Midland Metro - full closure from Saturday 13 November 2021 (also Sydney)

[alholmes]

Full closure just announced, until further notice, due to repairs being required to all trams. All 21 trams withdrawn from service.

Service Status & Planned Works - West Midlands Metro

See the latest service information and updates from West Midlands Metro, including planned works in the future.

westmidlandsmetro.com

 

[4-SUB 4732]

Absolutely incredible.

 

[Dave W]

Luckily West Brom aren't at home again until the Friday night of 26/11 - if it's not fixed by then the already catastrophic traffic around the stadium will be biblical.

 

[alholmes]

Suggestions on Twitter that closure may be at least 4 weeks

 

[the sniper]

From the last thread...

It happens. Depends on the cause and how long that it takes to sort out.

It happens. Again.

I'm starting to think CAF aren't all they're cracked up to be!

 

[duncanp]

Saves me worrying about when they are going to restore the service between Bull Street and Library.

This could delay the opening of the extension to Edgbaston Village, if it not possible to run some trams along the new track for testing and commissioning purposes.

It does annoy me when they say on the website

While this situation is ongoing, we are committed to keeping our customers moving

Yeah, right.

 

[TRAX]

It’s the same situation in Sydney (Urbos 3 too).

 

[edwin_m]

Reminds me of how several hundred Siemens Combinos had to be recalled for strengthening - I believe they'd used a railway load case for the fatigue calculations and it wasn't applicable to roof-mounted equipment on a tramway with tight curves.

Edinburgh looks OK, the incident alert on their homepage just now led to "Page not Found". Then again they have lots of spare vehicles, and no aircon which may affect things if it's another fatigue issue.

 

[Robertj21a]

It’s the same situation in Sydney (Urbos 3 too).

Sydney expecting problems for 18 months.....

 

[Cletus]

The service was patchy today, long gaps between trams when I was out this afternoon.

 

[Nova1]

Suggestions on Twitter that closure may be at least 4 weeks

https://twitter.com/wmmetro/status/1459215700304740355?s=21

 

[option]

West Midlands Metro services have been suspended for 4 weeks initially.

Service Status & Planned Works - West Midlands Metro

See the latest service information and updates from West Midlands Metro, including planned works in the future.

westmidlandsmetro.com

Service suspended from 13 November until further notice!​

We are sorry that there will be no Metro services from Saturday 13 November until further notice.
Earlier this year a repair programme was implemented to address cracks identified on several of our trams. As part of this work, it has become necessary for additional repairs to be carried out.
To ensure that we can continue to run a safe and reliable service, a decision has been made to remove all 21 trams from service until further notice.

Service was previously withdrawn 11 June over the same issue. A reduced service resumed on the 14th.

All Metro trams removed from service for inspection after fault identified

All West Midlands Metro trams have been halted and removed from service until at least Monday after a fault was identified.

www.expressandstar.com

Twenty-one trams were removed from service on Friday morning until further notice after the vehicle manufacturer identified cracks in the underframe structure at either end of the tram.

Sydney have withdrawn all 12 of theirs, for up to 18 months.

Sydney’s inner west light rail line out of action for up to 18 months

The severity of cracks in all 12 trams that operate on the line has forced the government to decommission the line for up to 18 months.

www.smh.com.au

CAF are having to fix 19 units in Besançon, after cracks were found in the bodies in 2017

CAF agrees to remedial work on Besançon LRVs

CAF has agreed to conduct remedial work at its own cost on 19 23.6m-long three-section Urbos LRVs operated in the French city of Besançon.

www.railjournal.com

According to wikipedia, all 3 are the same issue, cracks in the bogie box area

CAF Urbos - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

A Norwegian operator withdrew all their CAF EMUs in June this year, after only 19 days in operation.

Crack causes Flytoget to withdraw brand new CAF fleet from traffic

NORWEGIAN operator Flytoget has withdrawn its entire fleet of CAF Oaris EMUs following the discovery of a crack in the chassis of one of the trains.

www.railjournal.com

There's nearly 700 Urbos 3s out in the world, & ~10% are now out of service with cracking issues.
Are there likely to be more found, & how many more?

CAF are a sizeable manufacturer, but not very profitable, net income of €62 million (2014)
Dealing with these cracks, & presumably compensating operators, is going to be a big crack in their finances!

 

[bussnapperwm]

Looks like the 74 and 79 are going to be rammed again. It will be interesting to see if NXWM reintroudce the 79A tram replacement service again

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

CAF are a sizeable manufacturer, but not very profitable, net income of €62 million (2014)
Dealing with these cracks, & presumably compensating operators, is going to be a big crack in their finances!

I think you might mean net profit.
Their 2021 first half report shows revenue of €1.4 billion, and an order backlog of €9.4 billion.
No mention of problematic contracts.
Título (Arial 44 pt, bold bottom-aligned) (caf.net)

The new Canberra metro also has the same type of Urbos tram as Sydney.

 

[Nym]

Not just a CAF issue, there has been a long term stop unit in Croydon for some time with cracks around the bolster centre pin for the bogies, with concerns regarding the state of the rest of the fleet.

 

[TRAX]

Not just a CAF issue, there has been a long term stop unit in Croydon for some time with cracks around the bolster centre pin for the bogies, with concerns regarding the state of the rest of the fleet.

