British Rail Class 390
British Rail Class 390 Pendolino | |
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standard gauge |
The British Rail Class 390 Pendolino is a type of electric high-speed passenger train operated by
The Class 390 Pendolino is one of the fastest domestic electric multiple units operating in Britain, with a design speed of 140 mph (225 km/h); however, limitations to track signalling systems restrict the trains to a maximum speed of 125 mph (200 km/h) in service. The fleet is maintained at
In 2021, a refurbishment programme to upgrade the fleet to as new condition began; this has included conversion of one first-class carriage to standard class to increase capacity, adding power plugs and new customer information screens.[9]
Background
During 1997, private operator
The purpose of tilt on the Pendolino was to maintain passenger comfort levels when traversing curves at high speed by reducing the sideways forces on the train's occupants, minimising their tendency to slide across the carriage.[10] The train was designed to be visually impressive: the concept design for the Pendolino was originally produced by industrial design firm Priestman Goode in cooperation with JHL and Start Design and many aspects of the finished product, such as the shaping of its aerodynamic nose and much of the train's interior areas, can be attributed to them.[10]
The concept of deploying tilting trains on the West Coast Main Line was not an original one. During the 1980s and 1990s, British Rail had developed several plans to introduce new trains and pursued the development of the revolutionary, but ultimately unsuccessful, Class 370 Advanced Passenger Train (APT) for a protracted period.[10] Some years after the cancellation of the APT, British Rail had intended to replace the existing fleet of trains on the West Coast Main Line (in conjunction with a planned route modernisation) as part of the InterCity 250 project, but this was cancelled by the government shortly before the Privatisation of British Rail during the late 1990s.
The original Pendolino order was for 54 nine-car units, costing £500 million.[11] As originally planned, a pre-series test train was scheduled to be completed and to be in active testing by July 2000, while the first Pendolino was to enter revenue service during March 2001. It was expected that the whole fleet would be delivered by May 2002.[11]
The Pendolinos were intended to run at service speeds of up to 140 mph (225 km/h). Railtrack, therefore, embarked on a modernisation of the West Coast Main Line to allow for the faster line speeds.[11] However, the programme ran into serious difficulties. By its end, it was almost four times over-budget, had been delayed by a number of years, and had not improved the infrastructure as much as had been planned. Consequently, and in a manner reminiscent of the introduction of the InterCity 225, the lack of signalling upgrades resulted in the maximum line speed being set at 125 mph (200 km/h). Although the Pendolino's in-service top speed is well below British Rail's hopes for the APT, which was to reach up to 155 mph (250 km/h), it does match the maximum speed of 125 mph for the APT in passenger service.
Fiat Ferroviaria introduced its first tilting trains during the 1970s. They were first operated on the Italian railways in 1976.
Design
Overview
The Pendolino is a high-speed
The nose of the Pendolino is manufactured out of composite materials and
Tilting
The Pendolino features an actively actuated tilt system.
The active tilting mechanism is achieved using electrically operated tilt activators, which are situated under each carriage.[10] Unlike some alternative systems, which are pre-programmed to tilt at sections of a pre-determined route, the Pendolino's tilt system actively detects the upcoming corners using sensors and tilts appropriately to correspond. As tilting may not be appropriate or possible at some locations along the route, such as when travelling close to bridges and tunnels, the tilt mechanism can be disabled by an onboard system, called the Tilt Authorisation and Speed Supervision (TASS). This system relies upon trackside beacons, which are typically spaced around five miles from one another, to transmit data to the train; this information, as well as temporarily locking-out the tilting mechanism from being used on relevant stretches of track, also relays the maximum permissible speeds for the adjacent corners.[10]
Safety
The Pendolino incorporates several different onboard safety systems, including the
The Pendolino features relatively shallow windows in comparison to trains such as the Voyager; visually, the windows are linked by a black livery line to form a continuous band running along the length of the train. A combination of structural constraints and internal configuration selections had determined the narrowness of the windows; the adoption of larger windows would have intrinsically weakened the bodyshell of each carriage. Reportedly, consideration was given to the adoption of asymmetric window layout during the design process, but this was ultimately discarded in favour of the arrangement used in service instead.[10]
Due to these design choices, the Pendolino has a very high level of structural integrity. In the Grayrigg derailment incident, where the unit involved was travelling at a speed of 95 mph (150 km/h) and derailed at a set of points sending the carriages off the track and down a bank, one person died. Furthermore, the majority of passengers were not even seriously injured due to the carriages' structural properties.
