Rail Reliability supports Class 458 fleet

Rail operators often find that they have need for temporary staff, especially at times of great change. Since the award of its contract in 2017, Southwestern Railway (SWR) has ordered new Alstom (née Bombardier) Arterio Class 701 trains and had proposed that they, together with the refurbished Class 442 and the existing Class 444 and 450 fleet, would lead to the withdrawal of the Class 455, 458, and 707 fleets.

This preamble leads to a focus on the Class 458 fleet and its support. The country had been in lockdown due to Covid since March 2020 and all industries were in a state of turmoil due to material supply and staffing levels. In December 2020, Rail Reliability Consultancy Services (Rail Reliability) engaged with SWR to provide it with technical labour and technical support to help with the problems the company was encountering with the maintenance activities on the Class 458 fleets. Using Rail Reliability for this work allowed SWR to release their own team members to be trained on Class 701.

At the time of engagement, SWR only had 50% of its 36-strong fleet available for service with reliability of the remaining units being unpredictable. Initially a team of six was provided to improve availability of the fleet until, under the original plan, it was withdrawn and handed back to Porterbrook. It was then decided to keep 28 of the 36 five-car Class 458 trains which are now being reconfigured by Alstom into four-car sets and regeared to their original 100mph maximum speed. Originally these were to operate the London-Portsmouth Harbour service but are currently being used on outer suburban networks.

With the change of plan, Rail Reliability now supplies a managed service with 21 team members. This includes project management and technical support together with senior technicians and exam technicians. Within the team of senior technicians, Rail Reliability has specialised track call fitters who are trained and accredited to work trackside. When requested by SWR, they respond to track calls or provide outstation support during exceptionally hectic times and/or occasions such as the King’s Coronation Concert at Windsor and Twickenham Rugby.

Now in its fourth year, availability and reliability has grown without there being any long term stopped units. This allows SWR to operate a smaller, reliable fleet while other units are withdrawn for refurbishment and hand back to Porterbrook.

Rail Reliability’s role

Rail Reliability now carries out all routine and corrective maintenance on the Class 458 units, including fault finding, defect rectification, and modification works on all systems, including air conditioning, Wi-Fi, CCTV, heating, brakes, doors, traction, auxiliary systems, and on-train monitoring systems.

Rail Reliability is also carrying out dilapidation repairs of the surplus units ready for their handback to Porterbrook.

Working closely with SWR’s engineering, technical and production teams, Rail Reliability regularly creates, assists with, recommends, and executes the following:

• Fleet checks.
• In process checks.
• Major fleet wide fault investigations and rectification.
• Fleet performance reviews.
• Fleet modifications.
• Technical queries.
• Updates to vehicle maintenance instruction.

In addition, Rail Reliability collaborates closely with all stakeholders including Alstom and Porterbrook to address long-term problems, obsolescence, and the implementation of first-in-class modifications, such as the monitoring of cab doors open and close signals in the On Train Monitoring Recorder. Rail Reliability has made significant progress resolving faults in the passenger Wi-Fi and CCTV networks, by identifying and rectifying wiring and data backbone issues.

To achieve all this, Rail Reliability tracks Class 458 material on a unit-by-unit basis and works closely with SWR’s materials team. This tracking information is used to plan material requirements based on likely consumption to ensure that spares stock is maintained at an appropriate level.

Lessons learnt

The description above is of an organisation trusted by SWR to look after the fleet. But, as Rail Reliability’s Richard Gasper told Rail Engineer: “When taking on the Class 458 maintenance contract over three years ago, Rail Reliability was mobilised to support SWR managing the process of restoring the fleet to the condition required for hand back to Porterbrook”.

This soon changed, but, he added: “As the original plan was to hand the fleet back, material suppliers started winding down their supply for this fleet and a lot of material became obsolete.”

Richard added that a great deal of work was required to address obsolescence issues after SWR decided to keep the fleet. Even though the material supply has improved there are still issues to resolve.

“RRCS have worked with us for several years now to provide a competent and reliable team to support our fleet maintenance activities during a period of change within the business and the wider railway industry. A truly collaborative relationship at all levels that has resulted in the desired stability and reliability of the fleets they have been engaged with.”
Neil Drury, engineering director, SWR

Managing spares shortages

Rail Reliability uses its specialist knowledge of the fleet to keep the trains in service while significant parts are sourced. This requires flexibility to ‘borrow’ parts where possible from a unit that has been stood down. For example, if a traction component is defective on a driving motor coach this would also lock out the auxiliary converter causing a loss of some passenger facilities such as lighting and air conditioning. A unit in this condition cannot enter service from the depot until rectified.

With no material in stock, removing a part from a stopped unit risks creating a so-called ‘Christmas tree’. Rail Reliability realised that the required component could be removed from the non-driving motor coach which has no auxiliary converter. This meant that both auxiliary converters would operate supplying all auxiliary and passenger comfort systems. While one coach set of motors would not operate, the unit could operate in service whilst coupled to another as a 10-car set.

Maintenance planning

Once Rail Reliability was able to supply the number of units to meet the required service availability, the team noticed that many Class 458 units would become due for examination at approximately the same time. This put maintenance staff under pressure where exams were completed but historic defects were not closed, and passenger interface defects might not be attended to. The knock-on effect of this could be temporary availability but poor reliability.

Rail Reliability’s project manager reviewed fleet miles, unit by unit, and requested that train formations were changed to allow unit mileage and exams to be managed more appropriately. When availability was high, Rail Reliability would request that units with the lowest mileage be held to enable the spread of the exam load. This approach created a steadier beat rate for units falling due for exam, relieving pressure on maintenance teams and allowing for historical and passenger interface defects to be addressed.

The team

For Rail Reliability to be successful it was important to hand pick staff to suit the requirements of the contract. All employees are extremely knowledgeable, competent, driven, and highly skilled within their roles. The team has wide experience, some with rolling stock from their time spent serving as railway apprentices for some of the major OEMs and TOCs, while other team members are apprentice trained and have experience in other engineering fields.

Shaun Lacriarde says: “We work hard to maintain and improve competence from our team from their initial interview and throughout their working career. This includes regular performance reviews which are used to determine any training needs and to provide an opportunity to voice concerns about any concerns they may have.”

He adds: “Our managers ensure that all aspects of our integrated management system is complied with. Local HSQE arrangements are routinely monitored by our HSQE department which maintains close communication with the SWR HSQE team.”

SWR has delegated authority to Rail Reliability’s senior technicians to initiate new work orders, update existing ones, and follow them through to completion on SWR’s asset management system. The technicians provide comprehensive reports which are used on fleet-wide asset management matters as well as attribution when dealing with technical incidents on the railway.

Richard and Shaun would like to thank SWR for its continual trust and support over the last four years, and for allowing them to collaborate so closely. The Rail Reliability team has worked alongside all departments at all levels to gain this working relationship and appreciates the opportunity it has been given to present its professionalism.

Image credit: Rail Reliability