But there must be more to the second generation statement than that. Ian Macleod explained: The big difference for the operators is the cost of maintenance which is about 20-30% less. There is a new train control system which is integrated with passenger information and can be customised to show whatever the operator wishes.
On the previous trains, we had all of the equipment in body-end cubicles. With the big open gangways, we dont have those cubicles any more and all of the control equipment is in the ceiling behind the LED lighting panels.
About six years ago, we had all of the engineers over from Germany and we created a 180-point list of improvements we wanted to make to the train the things that take a long time to do during maintenance and could be improved. For example, to change a luggage rack takes two hours as we have to take part of the ceiling down. Now, on this new train, we can do it in 15 minutes. We dont do it often, but its annoying when we do. So those are the kind of things we wanted improving next time around.
We used to have body-side heater elements which needed cleaning every twelve months, and it was a very time-consuming thing to do. Now we just have empty ducts with blowers in the air conditioning systems in the roof, so we dont have to do that job at all, saving more time.
The doors are purely electric, there are no longer any pneumatics involved, and they will need only one overhaul in the life of the train, so that cost is substantially reduced as well. Out of sight Ian is quite passionate about all of the systems that the passengers never see. One of the most exciting features for me is behind the scenes and thats the train control system. One of the biggest things weve got is distributed software loading. Previously, if wed wanted to update the software that controls door closing, wed have had to re-write the code and then go to each door unit and upload the software. Now, we can update all 48 doors from one central point using in-built parameters which takes ten minutes rather than hours of work. So if the operator wants to make a change to the way doors close, it is now a simple change.
The train also sends its own fault reports to the depot so that engineers can plan both routine and exceptional maintenance. There are almost 10,000 diagnostic codes from the various sub-systems which can all be used to notify the depot of exactly which fault has occurred. For example, there is a flood sensor in every toilet so if a toilet floods the driver knows immediately, the control centre knows immediately, and a cleaner can be dispatched to rectify matters. And because the system is counting every toilet flush, it also knows how much water may be needed and when it should be replenished.
Thats a tremendous level of detail, all available in real time to the control centre operators. So its the economy of operation and the ease of maintenance which makes this a second- generation train. Yes there are all the major technical improvements, the lighter bogies which The Rail Engineer has mentioned before for example, but it is all the wizardry behind the interior panels which really makes the difference.