Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 9, 2006 21:53:35 GMT
Not a metro matter, but it may be of interest.
The NSW railways has a small fleet of trains based on the UK IC125s, called XPTs (eXpress Passenger Trains). They provide services from Sydney to Melbourne and a number of NSW country areas.
One of them came off the rails yesterday. No injuries, but it seems there is some problem with axles on the power cars and the entire fleet has been sidelined. Road coaches are being used as replacements for the time being.
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Phil
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Post by Phil on Feb 9, 2006 22:15:56 GMT
Panic reaction?? Or sensible decision based on likely risk??
Over here we either get the former, or a deferral of the latter for non-operational (financial?) reasons.......
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Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2006 7:20:39 GMT
I suspect panic reaction. I have some doubt as to whether there are any managers in CountryLink who would be able to assess likely risk.
Anyway, a coach will probably be faster: the track gradients, curves, and maintenance standards are such that the trains rarely go more than 80 km/h (say 50 mph). More economical too, as one coach would be enough to carry all the passengers normally found in an XPT set.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 11, 2006 21:44:39 GMT
I'd be interested to see one of those sets. Do you have any pics?
Thank You
David
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Colin
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Post by Colin on Feb 11, 2006 23:47:50 GMT
I found these on a Google seach:   Not the best pics, but might give you an idea. |
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Chris M
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Post by Chris M on Feb 12, 2006 0:10:39 GMT
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Post by Christopher J on Feb 12, 2006 0:36:40 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2006 0:40:05 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2006 0:46:49 GMT
I'd be interested to hear a video clip of one, to compare how their engines sound to the Paxman 'Valenta' engines we have in our HSTs over here.  Are they as claggy as ours aswell? According to CountryLink, they have Paxman VP185 engines, so they may not sound much different. The main differences from the HSTs are (a) different gearing to cope with the grades on lines out of Sydney (worse than South Devon); and (b) upgraded cooling and aircon systems to deal with higher temperatures. They can produce much oily smoke when idling or starting off.... |
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Post by ttran on Feb 12, 2006 3:42:16 GMT
For some more XPT pics, try my TTrans site at www.trainweb.org/ttrans/interstate.htmlThe pics aren't the best, seeing I took em a few years ago now when I didn't have the same equipment I do now, but ya' get the general idea! This whole hype about them's definitely a knee jerk reaction to a very MINOR derailment, which only caused the lead bogie of the front power car to come off. Nothing serious. But anyway, for the moment all formerly XPT services are being operated by road coaches. Xplorer services are still running as per normal. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2006 9:07:13 GMT
Well, Saturday's Sydney Morning Herald had an article saying that an axle had broken on a power car, and the results could have been serious if the train had been travelling fast.
However, as journalists know nothing about railways, the article may be entirely wrong.
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