225s, I'm sure they'll be redeployed elsewhere and won't be scrapped.  Given the stalling of the eVoyager project, XC (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) and/or the MML» (Midland Main Line. - about) might end up with them.  Or the GEML (Great Eastern Main Line) are is a potential candidates to take some of them.
Once again, don't forget that class 91s have 140mph capability. If they are removed from the ECML (East Coast Main Line) the mrk4s could well find a new home but there is nowhere else (except maybe the GWML (Great Western Main Line), but that'll have it's own IEPs (Intercity Express Program / Project.)) where that top speed could be used and, since they are geared for that speed, acceleration to 110mph will probably not be as good as a 90. 91s are best suited for routes with a high top speed and long distances between stops. MML XC and GEML don't cut it on top speed and XC has the additional problem of lack of wires. In terms of suitablity, IC225s on the ECML and IEPs on the MML probably makes alot more sense than the other way arround.
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