Island Line Class 484 Reliability

[yorkie]

Just a gentle reminder, this is a Traction & Rolling stock thread to discuss class 484 reliability.

Please create a new thread (if there isn't one already) in the appropriate forum section, to discuss anything else; thanks

 

[Peter Sarf]

Deleted

 

[Chris125]

Been a long time coming but 001 was outside and powered up today, presumably back in use soon.

 

[Chris125]

FLOOD-HIT TRAIN BACK ON THE TRACKS WITH 4-CAR TESTING ALSO UNDERWAY​

Testing about to begin on flood damaged 484001:

Admissions have been made to Island Echo that Island Line has struggled to acquire a number of parts for the new trains, so 001 was cannibalised to keep the other trains going.

Now, bosses say that the situation has been resolved and 001 is being recommissioned to bring Island Line back up to a 5-train fleet. Islanders can expect to see 484001 back on the tracks this week and it should be fully operational within a matter of days. It has also been confirmed that part of this week’s testing will be centred around bringing about a 4-car operation on Island Line.

Sounds like we'll get 4-car trains and regenerative(?) braking soon as well.

“The manufacturer [of the trains, Vivarail] went into administration a few years ago and as a result, we’ve had to pick up the work that it left. Part of that is modifying the electronics equipment to work as it was always intended to including the electronic braking which we haven’t got at the moment.

“All of those modifications mean we have to retest the 4-car operation. We are doing that this week with a view to, if not this year then certainly next year, running a 4-car operation in the high season. That is why we ordered 5 trains, so that we could run 2x 4-cars”.

 

[Gloster]

FLOOD-HIT TRAIN BACK ON THE TRACKS WITH 4-CAR TESTING ALSO UNDERWAY​

Testing about to begin on flood damaged 484001:



Sounds like we'll get 4-car trains and regenerative(?) braking soon as well.

Just in time for the month’s shutdown starting on 6 September.

 

[hermit]

Sounds like we'll get 4-car trains and regenerative(?) braking soon as well.

Would the use of regenerative braking speed up the service sufficiently to permit the promised introduction of a 30 minute service through to Pierhead? (I suspect the answer is ‘no’, but thought I’d ask).

 

[Chris125]

Just in time for the month’s shutdown starting on 6 September.

Indeed, but hardly an urgent requirement to be fair - I guess extra capacity could be useful for the august bank holiday/steam railway gala/Ryde carnival if the weather gods are kind but otherwise single units have seemed perfectly adequate, much more spacious than the old fleet.

 

[bramling]

Would the use of regenerative braking speed up the service sufficiently to permit the promised introduction of a 30 minute service through to Pierhead? (I suspect the answer is ‘no’, but thought I’d ask).

I don’t think so, as for regenerative braking to work there needs to be trains consuming power in the section to be receptive to it. I’m not sure the Island Line operation is conducive to that.

What it may mean is rheostatic braking, where the braking force is turned to heat instead. The main benefit of this is that it saves brake block wear, meaning there isn’t a requirement to change brake blocks as often.

So apart from a potential reduction in maintenance requirements, I can’t see much impact on the day-to-day service.

 

[MarkyT]

Would the use of regenerative braking speed up the service sufficiently to permit the promised introduction of a 30 minute service through to Pierhead? (I suspect the answer is ‘no’, but thought I’d ask).

With only two trains running I doubt the line is very receptive unless the substation can export surplus current to the broader supply grid, assuming there's demand. Trains often also have resistor banks to dissipate braking energy to avoid having to use friction brakes if the line isn't able to accept the regen current. Do we know if the Island Line trains are so equipped and has that been operative to date, or have the trains been using friction brakes solely. Perhaps the substation could be equipped with storage (battery, flywheel) to accept braking energy when one train isn't accelerating at exactly the same time as the other is braking.