British Rail Class 230

D78 Stock conversion

In November 2014, Vivarail bid for, and successfully bought, 150 driving motor cars and 300 carriages of ex-District Line D78 Stock from London Underground, which were being replaced by S Stock ahead of their lifespan, so that the subsurface lines (Circle, District, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan) could have a common rolling stock fleet compatible with a new ATO system. The stated purpose of the D-train is to ameliorate a perceived shortage of affordable, modern rolling stock on Britain's regional rail routes, resulting from the slow pace of electrification.

Overview

In the conversion programme, the company plans to re-use the aluminium bodyshells, traction motors and bogies from the D78 units, and fit them out with new diesel engines and interiors. Rail Magazine reports that each power car will have two underfloor engine-generator sets. The 3.2 litre, five cylinder diesel engines will be made by Ford in South Africa. Vivarail claims that fuel consumption will be around 0.5 litre per car per mile. This is about half the fuel consumption of a Pacer. Maximum speed will be 60 mph (97 km/h).

The first D78 units were delivered to Vivarail on 19 January 2015. A single car prototype was produced and ran on Vivarail's 2.5-mile (4.0 km) test track in summer 2015.

Marketing

Vivarail stated that they planned to pitch the converted trains to a number of train operating companies (TOCs), especially those bidding for the Northern franchise which was awarded in December 2015. They positioned them as a cost-effective alternative to buying brand new rolling stock, enabling TOCs to replace the "Pacer" railbuses in the North of England with upcycled Tube stock. However, Arriva won the bidding for the Northern franchise in December 2015 and their rolling stock plan involves purchasing brand new stock as well as taking on additional cascaded 4 car EMUs.

According to BBC Look East, Vivarail were in talks with bidders for the East Anglia franchise, but the successful bidder opted for new stock. The East Anglia franchise includes some very rural routes where currently only single carriage trains are used.

Advantages and disadvantages

The proposal has been criticised by the Rail Maritime and Transport Union (RMT) as a scheme to provide "second-hand" trains to the region instead of new stock. Nevertheless, their low cost allows for more to be ordered and they were built and will be upgraded in Britain, unlike most new stock. They are also built of aluminium, making them immune from corrosion, and, having undergone recent major refurbishment, are in good condition and have relatively new bogies. The D-Train meets all current standards up to and including the 2020 PRM-TSI regulations, which the Pacer railbuses do not. The trains are more environmentally friendly, due to stop-start diesel engine technology, light-weight build and up-cycling of the majority of the cars. The upgrading will also take a much shorter time than would be the case of planning and building trains from scratch, as well as being roughly a third of the price.

Potential customers

In May 2015, it was claimed Arriva Trains Wales were to open talks with Vivarail over taking on converted D78s. Under a recent franchise agreement, FirstGroup (owner of the Great Western Railway franchise) has agreed to carry out a study on the use of overhauled Vivarail D-Trains on branch lines by the end of the year, possibly leading to a trial of the units.

In September 2015 it was revealed that Coventry City Council were looking into the possibility of using converted D78s to run extra services on the Coventry to Nuneaton Line; this would be especially useful to serve Coventry Arena station during match days at the Ricoh Arena, to alleviate a shortage of rolling stock. It has been announced by Vivarail that the three-coach train will enter service in late 2016 for a period of 12 months.

In 2016, Marshlink Trains, a pressure group seeking to improve the service level on the Marshlink Line, set up a petition advocating the procurement of Class 230 units to operate a shuttle service between Ashford International and Rye in peak time, allowing Class 171 units to be transferred to strengthen peak time Ashford International to Brighton services.

In June 2016, A revived version of open access operator Go-Op was proposed to ORR. The service would run from 2019 between Taunton and Nuneaton via Swindon and Oxford. Under the plans they would use Class 230 between Taunton and Swindon between December 2017 and 2019. They would not use these trains for the full route.

Confirmed orders

In July 2016, London Midland announced that it would be running the prototype 3-car set for a year-long trial on the Coventry to Nuneaton Line. In November 2016, main line testing of the units began, with the prototype unit based at Tyseley Locomotive Works and operating to and from Leamington Spa railway station.

Incidents

On 30 December 2016, the prototype set caught fire at Kenilworth. The planned trial that Vivarail originally had arranged was postponed, and 10 people were evacuated safely. It was announced in January that the planned trial on the Coventry to Nuneaton line had been cancelled. An incident report, produced by Vivarail, identified a fuel leak in one of the two new engine sets as the most likely cause of the fire.

Fleet details

As of August 2016 one demonstrator unit has been constructed.