Class 175’s after TFW

[Class360/1]

I believe the plan is to replace the 175s before 158s and 150s.
Does anyone know what the physical condition of this 20 year old stock is? - I am thinking corrosion as well as interiors.

they are prone to fires

 

[Anonymous10]

they are prone to fires

hasnt that largely been resolved and the fires have never been to bad i think they could continue in service

 

[Rhydgaled]

hasnt that largely been resolved and the fires have never been to bad i think they could continue in service

The owner (Angel Trains) is/was keen to keep the 175s in use - they suggested to a Senedd or Welsh Government consultation that they could implement their hybrid mod (which I think Chiltern is trialing on a 165 or 168) on the 175s.

 

[Anonymous10]

The owner (Angel Trains) is/was keen to keep the 175s in use - they suggested to a Senedd or Welsh Government consultation that they could implement their hybrid mod (which I think Chiltern is trialing on a 165 or 168) on the 175s.

that would be good to see the 175s are very nice trains and in my belief should continue in use with tfw as part of their long distance fleet

 

[squizzler]

Is there a source for proposal by Angel to modify their 175s with hybrid technology?

I would suggest it salves your concern that the 197s lock the TFW rural railways into a high carbon future. The 175s are a much older design and the 197 share their body shell with the electric Civity, seemingly
making the newer unit a much easier conversion. As I already mentioned in the Civity thread, the new rail technology research centre proposed for South Wales would seem an ideal facility to work with CAF for the development of new technology for retrofit to the Civities when diesel becomes untenable.

 

[Rhydgaled]

Is there a source for proposal by Angel to modify their 175s with hybrid technology?

Seems it was Angel's response to the Senedd Economy, Infrastructure and Skills Committee’s inquiry into decarbonisation of transport. They also point out that keeping the 175s instead of replacing them would avoid "the embodied energy used in the construction of new vehicles. Conservatively, this alone would save at least 1.3GWh per vehicle"

I would suggest it salves your concern that the 197s lock the TFW rural railways into a high carbon future. The 175s are a much older design and the 197 share their body shell with the electric Civity, seemingly making the newer unit a much easier conversion. As I already mentioned in the Civity thread, the new rail technology research centre proposed for South Wales would seem an ideal facility to work with CAF for the development of new technology for retrofit to the Civities when diesel becomes untenable.

The proposal for the 175s is hybrid technology (branded HyDrive by Angel), not bi-mode. Hybrid technology reduces fuel consumption (and yes, could probably be applied just as easily to the class 197s) but does not enable the train to benefit from electrified sections. In fact it is probably even easier to do with the Civities - but even easier still to do it from the outset which just further indicates that KeolisAmey's spec for the 197s was all about cost reduction so there's no way they paid extra to build-in passive provision for electric traction (and if they had, I think TfW would have been shouting it from the rooftops). A hypothetical hybrid 197 could possibly be considered 'low-carbon' - however it could potentially still be running in 2057 by which time low-carbon is not good enough we need (net)zero-carbon and virtually all routes on the network will need to include significant running under wires or over 3rd rail.

 

[Energy]

The proposal for the 175s is hybrid technology (branded HyDrive by Angel), not bi-mode.

It is like the self charging hybrid cars which seem to get advertised at the moment. The engine feeds the motors but there isn't another way to supply energy to the motors. It costs more but has the advantages of greater acceleration and you can get away with a smaller engine with less torque.