Intercity 125s to be replaced

[london lad]

Theres an article in the Times about Alastair Darling putting out a tender to replace the 125 fleet for news trains in time for 2012

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspap...070299,00.html


THE transport secretary, Alistair Darling, will announce in mid-March that the Intercity 125, workhorse of Britain’s long-distance rail network, is to be scrapped after 30 years’ service.
The diesel-powered trains are to be replaced by a £1 billion “greener” fleet — possibly including double-decker carriages — to cope with passenger growth.

The replacement trains, which could come into service in time for the London Olympics in 2012, will have a more upmarket feel, with scope for airline-style seat-back entertainment systems and broadband internet access.

Darling has taken charge of ordering the trains because he is not confident the private operating companies can handle the process efficiently.

The Intercity 125 — named after the train’s top speed — was introduced between 1976 and 1982 and has survived until now through a series of ad-hoc refurbishments.

The ageing fleet, made up of 68 trains, operates on the Greater Western franchise, serving routes from London Paddington to south Wales and the West Country; on the Midland Mainline route between St Pancras and South Yorkshire; and on the east coast main line between London King’s Cross and Scotland.

The first 125 service left Paddington at 8.05am on October 4, 1976. It arrived in Bristol three minutes early.

A return ticket cost £5 — a quarter the cost of the cheapest available fare today.

In its early days, the train was nicknamed “the Screamer” because of the high-pitched noise given out by the Napier turbocharger on its 2250bhp Paxman Valenta engines, originally designed for marine use. Until the introduction of the 125, the fastest diesel train could reach 105mph.

However, the average train speed on the network at the time was actually 60mph.

The 125 sounded the death knell for sleeper trains between London and Cardiff, and shaved an hour off journey times between the capital and Edinburgh.

Last month the Department for Transport slipped out a largely unnoticed specification for the new “High Speed Train 2” contract in the Official Journal of the European Union. This is usually a precursor to formal tendering.

Darling is expected to announce further details of a replacement fleet at a national rail conference in London on March 15.

“The Intercity train has done a great job over the last 30 years and continues to serve passengers well,” he said last night.

[Irish Blood English Heart]

We are selling a lot of these second hand to Bosnia by the way.

[nick_taylor]

Good for us and them. We can use the funds to buy new stock, while they get stock at a discounted price and has a high reliability.

[future.architect]

hope they replace the signaling so the new trains can go more than 125 mph

[Rational Plan]

There have been a whole series of interesting articles in Modern Railways over the last year or so about this.

The first articles warned the Department of Transport that they needed to take the lead, as the existing franchise structure would be unable to handle the time scale.

Then it criticised the early proposals as too underpowered and cheap.

As the proposals were improved, it has recently reported from an engineers conference, where the engineers were refreshingly outspoken about what should be done. Mainly questioning Network Rails opposition to any more electrification schemes.

The main customer for these trains will be the Great Western route, with some extra to the Great North Eastern line. But it was pointed out the principle reason for more diesels on the North Eastern line line is that the Southern end of line is drawing its maximum power. Would'nt it make more sense to instal more transformers to boost the line capacity.

These new trains will still be operating into the 2040's, does it make sense that they are diesel? At the very least they should be capable of being changed to another power source by then.

[tayser]

Best thing about these trains is the demented scream the power cars make

[delores]

so any images of the new trains? its gone past the 15th now.

[Salif]

The diesel-powered trains are to be replaced by a £1 billion “greener” fleet — possibly including double-decker carriages — to cope with passenger growth.

Interesting.......

[Vince Noir]

Originally Posted by Salif

The diesel-powered trains are to be replaced by a £1 billion “greener” fleet — possibly including double-decker carriages — to cope with passenger growth.

Interesting.......

but incorrect.... http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/pi/iep/

Any more 2 year old threads you wish to resurrect with valueless comments???

[Salif]

Originally Posted by Vince Noir

Any more 2 year old threads you wish to resurrect with valueless comments???

Give me a few hours and I'll let you know.

[ill tonkso]

Also the top speed is 148mph, 125 is the cruise speed.

[elfabyanos]

They were limited to 125mph as at the time of introduction drivers would often take them close to 135mph in regular use, especially on the GWR.

[dronkula]

Strangely, whilst yes, this thread has been dragged up after over a year of nothing, it's actually a timely resurrection of it.

Today:
http://www.gnn.gov.uk/environment/fu...partment=False

Department for Transport announces shortlist for Intercity express programme


Department for Transport Stock Market Statement

The Department for Transport has today announced the shortlisted applicants for the flagship Intercity Express Programme (IEP). They are:

- Alstom-Barclays Rail Group

- Express Rail Alliance (a consortium comprising Bombardier Transportation, Siemens, Angel Trains and Babcock & Brown)

- Hitachi Europe Ltd

The Intercity Express Programme will create a new design of train that will be lighter and more environmentally friendly than current long-distance trains. They will also be longer and capable of carrying significantly more passengers than current stock.

Rail Minister Tom Harris said: "Last month's Delivering a Sustainable Railway White Paper highlighted the importance of increasing capacity in a flexible manner. The Intercity Express Programme is an excellent example of putting this policy into practice.

"We are developing a flexible train that can be deployed on different lines, in different lengths, and with different sources of power - so this train can operate wherever we need it to in the future."

The Invitation to Tender will be issued to the shortlisted bidders in autumn this year. Proposals will then be received from bidders in summer 2008, with the award of the contract in winter 2008/09.

As agreed in the new InterCity East Coast franchise, signed with National Express earlier this week, a pre-series batch of the trains will be introduced on the East Coast Main Line from 2012. Full production of the fleet will follow, with trains entering full service from 2015, starting on the East Coast and Great Western Main Lines.