Traction systems
The Pendolino's propulsion system incorporates Alstom's Onix traction drive system, which controls 12 separate
Passenger amenities
The Pendolino features a number of amenities and innovations, such as a walk-in shop in place of the traditional buffet/restaurant car and the extensive presence of passenger visual information systems, which are installed on both the inside of the car ends and on the outside of the doors themselves.
Originally, every seat had an integrated on-board entertainment system, which featured radio stations, including Virgin Radio, several BBC stations, and a number of pre-recorded music channels. Listings booklets were provided on board and headphones could be purchased at the shop.[10] During March 2010, this system was replaced by onboard Wi-Fi from T-Mobile.[13] First class passengers were provided with a 240 volt mains power socket at each seat.[10]
The Pendolino uses an electronic seat reservations system.
Consist
The original 53-unit Pendolino fleet was delivered in nine-car formation, with vehicles built at the former Metro-Cammell Washwood Heath plant (by then owned by Alstom), in Birmingham. Thirty-one units were later extended to 11-car formation, with the addition of two new carriages (the 653xx Trailer Standards and the 689xx Motor Standards), built by Alstom at Savigliano in Italy. Units that had been extended were renumbered into the 390/1 range by having 100 added to their original unit numbers (for example, 390003 became 390103). Four additional Savigliano-built 11-car units (nos. 390154–390157) were delivered at the same time, to support service enhancements.[citation needed]
Operations
The service introduction of the Pendolino was repeatedly delayed, a fact which has been attributed to the poor project management and the collapse of infrastructure owner
For some time, a return trip was worked by a Pendolino on Thursdays only, but over the following months, the type took over the Manchester services, and was soon introduced on routes from London to
During 2004, the fleet's sphere of operation was expanded further. Pendolinos started to operate services to Glasgow Central, and by the end of summer, in theory, all services north of Preston were worked by Class 390 units. This allowed the final Class 90 locomotives to be withdrawn, and inroads were made into the main Class 87 fleet. It was expected that all locomotive-hauled trains would have been replaced by the end of 2004, but the Pendolinos suffered from several technical problems, which granted the Class 87s a temporary reprieve. By January 2005, only eight locomotives remained, for use on peak London Euston to Birmingham New Street services.[citation needed]
Another development during 2004 was the clearing of the units for the
The entire Pendolino fleet is allocated to Alstom's Manchester Traincare Centre at Longsight, where heavy maintenance is carried out. Longsight has a hoist on which an entire Pendolino unit can be lifted. Lighter maintenance, cleaning and overnight stabling are carried out at Alstom's other centres: Wembley (London), Oxley (Wolverhampton), Edge Hill (Liverpool) and Polmadie (Glasgow).
On 5 April 2012, the first 11-car Pendolino entered service on the London-Birmingham-Wolverhampton and London-Manchester routes.[citation needed]
Problems and incidents
In October 2004, a train overshot the platform at Liverpool Lime Street station and collided with the buffer stops, and a similar incident occurred a few weeks later at the same station.[16] The Rail Safety and Standards Board's inquiry into the incident identified a software glitch in the wheel-slip protection (WSP) system whereby the train's friction brakes were inhibited at low speeds after prolonged coasting (such as that occurring on approach to a station). The units were once again limited to 110 mph (180 km/h) for a short period until modifications to the software were made.[17]
As a result of the smaller cabin dimensions necessitated by the tilting geometry, the higher floor needed to package the tilting mechanisms themselves, and the need to provide disabled toilets, the units have a lower seating capacity than the nine-car Mark 2 and Mark 3 rakes that they replaced. The result has been severe overcrowding on some services, something that Virgin somewhat mitigated through the increased frequency of service, and with the increase to 11-car formations.
The smaller size of the Pendolino windows has attracted comment and, in fact, the window size is unprecedented for British railway rolling stock. The wider window pillars mean that in some standard class carriages, 22.5% of the seats are parallel with either no window or only a limited portion of one, however the roll-over strength of the bodyshell was commented on regarding the crashworthiness performance of the train in the RAIB Accident Report into the derailment at Grayrigg.[18]
Grayrigg derailment
On 23 February 2007, a faulty set of
The train was formally written off on 30 November 2007, owing to the prohibitive cost of repair against the price of a new unit; a driving car and carriage from the train were subsequently put into use for training purposes at the Virgin Trains Talent Academy in Crewe.[19] Virgin Trains then leased a Class 90, Mk3 coaches and a DVT (Driving Van Trailer), all painted in Virgin's new livery, and nicknamed the "Pretendolino" by Alstom maintenance staff, as a temporary replacement for the train written off.[20] Occasionally, the name even appeared in official communications.[21] Subsequently, the set was handed back to the leasing company.
