Vivarail's 'D Train' - 'D' stock reborn

Hi seen on Twitter today No further info from Kenilworth D stock on fire FISH7373 81C NFP

invited to private message the staff who will post it in the announcement thread if deemed appropriate. Why all this what`s wrong Well it is on BBC website now for all the news freedom of speech then. FISH7373 81C NFP

This link might work better

No further comment

www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/kenilworth-train-blaze-causes-major-12386990


That`s the line between Royal Leamington Spa to Coventry rode on the footplate of flying Scotsman along this line one day real funny line single line.
FISH7373 81C NFP  

Hopefully its just teething problems.

In the other thread[/quote], rincew1nd quotes a tweet from VivaRail which says the fire was in (and by implication confined to) one of the external motor units.

The pilot on the Coventry - Nuneaton line has now been scrapped

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-38560181

There was a report regarding the Vivarail trains on Midlands Today yesterday (are you following?), with mention of the fire the other week; for UK residents, the programme can be watched here - the piece starts at 3:43, and the clip is available for the next 28 days.

I didn't realise that D Stocks were "Tube" trains, though...

The BBC call all London Underground trains Tube Trains, the standard of reporting has sunk to the lowest ebb.

I realise that this is a humorous comment, but wouldn't the engines be Euro 6 with catalytic converter, particle filter and Adblue injection? Should be pretty clean apart from CO2 (unless produced by VW).

The SSR, when steam operated, had numerous blowholes, where the engine drivers would "blow off" the residue of steam and fumes. These were essentially railed off holes down to the"covered way", as the DR called it. I've seen a photo of Big Ben with a shroud of steam from a 4-4-0T below. Cab horses didn't like it and non-London horses were apt to bolt.
Some of these blowholes would definitely need to be reopened with Vivarail Ds in service; its carbon monoxide levels that would worry me....

CO is though no the only thing to come out the tailpipe of a road diesel engine. CO₂, SO₂, etc all need to be dealt with. Although given they coped with a steam engine a couple of years back it might be doable (if not exactly pleasant).

Despite what some images may suggest, the fire was correctly prevented from doing any damage to the bodywork by the fire protection fitted just in case of such an eventuality (and which is also present on the 15x fleet, Pacers, 17X, 165, etc DMUs). Damage to the interior was minor - the slight smell of smoke which entered through the cars opening windows and nothing that a good clean wouldn't fix and while the outside paintwork was smoke stained this was nothing more than cosmetic damage.

Fuel leaks are, as you say not unknown in other diesel trains, nor are they unknown in buses, HGVs, Ships, etc though things like mounting arrangements, vibration,  pipework routing and of course quality of installation are all relevant to how likely such a leak is to occur.

Rumours persist that a deal has been done for an operator to take on a sizeable number of units but commercial confidentiality prevents further disclosure. With several franchises coming up for renewal this is not a surprise as the way the UK government chose to let franchises works very differently from TfLs concesions. In broad terms the DfT only lay out a basic framework - and unlike TfL invite bidders to be inventive and come up with their own ideas for the department to consider. That is how the Anglia total stock replacement bid came about - the Government in its invitation to tender only really demanded new stock for InterCity operations but the winning bidder was able to come up with their own suggestions which enabled total fleet replacement to be justified by the DfT / Treasury over simply refurbishing things like the 321s, 15x and 360 units.

Vivarail releases report into D-Train fire

Vivarail has released a report into a fire on its prototype Class 230 D-Train diesel multiple-unit on 30th December 2016.

Edited highlights below - more information at links:
www.railwaygazette.com/news/technology/single-view/view/vivarail-releases-report-into-d-train-fire.html

www.railtechnologymagazine.com/Rail-News/vivarail-lays-out-action-plan-as-faulty-repair-work-to-blame-for-train-fire

www.railmagazine.com/news/network/fuel-leak-caused-fire-on-vivarail-test-train

Simon

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The report found that the fire had been caused by a leak in the high pressure fuel system that was subsequently ignited by a hot body, likely to have been the turbocharger. The leaks were likely to have been caused by a repair intervention by the genset supplier, and not spotted due to the lack of suitable test procedures.

The passenger saloon was unaffected by the heat of the fire. Some smoke did enter, but the report found that if any passengers had been on board it would have been possible to evacuate safely.

Vivarail Chief Executive Adrian Shooter said: “We believe that we have found the root cause and a number of contributory factors which prolonged the fire.

“We are determined that there will never be a repetition and believe that the measures we have set out will achieve that end. As a minimum, they will all be put in hand before the train is put back in service. We are continuing to take advice in some areas and may make further improvements.

It also proposes to improve the design of the vehicle, which failed to satisfy the testing requirement for new trains that stipulates trains must be able to run for a minimum of 15 minutes in the event of a fire. The D-Train’s brakes were instead applied automatically after the fire triggered a loss of air pressure.