OS grid SP870344 Type Diesel, DMU, EMU | Owner(s) London Midland Opened 1850 | |
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Location Bletchley, United Kingdom Depot code(s) 2B (1948-1950)
4A (1950-1952)
1E (1952-1973)
BY (1973-present) | ||
Bletchley TMD was a railway traction maintenance depot situated in Bletchley, Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire, to the north of Bletchley Station on the West Coast Main Line. The depot was operated by London Midland. The depot code was BY but, in steam days, the shed code was 1E.
Contents
Bletchley TMD began in the modern era in 1965 (though had existed since 1850, in the age of steam). It closed on 30 June 2008 and its (expired) lease returned to Network Rail. Bletchley had won awards for the reliability of its trains as recently as March 2007, and was said to deliver six times better than average reliability. London Midland phased in the fleet of 37 Class 350//2 Desiro trains, which are maintained by Siemens at Northampton. These replaced the Silverlink Class 321 fleet which had been serviced at Bletchley. Most of the engineers transferred to the Siemens site and the cleaners to London Midland.
The TMD has also been used for a brief period as a place to store brand new Class 387/1 Thameslink trains (2015)
Impact
The local press expressed concern that diesel trains used on the Marston Vale Line, which were previously serviced here, now have to come from Tyseley TMD in Birmingham, with consequent long delays to service resumption in the event of train failure.