Speed records
In September 2006, a Pendolino completed the fastest ever southbound run along the 401 mi (645 km) length of the West Coast Main Line from Glasgow Central to London Euston, at 3 hours and 55 minutes. The previous record was 4 hours and 14 minutes, set in 1981 by the Pendolino's ancestor, British Rail's Advanced Passenger Train (APT).[22]
In June 2021, another record-breaking attempt was made with a Pendolino, this time in the northbound direction. The Pendolino completed the journey in 3 hours, 53 minutes and 1 second; faster than the 2006 Pendolino run, but narrowly missing the APT's northbound record, which stands at 3 hours, 52 minutes and 40 seconds.[23]
Though the trains are limited to a maximum of 125 mph in service, faster runs have been made in 2003 when the trains were in the final stages of testing before introduction to service. On night-time runs between Rugby, Nuneaton and Lichfield Trent Valley, 390002 achieved a record speed for the class of 145.7 mph (234.5 km/h), as witnessed by Modern Railways magazine.[24]
Fleet developments
Additional capacity
Following a large increase in passenger numbers following the WCML modernisation, the Department for Transport announced a capacity increase by procuring additional units (with one intended to replace the unit damaged at Grayrigg). Four new units have been built with 11 cars, and 31 existing units lengthened to 11 cars.[25]
This required major changes to stations and depots to accommodate the 11-car units. Virgin Rail Projects was set up to introduce these new trains with the new franchise winner as well as Alstom, Network Rail and the current franchise holder, Virgin Trains West Coast, to ensure the new units were able to run from 1 April 2012.
Because Washwood Heath works had closed, the additional vehicles were manufactured in Alstom's Savigliano factory in Italy.[26]
The first new units were built with 11 cars and delivered via the Channel Tunnel to Edge Hill.[27][28] The first was accepted on 12 July 2011.
In March 2012, unit 390055 operated a test run on the East Coast Main Line from Edinburgh to London King's Cross.[29]
With the franchise process in place, and Virgin Trains' franchise extended until December 2012, the first 11-car unit (390156) entered service on 5 April 2012. The remaining new units were brought into service, and 31 units increased to 11 carriages, over the next eight months.[30] The lengthening project was completed in December 2012.[31]
Reconfiguration of nine-car units
As part of the subsequent extension of the franchise until April 2017,[32][33] Virgin Trains made further enhancements to the Pendolinos.[34] The 21 nine-car units each had one first class carriage converted to standard class.[35][36][37] This work was completed by September 2015.[38]
Proposed order by Alliance Rail Operations
In its successful submission to operate services from London Euston to Blackpool North, Alliance Rail Holdings proposed purchasing four Class 390s for entry into service in 2018. However, as the 390s no longer met crashworthiness standards for new trains, a derogation would have been required.[39] With Alliance Rail not able to obtain this, in June 2017 it dropped its plans to purchase 390s.[39][40]
Avanti West Coast refurbishment
In December 2019, all 56 trains transferred to Avanti West Coast, operators of the new West Coast Partnership.[41] A major interior refurbishment of the fleet commenced in 2021, involving the replacement of all carpeting and standard-class seats, installation of power sockets at every seat, provision of more luggage space in second class, refitting of the onboard shop, installation of new lighting, and the reupholstering of existing seats in first and standard premium classes.[42][43] Additionally, one first-class coach in each of the 35 eleven-car 390/1 units is being converted to standard class in order to provide additional capacity.[43] The refurbishment programme is stated to cost £117 million and is expected to run until 2024, with the work being performed by Alstom at Widnes in Cheshire.[42][43]
The first of the refurbished units returned to service on 25 April 2022.[43] The refurbishment has resulted in a modest increase in capacity on the 11-car sets because of the conversion of coach G from first class to standard class. The result, once adjustments for the new standard class seats are taken into account, is an additional 64 standard class seats and a loss of 46 first class seats, for a new total capacity of 607 seats.[44][45]
Fleet details
Class | Operator | Qty. | Year built | Cars per unit | Unit nos. | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
390/0 | Avanti West Coast | 22 | 2001–2004 | 9 | 390001–390002, 390005–390006, 390008–390011, 390013, 390016, 390020, 390039–390040, 390042–390047, 390049–390050 | 390033 scrapped due to Grayrigg derailment. |
390/1 | 31 | 11 | 390103–390104, 390107, 390112, 390114–390115, 390117–390119, 390121–390132, 390134–390138, 390141, 390148, 390151–390153 | 31 units lengthened to 11 cars each in 2012. | ||
4 | 2010–2012 | 390154–390157 | New units purchased as part of extension order.[28] |
Liveries
All units were delivered in Virgin Trains livery of silver bodysides with black areas around the windows, red roofs and red cab-sides with the red areas on the cabs separated from the silver with a curved white band. Doors were originally painted with grey and white stripes. These were re-vinyled in plain grey in 2015.