On the Flexities or the Variobahns ?

 

[Nym]

On the Flexities or the Variobahns ?

On one of the CR4000s Flexities. I believe it's gone off for weld repair now.

 

[XAM2175]

Reminds me of how several hundred Siemens Combinos had to be recalled for strengthening - I believe they'd used a railway load case for the fatigue calculations and it wasn't applicable to roof-mounted equipment on a tramway with tight curves.

Crucially though the Combino fault was only a serious problem on units that had run more than 120,000 km, so there wasn't a need for a prolonged whole-fleet stoppage like this.

 

[edwin_m]

Crucially though the Combino fault was only a serious problem on units that had run more than 120,000 km, so there wasn't a need for a prolonged whole-fleet stoppage like this.

The exact nature of the fault would determine the strategy to deal with it, and in particular whether the growth of cracks can be monitored and the length at which they become unsafe is understood, which is where they seem to be with the 80x fleet. However it's probably true that a problem emerging later will also be growing more slowly and therefore easier to manage without stopping a whole fleet.

 

[XAM2175]

The exact nature of the fault would determine the strategy to deal with it, and in particular whether the growth of cracks can be monitored and the length at which they become unsafe is understood, which is where they seem to be with the 80x fleet.

Yes, I was in Melbourne at the time and I recall that there were a few days of service alterations while they went through and inspected all the Combino vehicles, but most were released back into normal use very quickly. Over the following months you gradually saw more and more of them with the internal reinforcements at the articulated ends of the car, which was the tell for the corrective modifications.

 

[philosopher]

There's nearly 700 Urbos 3s out in the world, & ~10% are now out of service with cracking issues.
Are there likely to be more found, & how many more?

CAF are a sizeable manufacturer, but not very profitable, net income of €62 million (2014)
Dealing with these cracks, & presumably compensating operators, is going to be a big crack in their finances!

I can’t imagine too many operators are going to wanting to buy Urbos 3 trams now, which would further dent their finances.

 

[DaveHarries]

Not good timing for this closure today (14th November) given the antics on the trains between Birmingham New Street and Wolverhampton following a low-speed derailment. A line block is still in place between Tipton and Wolverhampton and it looks to me as if trains are being turned back at Sandwell and Dudley using the reversing siding and crossover between there and Tipton.

Dave

 

[option]

Pictures of the Sydney cracks

Light rail suspension adds 'one more challenge' to Sydney students as images of cracks emerge

Just weeks after returning to the classroom due to COVID-19, several Sydney schools have copped another blow with the decommissioning of the inner-west light rail due to cracking.

www.abc.net.au

 

[Wolfie]

Luckily West Brom aren't at home again until the Friday night of 26/11 - if it's not fixed by then the already catastrophic traffic around the stadium will be biblical.

Given that they get crowds of two men and a dog l doubt that (l may be a tad biased lol). Sadly l also doubt, given what's been said with respect to Sydney, that the repairs will be done this year let alone within two/three weeks.

 

[Kite159]

Not the best time of year for the trams to go down, especially with Abellio running West Midlands Trains meaning passengers can't trust the railways to run (ie nothing towards Stourbridge Junction for an hour before a single 2 coach unit gets thrown out).

Central car park operators must be laughing at the extra revenue they will gain, unless passengers use the buses.

 

[Dave W]

Given that they get crowds of two men and a dog l doubt that (l may be a tad biased lol). Sadly l also doubt, given what's been said with respect to Sydney, that the repairs will be done this year let alone within two/three weeks.

Hmph. I should have known with that username!

The traffic around B71 has been appalling all season, this won't help. What will any replacement bus services do at full time, for example? Getting away from The Hawthorns can be a nightmare at the best of times (the right honourable Wolfie might suggest getting away is the best time of the nightmare )

 

[duncanp]

Interesting that some MPs in Birmingham are trying to blame Andy Street, the (Conservative) Mayor of the West Midlands for the mess, saying he needs to "..get a grip..".

The contract to buy the CAF Urbos 3 trams from Spain was signed in 2012, which was, er, 5 years before Andy Street was first elected.

 

[Wolfie]

Interesting that some MPs in Birmingham are trying to blame Andy Street, the (Conservative) Mayor of the West Midlands for the mess, saying he needs to "..get a grip..".

The contract to buy the CAF Urbos 3 trams from Spain was signed in 2012, which was, er, 5 years before Andy Street was first elected.

Let me guess.... said MPs represent the Labour party.... twas ever thus...

 

[duncanp]

Let me guess.... said MPs represent the Labour party.... twas ever thus...

Well it wasn't the MP for Birmingham Northfield (the only Conservative MP in Birmingham).

 

[Wolfie]

Hmph. I should have known with that username!

The traffic around B71 has been appalling all season, this won't help. What will any replacement bus services do at full time, for example? Getting away from The Hawthorns can be a nightmare at the best of times (the right honourable Wolfie might suggest getting away is the best time of the nightmare )

Being serious, the Hawthorns is never the best place for transport and the tram being closed will make things much worse. I wouldn't be wholly surprised if rail services to The Hawthorns station are pulled that day too, as they would otherwise completely swamped.

Well it wasn't the MP for Birmingham Northfield (the only Conservative MP in Birmingham).