SLTRegular
Member
Nearly all of these haulage moves seem to be ssr. Didn't they haul the recent waratah movements to edi @ Cardiff?
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NSW Trains CAF Civity XPT replacement
- Thread starter gordonthemoron
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RailUK Forums
Further testing has been postponed until mid April.
The sets have underfloor diesels with alternators supplying power to electric motors. Cars 1, 3, 4 and 6 are diesel powered while cars 2 and 5 carry all the electrical gear. Each bogie is reportedly driven on one axle only.
The fuel tanks are small so its doubfull whether a set can run Sydney-Melbourne-Sydney or Sydney-Brisbane-Sydney without refueling. Considering that the current XPT service has a 1hr turnaround, a bit of timetable re-jigging would be required.
The trains are bi-modal with pantographs to collect 1500v DC. No testing of this feature has appeared to have been undetaken yet.
Considering the amount of cabling between cars I doubt whether extra cars could be added easily at peak times. The current arrangement with the XPT service is to turn away customers rather than add extra cars.
Information on the car design is not readily available. The diesel engine type is available as are the electric motors but all else is scarce. Presumable the cars are an aluminium body on a steel underframe. If anyone has further information please share.
The sets have underfloor diesels with alternators supplying power to electric motors. Cars 1, 3, 4 and 6 are diesel powered while cars 2 and 5 carry all the electrical gear. Each bogie is reportedly driven on one axle only.
The fuel tanks are small so its doubfull whether a set can run Sydney-Melbourne-Sydney or Sydney-Brisbane-Sydney without refueling. Considering that the current XPT service has a 1hr turnaround, a bit of timetable re-jigging would be required.
The trains are bi-modal with pantographs to collect 1500v DC. No testing of this feature has appeared to have been undetaken yet.
Considering the amount of cabling between cars I doubt whether extra cars could be added easily at peak times. The current arrangement with the XPT service is to turn away customers rather than add extra cars.
Information on the car design is not readily available. The diesel engine type is available as are the electric motors but all else is scarce. Presumable the cars are an aluminium body on a steel underframe. If anyone has further information please share.
Pakenhamtrain
Member
The XPT refuels at Southern cross so I'd imagine the new fleet will do the same.
Refuelling an XPT power car at Southern Cross Station
Photographs of trains and railway infrastructure from around Victoria, Australia
The XPT refuels not only in Melbourne but also at Grafton on north runs.
Until at least minimal details of the power train and power available for traction is made available there seems to be a question whether they have enough to manage running on the NSW network with its many long steep grades.
Until at least minimal details of the power train and power available for traction is made available there seems to be a question whether they have enough to manage running on the NSW network with its many long steep grades.
railfan99
Established Member
XPTs can apparently also refuel at Albury, though this is not normal practice. This would be a throwback to when XPTs were first introduced, as they operated Sydney to Albury without travelling further south to Melbourne.
jedimasterc
Member
Most of the steep grades are under the wires but the electric motors will make these less of an issue. The fuel tanks should be no smaller then the Xplorer's and the 22 Litre MTU v12 engines produce twice the power of the KT19's in the Xplorer. I don't believe there is an auxilary generator because there has been no details on this and the new engine produces more then enough power for electrical needs.
railfan99
Established Member
This appeared in 'Sydney Morning Herald' yesterday.
A bureaucrat was unable to give a date for when the new trains would start to carry passengers.
My guess is 2027 at the earliest. Only three sets have been received in Australia. They must undergo extensive testing.
The public servant even said she expected the train to fail some of the testing - "they always do". That's confidence!
So plenty of time to travel on the ageing, but about to be refurbished, XPTs.
A bureaucrat was unable to give a date for when the new trains would start to carry passengers.
My guess is 2027 at the earliest. Only three sets have been received in Australia. They must undergo extensive testing.
The public servant even said she expected the train to fail some of the testing - "they always do". That's confidence!
So plenty of time to travel on the ageing, but about to be refurbished, XPTs.
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The fact that the XPTs are being refurbished makes me think it will be a lot longer until these new CAF Civity trains enter service. In order to justify refurbishing the XPTs (which are planned to be withdrawn) they must be expecting a delay of at least a couple years. It would make no sense to refurbish them otherwise. I would think some time in 2028 or 2029 is a more likely entry date. I would not be surprised if it is a repeat of the D Set trains (the Australian 701s as i call them) and they keep getting more and more delayed. I hope the CAF Civity trains enter service sooner but it seems unlikely.
jedimasterc
Member
Set number 2 has been doing testing in Sydney lately. It's now authorised to work on it's own without a loco haul. Here are some youtube videos from Jenper.
They will be fine for fuel and most of the steep stuff will be run under the wires coming in and out of Sydney. There is only 4 x v12 engines per 6 car set and they are much more efficient then the XPT's or the Xplorer's engines. They seem to have much better acceleration on the diesel engine then either of those trains as well and the electric acceleration is way beyond the realm of those 2.
They will be fine for fuel and most of the steep stuff will be run under the wires coming in and out of Sydney. There is only 4 x v12 engines per 6 car set and they are much more efficient then the XPT's or the Xplorer's engines. They seem to have much better acceleration on the diesel engine then either of those trains as well and the electric acceleration is way beyond the realm of those 2.
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railfan99
Established Member
Yet the timetables will remain the same. If faster acceleration, surely running times ought improve.
Mediocrity rules.
jedimasterc
Member
The current trains can't stick to those timetables as it is. How often is the Melbourne XPT late? In any case the main boost in these new trains is fuel efficiency and maybe running times will be improved as time goes on and the capabilities of these new train shows through. At the moment they will be running the same as before and unless there is a massive new investment in new alignments then you really aren't going to see any significant improvement in travel times in any case.