From September 2017 onwards, the fleet was repainted by Alstom in Widnes into a new livery known as "Flowing Silk", featuring plain white bodysides, black roofs and a vinyl applied red swoosh around the driving cab intended to visually represent a moving piece of silk.[46][47] The livery was designed to use neutral colours at the behest of the Department for Transport to allow for an easier rebranding.[48] The first unit to wear this livery was 390010.[49] All of the nine-car units were repainted with last to be treated in August 2018, with repaints then commencing on the eleven-car units. The final unit to receive the full Flowing Silk livery in August 2019. Subsequent repaints omitted all Virgin branding in preparation for the end of the franchise in December 2019.[50]
Names
All 53 of the original units were given cast nameplates in a standard style bearing the word Pendolino on the top of each name although several units were subsequently renamed with similar replacement cast nameplates being fitted. New cast names were applied to the additional four units after they had initially entered service without names.
Cast nameplates were removed from each unit when they were repainted into 'Flowing Silk' in 2017-18, and most of the Virgin-prefixed names have not been re-applied. However, those named after places, people and events have generally had the name re-applied in the form of a vinyl sticker.[48]
List
Key: | In service | Scrapped |
---|
Number | Name | Notes |
---|---|---|
390001 | Bee Together | Named on 20 July 2018 to mark launch of exhibition of over 100 sculptures of Manchester's worker bee emblem.[51] |
390002 | Stephen Sutton | Named after teenage cancer patient who raised over £5 million before his death in 2014.[52] |
390003 (390103) |
Asquith Xavier[53] | Formerly Virgin Hero. Between 2014 and 2019 carried Royal British Legion World War I commemorative branding.[54] |
390004 (390104) |
Alstom Pendolino | In September 2010 it was given a co-branded livery in partnership with Alstom and Virgin Trains.[55][56] |
390005 | City of Wolverhampton[57]
| |
390008 | Charles Rennie Mackintosh | Formerly Virgin King. Named at Glasgow Central on 19 March 2018 as part of the 150th anniversary celebrations of famed architect and artist[58] |
390010 | Cumbrian Spirit[59] | Formerly Commonwealth Games 2002, then renamed Chris Green , then renamed A Decade of Progress at Wolverhampton in May 2007 after a book written by John Balmforth.
Was the first 9-car Pendolino to have Virgin's updated 'Flowing Silk' livery. Cast The Cumbrian Spirit nameplates removed and name now carried by a sticker in the same style. |
390011 | City of Lichfield[57]
|
|
390012 (390112) |
Formerly Virgin Star. Wore temporarily applied Christmas-themed vinyls on each driving car during December 2014 and branded 'Traindeer'[60] | |
390013 | Blackpool Belle | Formerly Virgin Spirit. Wore temporarily applied Christmas-themed vinyls on each driving car during December 2015 and branded 'Penguilino'.[61] Named ‘Blackpool Belle’ in 2018 to celebrate the launch of Pendolino services to Blackpool.[62] |
390014 (390114) |
City of Manchester[57]
|
|
390015 (390115) |
Crewe All Change | Formerly Virgin Crusader[57] |
390017 (390117) |
Blue Peter | Formerly Virgin Prince.[57] Current name unveiled in October 2018 to mark the 60th anniversary of the BBC children's TV programme of the same name.[63] |
390018 (390118) |
Formerly Virgin Princess[57] | |
390019 (390119) |
Progress | Formerly Virgin Warrior,[57] then renamed Unknown Soldier. Name unveiled on 11 November 2018 to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I. Carries vinyls on all 11 carriages for Avanti West Coast Pride |
390021 (390121) |
Opportunity[64] | Formerly Virgin Dream[57] Carries vinyls on all 11 carriages for Avanti West Coast climate livery for Cop26 in Glasgow to tackle Climate change. |
390022 (390122) |
Penny the Pendolino[65] | Formerly Virgin Hope |
390025 (390125) |
Formerly Virgin Stagecoach. First Pendolino to have Avanti's fully refurbished interior.[66] | |
390029 (390129) |
City of Stoke-on-Trent
|
Wore temporarily applied vinyls on all nine coaches advertising Superman Returns during 2006 and temporarily applied vinyls on all nine coaches advertising Monkey: Journey to the West during 2007. Cab-end nameplates "Brett" installed in 2022.[67] |
390033 | City of Glasgow | Crashed at Grayrigg on 23 February 2007; formally written off on 30 November 2007.[68][69] The two undamaged vehicles were taken to the Virgin Trains staff training centre in Crewe.[19] One damaged, but substantially intact, vehicle was donated to Cranfield University's accident investigation laboratory,[70] and a further two such vehicles were used at the Fire Service College in Moreton-in-Marsh until they were scrapped in 2022.[71] |
390039 | Lady Godiva | Formerly Virgin Quest. Renamed Lady Godiva on 4 April 2019.[72][73] It also has the new Coventry flag on it.[74] |
