New trains from old?

[whole diary]

[eightf48544]

Said to be a fuel leak wonder if they didn't tighten the fuel line properly after swapping engine?

[Western Pathfinder]

By the looks of things I would say that from the picture it was the high pressure fuel rail and the injectors that caused the problem only my guess mind ?.

[4064ReadingAbbey]

I love the mug!

[chuffed]

 The aforesaid mug is not half as red, as the face of the person, who made the original error that led to the engine fire.

[ChrisB]

Adrian Shooter stated that he released an interim report into this incident yesterday, and should be finding the press picking up on it very soon. Can anyone find it?

The full report will be published he said on Jan 31st. They are taking several mitigating actions & expect normal 'service' to resume. He has retained '2 or 3' customers going forward but obviously has signed confidentiality sgreements with them.

The engines are the same as used in USA versions if the Transit, not those in UK^▸ (United Kingdom) versions

[Gordon the Blue Engine]

The Vivarail Report on the Class 230 fire at Kenilworth is here:

http://www.vivarail.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/VR-QA-17-001-Class-230-Full-Fire-Report-Action-Plan.pdf

[John R]

I think it makes fairly sorry reading, in terms of all the things that went wrong, not only with the engine and subsequent fire, but unrelated faults that transpired in the aftermath.  It does call into question the rigour of the development in my mind.  On the plus side, they have found several things that are likely to have caused the fire, so to that end they know what actions they can take to reduce the likelihood of a reoccurrence.

[Gordon the Blue Engine]

Full marks to Vivarail for publishing this Report, although I suspect that this was a condition of RAIB^▸ (Rail Accident Investigation Branch) standing back.

Viviarail have a lot of work to do, and some of the issues mentioned - eg no indication to the Driver of a Genset fault in coaches 2 and 3, and the lack of effectiveness of the fire extinguishant system - are a bit concerning.  I think NR^» (Network Rail - home page) will now be taking a closer interest in Class 230’s compliance with Rolling Stock TSI’s (Technical Standards for Interoperability) – I wouldn’t want to bet on when they will be allowed out again. 

[4064ReadingAbbey]

I think it makes fairly sorry reading, in terms of all the things that went wrong, not only with the engine and subsequent fire, but unrelated faults that transpired in the aftermath.  It does call into question the rigour of the development in my mind.  On the plus side, they have found several things that are likely to have caused the fire, so to that end they know what actions they can take to reduce the likelihood of a reoccurrence.

That's why one builds prototypes.

[stuving]

It looks as if I was right to suspect Revolve Technologies were trying to play several leagues above their engineering comfort zone. Of course that just passes the buck back to Vivarail, who chose and vetted (or should have) their most important supplier.

And Western Pathfinder was right to name the fuel rail as the likely site of a leak. I guess this is a modern common rail design (Ford Duratorq), and apparently they work at ferociously high pressures - around 2000 bar. Not to be messed with.

[Western Pathfinder]

Care needs to be taken with the duratorq fuel rail as they can be extremely difficult to mate together without leaking also they are buggers for becoming air locked after maintenance .

[John R]

I think it makes fairly sorry reading, in terms of all the things that went wrong, not only with the engine and subsequent fire, but unrelated faults that transpired in the aftermath.  It does call into question the rigour of the development in my mind.  On the plus side, they have found several things that are likely to have caused the fire, so to that end they know what actions they can take to reduce the likelihood of a reoccurrence.

That's why one builds prototypes.

But if you read the report in full you will find some howlers that should never have been allowed to happen, even in a prototype. Such as the plastic pipe which was clearly the wrong standard for the job it was doing. That feels more like engineering incompetence, and I'd concur with the comment that RT appear to have been out of their depth.

[4064ReadingAbbey]

I think it makes fairly sorry reading, in terms of all the things that went wrong, not only with the engine and subsequent fire, but unrelated faults that transpired in the aftermath.  It does call into question the rigour of the development in my mind.  On the plus side, they have found several things that are likely to have caused the fire, so to that end they know what actions they can take to reduce the likelihood of a reoccurrence.

That's why one builds prototypes.

But if you read the report in full you will find some howlers that should never have been allowed to happen, even in a prototype. Such as the plastic pipe which was clearly the wrong standard for the job it was doing. That feels more like engineering incompetence, and I'd concur with the comment that RT appear to have been out of their depth.

That would seem to be the case. But it's still why one builds prototypes.

[onthecushions]

Having been in an Adelante carriage that was filling with smoke, with no alarm triggered or staff around, I do not want to be in any underfloor diesel unit, especially when working hard climbing or in a tunnel.

The thought of the air reservoir also going, presumably supplying the door pneumatic actuators....

Perhaps the Class 230 should have gone to Derby, Loughborough or even Newton Aycliffe.

And I am told that 3rd/4th rail dc is dangerous (when did its clearances last have to be raised?)

Shivering,

OTC

[onthecushions]

Apologies if this is the wrong thread but I've just located the power figures for the Class 319 flex (the bi/tri-mode  ex "Thameslink/FCC^▸ (First Capital Connect)" unit that we nearly had on the WR).

On ac they have 990kW motor output, i.e at rail.

On diesel, using the MAN2876, there are a range of figures but the continuous output is lowest, being about 250kW. This has to go through transmission, alternator, thyristor drive, traction motor etc which would leave about 200kW (x2 on a good day!).

So, 40% of power on diesel.

Power to weight ratios are (kW/t): electric 7.1, diesel 2.9, heritage DMU^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit): 2.7 (1 motor car, 80% transmission).

Back to the future,

OTC