Viva Vivarail’s D-train transformation!

McLoughlin directed Rutnam to release the ITT, including those specifications in particular, because of the Pacers’ “negative impact on the reputation of rail services in the Northern area”. He said that he believes “it is right for us to require bidders to introduce new-build diesel vehicles” because “the railway needs a long-term solution that will secure continued provision of services on lines that are never likely to be electrified”.

Ultimately, doesn’t that still mean the D-train is out?

Shooter responds: “The reasons why we’re actually very pleased with the ITT is as follows. Number one: They’re going to scrap 214 Pacer vehicles. Number two: We know that there is excessive overcrowding on a lot of the routes anyway, which is what half of the political problem has been about. So some of the existing trains are going to have to be longer.

“Next point, when my colleague Alan Dare read the ITT in great detail, it reveals an enhanced frequency on a lot of lines. That means more trains. Now also, it had been the intention to cascade a lot of electric trains, but electrification is not going exactly as it might do.

“So what we have here is about a ten-year window, because if electrification really comes on at the rate that it ought to, and Network Rail was saying it is planning, then there will be a lot of spare electric trains in due course.

“Now, it is true that the Government has said there must be 120 new vehicles , and it quite specifically excludes our trains. But that’s not a problem, because if you do some sums on the requirements of the 214 they’re getting rid of, plus the overcrowding anyway, plus more services, you find that the requirement is several hundred. So we’re getting about 120 new ones. Fine. Great.”

So what you’re saying is that the North could still have the D-train, just that the 120 committed to already cannot be D-trains?

“Yes. I don’t think we have enough to supply them actually. I think we’re going to run out of trains. We can make up about 75 units , and I don’t actually think that will be enough.

“I must admit when I read the ITT, the first thing I came across was these 120 new ones, and I thought ‘that’s not good news’. But it’s when we analysed it that we realised it wasn’t that simple.”

Shooter is looking at several possibilities for suitable routes.

“We’re just doing some more speed simulations at the moment in the Southport area, around Preston. And others like Newcastle to Hexham onto Carlisle, another series of lines that would be suitable, as would the Cumbrian Coast ones. All those places where the flat-out maximum speed is not the issue.”

Wherever the D-trains might end up, would Vivarail maintain them over their life? Shooter estimates that the trains would be fit for operation until at least 2035.

“Well that depends on the customer. We’ll overhaul the engine power packs and bogies. We will possibly transform those. We will offer maintenance - very happy to do that - but if they want to do it themselves, that’s their privilege. But there are a number of other things that you can do with this train…”

Shooter explains that community railways are another area Vivarail is exploring.

“There are lots of very enthusiastic people who have improved stations, put flowers in the gardens, painted them, distributed leaflets and that sort of stuff, and some of them have seen a 100% increase in passengers.

“When community railways first came out, that was all part of it, but the other very important part was reducing the cost. Here is a way where the biggest part of the cost - the train - is lower.

“One of the things that we are especially doing is configuring this train so that if you have an isolated branch (which there are in quite a number of parts of the country), miles from anywhere, you don’t have to take the train in some cases 150 miles back to the depot . Because we will build a little mini depot, and the train could be maintained there for ten years.

“We will change the engine modules on the bogies, which are the only bits really where things need an overhaul. We’ll change those on site and do it overnight, which means that the train can stay locally.

“That means often that you’d be able to work early morning services - I know quite a lot of branches where that is not the case now, because the train is coming back from being fuelled overnight from miles away. So that’s another angle for the product.”

Cost is one of the major selling points for the D-train. Shooter says they cost roughly a third of the price of a totally new train (although he won’t be drawn on the exact figures).

“Yes, the cost for buying the trains is roughly a third of the price, but there are some further benefits beyond that, because these trains will use less fuel - certainly less than the existing trains, but also than a modern equivalent train.

“And the maintenance costs will be lower than the Pacers. The maintenance costs for these will be certainly less than half what something like the Class 150 would be, similar to other trains that are running, and the fuel consumption will be of that order.

“The reason for the fuel consumption being less is: first of all, the vehicle is lighter - driving motor cars are going to be 31 tonnes, compared with about 36 tonnes on a Class 150.

“They’ll have start-stop technology like you get in cars , so when the train is coasting, braking or standing at a station, most of the engines will be stopped most of the time.”

Of course, public perception is still going to be an issue that Shooter will need to address. The D-train has attracted a ‘London’s cast-offs’ stigma that he’ll need to shake. Passengers want a ‘new train’.

Says Shooter: “Well, you can understand their point, can’t you? The public will only have a perception based on fact when they actually travel on the train.”

Is that going to put off potential buyers in the meantime - the fear that passengers won’t like them?

“No. The view that I’m getting from potential bidders and others, including leasing companies who are prepared to lease them, is that it looks an entirely credible train.”

Shooter is keen to emphasis that the D-train is not a ‘cast-off’ – that to all intents and purposes it will be ‘new’.

“What we’re actually producing is a brand new state-of-the-art train, which is made affordable by using the bare bodyshell and bogies of these District Line trains.

“Because 60% of the cost of a train is in the bodyshell and bogies, that means we can make the thing affordable, while at the same time being really fantastic.”

Shooter is no stranger to this kind of scenario: “Several times in the past, with Neil and his team at Creactive, we have got older trains, got passengers into them, and had them say ‘hey, isn’t this a lovely train?’

“Mk 3s are 40 years old and I travel on them quite often, and people think they’re lovely trains.

“We did a similar thing in 2003-04, with the Chiltern Class 165s. At that stage they were about 14 years old. They were OK, but we decided that we wanted to make them so that people thought they were new.

“And we did that, by replacing all the glazing which had the hopper lights and things with sealed windows, different seats, LED lighting (which was just coming in then). And again, people thought they were brand new trains. It was great - they weren’t new, but people thought they were.”

Shooter is clearly not concerned about the public’s perception or about getting orders for the D-train. He is firm in his belief that the proof is in the pudding, and that the trains will prove themselves.

“Potential customers can see that passengers will like it if we deliver what we say we’re going to deliver. And we will.” 

• This feature was published in RAIL 771 on April 1 2015

• Read part two from RAIL 773: Vivarail's grand designs