Notes to Editors

1. The new IEP vehicles will be introduced in addition to the 1,300 new carriages identified in the Delivering a Sustainable Railway White Paper. The White Paper also confirmed funding for Network Rail for all necessary investment to accommodate the new trains.

2. The specification for the Intercity Express Programme has been developed through the rail industry working closely with its customers and suppliers. This ensures a challenging specification that incorporates the best in current industry standards.

3. The objectives of the Intercity Express Programme are to:

- Optimise value for money, taking a long term whole-system approach;

- Improve passenger capacity and make best use of available route capacity;

- Ensure flexibility of train deployment to cater for future change in use, demand, power and environmental requirements;

- Deliver a consistent service in terms of the availability and reliability of new trains;

- Provide for the safety and security of passengers and railway employees;

- Deliver an environmentally sustainable solution in terms of improved energy efficiency and emissions, and more sustainable construction and maintenance compared to existing High Speed Trains;

Meet customer requirements in terms of the facilities and environment provided for passengers.

[Jaeger]

Bullet train firm gunning for UK deals

The Scotsmen
16th August 2007

http://news.scotsman.com/uk.cfm?id=1297672007

THE company that makes Japanese bullet trains is in the running to build a new generation of express trains for the UK's rail network.

Hitachi Europe has been shortlisted by the Government along with Alstom-Barclays Rail Group and the Express Rail Alliance - a consortium involving four companies, including Bombardier and Angel Trains.

A "pre-series batch" of the new trains is due to be introduced on the East Coast Main Line in 2012. Full production of the fleet will follow, with trains entering full service from 2015, starting on the East Coast line and on the Great Western line.

Hitachi has already been chosen to build 140mph trains for domestic services from Kent into London on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link in 2009.

The Department for Transport said today that the Intercity Express Programme would create a new design of train that would be lighter and more environmentally-friendly than current long-distance trains.

[Jaeger]

[iampuking]

Why is it beside the Jubilee line's trains?

[Salif]

It's obviously a publicity photo of London's main transport modes alongside each other.

(tube, bike, train, bus)

[larven]

Originally Posted by Jaeger

Bullet train firm gunning for UK deals

This would be awesome, Shinkansen based trains running in the UK with technology imported from the finest high speed network in the world.

[Jaeger]

UK's fastest train on track for 2009 start

140mph Japanese bullet trains will slash the journey times into London

Juliette Jowit, transport editor
Sunday August 19, 2007
The Observer

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_ne...151900,00.html

Britain's fastest-ever domestic train arrives in the country this week - but passengers will have to wait two years to take a ride.

The train, built by the company that makes Japan's iconic bullet train, will run at 140mph on commuter services into London from 2009 and be quicker than any service except the Eurostar, which goes to Paris and Brussels. It is also raising hopes of a new era of high-speed rail travel in Britain to emulate the world-famous Japanese Shinkansen and the French TGV.

'Estate agents are already telling people about the new link and property prices are heading north,' said Keith Ludeman, chief executive of the Go-Ahead Group, which operates commuter rail and bus services. Using both high-speed and existing lines, journeys to St Pancras will be cut after two years of trials from 83 to 37 minutes from Ashford, 102 to 61 minutes from Canterbury, and 98 to 63 minutes from Dover.

Since Japan launched the first modern high-speed Shinkansen train in the Sixties, when Britain still had steam trains, British railway engineers and travellers have nurtured hopes of super-fast train services. In the mid-Seventies, British Rail's Intercity 125 was outpaced only by the Japanese, but since then Britain has stuck at 125mph and been overtaken by 186mph railways around the world. And this summer Spain launched a new generation of 217mph trains.

The breakthrough came when the government rescued the £5bn new high-speed link from London St Pancras to the Channel Tunnel, which fully opens later this year - on condition it could also run high-speed domestic services.

The £260m contract for the 29 six-carriage trains was placed in 2004. The services will be operated by South Eastern, the franchise won by the Go-Ahead Group last year. Built by Japanese group Hitachi, the new trains are a distant cousin of the bullet train. The arrival of the new trains from Japan at Southampton docks is being seized on by supporters as an important step in their campaign to convince government of the value of spending billions of pounds building a high-speed UK network.

'We'll only get high-speed rail if people have seen the advantages of it and realise what it can do. So introducing them to it through this is splendid, and hopefully they'll clamour for more,' said Professor Rod Smith of Imperial College London.

Not everybody is so optimistic, however: the latest railway white paper made no commitment to a long-discussed high-speed line from London to the north, proposals for a new inter-city fleet only specify top speeds of 125mph, and there are concerns about the increase in energy required to power super-high speeds.

Critics also say Britain is too small to warrant spending large extra sums on speeding up journeys and say money would be better spent on increasing capacity on Britain's trains, not speed. 'If you speed up movement people will take advantage of that to travel further,' said David Metz, visiting professor at University College London and a former chief scientist at the Department for Transport.

The new services from London to Dover, Margate and Ramsgate are also expected to help Kent cope with massive house-building plans, boost regeneration of south coast towns and ease pressure on London's property market by putting the capital within commuter reach. Trains will also stop at a new station at Ebbsfleet near the M25 and Stratford in east London.

The trains will add 10,000 seats a day to South Eastern services, which already carry nearly 400,000 passengers a day.

[Monkey]

They are not the fastest UK trains. Eurostar trains are partially UK built by UK firms (GEC in Birmingham) and Eurostar is a UK (London) based service operated by a UK company (Eurostar Ltd) and the trains achieve 300km/h service speeds on UK tracks.