390044 | Royal Scot | Formerly Virgin Lionheart. Renamed before attempting to beat the London to Glasgow speed record set by the APT.[75] The train failed by 21 seconds but set a new London to Glasgow speed record for the Class 390.[76] |
390045 | Birmingham Pride[77] | Formerly Virgin Valiant, then 101 Squadron, then Virgin Pride. Carried rainbow branding on coaches A and K with #ridewithpride slogan. |
390048 (390148) |
Flying Scouseman | Formerly Virgin Harrier. Renamed as part of the Liverpool Echo train naming competition in June 2017.[78] |
390049 | Formerly Virgin Express[57] | |
390155 | Railway Benefit Fund | Formerly X-Men: Days of Future Past. Named at Euston station on 31 March 2014 to promote the film of the same name.[79][80] Named Railway Benefit Fund in April 2021 as part of a fundraising drive by Avanti West Coast, promoting the charity of the same name.[81] |
390157 | Chad Varah[82] |
References
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{{cite web}}
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Virgin Trains made the 401 mile journey in three hours and 55 minutes - knocking 19 minutes off the record set 25 years ago
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- ^ The DfT accreditation process document specified 31 lengthened units, with options for lengthening a further 21 units and procuring a further 23 full units. Four lengthened units were to be achieved by 31 March 2012 (within the then franchise period) but not to see public use until the following franchise had been re-let from 1 April 2012."Pendolino lengthening and fleet expansion project". Department for Transport. 28 March 2008. Archived from the original on 8 April 2010. Retrieved 13 November 2019 – via The National Archives.
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Five rail industry organisations were today celebrating the successful completion of a project to provide an extra 7006 seats to the West Coast Pendolino fleet which now has a total of 29,834 seats. 106 carriages were ordered by the Department for Transport (DfT) in July 2008 to create four completely new 11-car trains (44 carriages) and to lengthen 31 of the existing trains from 9 to 11 carriages (62 carriages)
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Alstom and Virgin Trains launched a co-branded branded Pendolino at London Euston today.
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The 390008 Pendolino train, adorned with Mackintosh's trademark moustache on the front and his name displayed in his own lettering on plaques on either side, arrived into Glasgow Central Station at 09.45am this morning.
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Pendolino 390010 now carries the name 'The Cumbrian Spirit' to acknowledge the courage and resolve shown by local as they rebuild their lives and businesses after the floods.
- ^ "Traindeer let loose on the Virgin Trains network!" (Press release). Virgin Trains. 2 December 2014. Archived from the original on 17 June 2018. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
Sisters, Ella and Ruby Prior from Congleton, Cheshire have had their artistic vision brought to life as Virgin Trains reveals a "Traindeer" on their network, which was inspired by the design submitted by the girls for a Christmas card competition. The Pendolino train was given the full festive treatment and was transformed into a reindeer (complete with a red nose!) before being unveiled at Manchester Piccadilly station in a surprise reveal.
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- ^ "Virgin's Pendolino train named Blackpool Belle to celebrate launch of electric services" (Press release). Virgin Trains. 21 May 2018. Archived from the original on 17 June 2018. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
Virgin Trains has named one of its Pendolinos Blackpool Belle to celebrate the launch of its first electric services to and from the resort today (Monday 21 May). The 390013 Pendolino carries the name made famous by the resort's first illuminated tram and an excursion train which took people across Lancashire for a Saturday night of dancing through the 1930s to 1960s.
- ^ "Virgin Trains marks 60 years of Blue Peter with train naming" (Press release). Virgin Trains. 16 October 2018. Archived from the original on 17 June 2018. Retrieved 13 November 2013.
Virgin Trains has named one of its flagship Pendolinos 'Blue Peter' to mark the 60th birthday of the world's longest running children's TV show.
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- ^ "Virgin Trains flies the flag for Coventry" (Press release). Virgin Trains. 5 April 2019. Archived from the original on 17 June 2018. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
Pendolino 390039 also proudly adorns the city's first official flag on each cab end.
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