Alstom to refurbish Scottish EMUs

[PaxVobiscum]

http://www.railjournal.com/index.ph...m-to-refurbish-scottish-emus.html?channel=542

ROLLING stock leasor Eversholt Rail has awarded Alstom a £36.1m contract to refurbish its 40 class 334 EMUs operated by First ScotRail on services between Glasgow and Edinburgh via Bathgate.

Work is due to start in early 2015 and will take place at the Glasgow Traincare Centre in Polmadie, where components will be removed and refitted, and at Manchester Traincare Centre. Eversholt says the work will improve the reliability and the passenger environment onboard the trains which entered service in Scotland in 2001.

Among the improvements that will be made are refurbishing and overhauling cab and coach doors, fitting new HVAC systems, installation of 230V at-seat power points, preparing the trains for future onboard Wi-Fi connectivity by installing an Ethernet backbone, and a new drivers-only CCTV system.

Alstom says it is investing £500,000 at the Glasgow and Manchester depots, including in a 22m shed extension in Glasgow, and a self-contained bogie overhaul facility in Manchester, which will enable multiple overhauls to take place simultaneously.

Maybe its old news, but it is the first details of the 334 refurb that I have read.

 

[Blindtraveler]

not all that long since there refresh into Saltire cullers. Plugs will be good as will air con.

 

[arty762]

ha,ah god help them , i've seen how Alstom have handled our 458 rebuild,it's been a mess.

 

[Geeves]

So we can expect to see some 334s in Manchester? Albeit slightly poking a nose out of Longsight anyway. Actually it might just be the wheels, Meh.

 

[chris89]

Good news to hear about the improvements for the 334s.

Air Con is badly needed on them, Plugs surely will be helpful as well.

Chris

 

[Juniper Driver]

ha,ah god help them , i've seen how Alstom have handled our 458 rebuild,it's been a mess.

Well they got the 334 contract so it couldn't have been that bad.There weas always going to be problems anyway.

 

[NotATrainspott]

Good news to hear about the improvements for the 334s.

Air Con is badly needed on them, Plugs surely will be helpful as well.

Chris

They already have air conditioning but since all the windows are hoppers I don't think it works particularly well.

There will be a lot of other refurbishments happening with the new ScotRail franchise. All trains but the 314s will have to have a power socket for every two seats and all trains will have to have free WiFi.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Odd that this upgrade order has been placed before the Scotrail franchise winner is announced.
The 334s were off-lease next year, so I guess this means that all the bidders wanted to retain and upgrade them, and Transport Scotland has approved the spend.
And the order going to Alstom is no surprise seeing as they built them in the first place.
Travelling in a 334 last week I was struck how different the high-density interiors were to the 175s I normally use, despite being built by Alstom at the same time and with some similar features.
You could mistake them for 323s in the dim light of the Glasgow tunnels.

 

[AM9]

Odd that this upgrade order has been placed before the Scotrail franchise winner is announced.....

Maybe it's something to do with 18th September.

 

[scotraildriver]

They already have air conditioning but since all the windows are hoppers I don't think it works particularly well.

They don't have air con - only in the cab. Just noisy pressure ventilation.

 

[NotATrainspott]

They already have air conditioning but since all the windows are hoppers I don't think it works particularly well.

They don't have air con - only in the cab. Just noisy pressure ventilation.

Ah. Like the trams then?

 

[edwin_m]

My only ever trip on a 334 last year was probably the noisiest EMU I've ever ridden on - sort of loud whine I think but I think it was only when power was applied. Presumably that's traction noise coming through the floor or the open windows rather than pressure ventilation.

 

[chris89]

My only ever trip on a 334 last year was probably the noisiest EMU I've ever ridden on - sort of loud whine I think but I think it was only when power was applied. Presumably that's traction noise coming through the floor or the open windows rather than pressure ventilation.

Depends where you sit really. Also as you mentioned, if the windows are open or not. If over the bogies then it is a bit louder if the powered ones, Commonly sit next to the cab in rear coach, when departing Edinburgh. Since closer to steps at Armadale.

Chris

 

[Juniper Driver]

Well they got the 334 contract so it couldn't have been that bad.There weas always going to be problems anyway.

Probably the best for the job as they built them.AFAIK.

 

[92002]

Probably the best for the job as they built them.AFAIK.

Interesting though that Alstom who have a depot at Polmadie in Glasgow have decided to do the work in Manchester.

It would have been a lot simpler to carry out the work during the interior refurbishment works in Kilmarnock. Not very far from their depot in Glasgow. With much less transit around the UK.

Similar Transport Scotland joined up thinking is the current work to fit disabled toilets on 318s and 320s at Doncaster when the company also has a factory in another part of Kilmarnock. A major jobless black spot with many unemployed engineers. Perhaps nobody has briefed the First Minister Alex Salmond yet, who will be best pleased with his civil servants.

Great that the rattling and always open hopper windows in the 334s will get sealed or binned. That should work wonders for the vehicle noise and temperature.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Interesting though that Alstom who have a depot at Polmadie in Glasgow have decided to do the work in Manchester.

The article says the work will be done at both Polmadie and Longsight.
Longsight, as the "mother ship" for Pendolinos, has more facilities than the other Alstom depots.
I imagine Polmadie will get all the work that it is capable of doing, with the rest at Longsight.
Polmadie is also being extended for the work.
I wouldn't make much sense for Alstom to contract out work it can do in-house.

 

[92002]

The article says the work will be done at both Polmadie and Longsight.
Longsight, as the "mother ship" for Pendolinos, has more facilities than the other Alstom depots.
I imagine Polmadie will get all the work that it is capable of doing, with the rest at Longsight.
Polmadie is also being extended for the work.
I wouldn't make much sense for Alstom to contract out work it can do in-house.

The real Mother Ship at Alstom is Washwood Heath in Birmingham, where the 334s were built. However that closed after the Pendolino contract finished and no more were in the sights.

So Longsight is no more of a mother ship than Polmadie. Longsight however has a Eurostar depot which can he hired in. No more than Brodies at Kilmarnock or Wabtec at Kilmarnock or Glasgow Works could be used causing considerably less of a logistical nightmare to move the units hundreds of dead miles.