Train Mileage

[northernchris]

I was wondering how train mileage is recorded, do units have similar recording equipment to cars?

Is there also a way of finding out which fleet clocks up the most mileage ina year?

 

[richieb1971]

I heard somewhere that some of the HST's have clocked 40 million miles.

I have a feeling the odometer doesn't have that many zero's. So its likely a maintenance log is kept and they just add on the extra miles since the last service.

 

[ash39]

Diesels are generally done on engine hours rather than mileage I believe. Not sure about electrics.

 

[43096]

I heard somewhere that some of the HST's have clocked 40 million miles.

Not sure where you heard that, but it is utter nonsense.

Even just thinking about that briefly it is nonsense: 40 years life means 1 million miles per year. That is 2,739 miles per day (or averaging 114mph 24hrs per day!) without any days stopped for maintenance. An HST's limit between fuelling is around 1,100 miles.

Highest mileage by any of the fleet is around 9.5 million miles.

 

[43096]

Diesels are generally done on engine hours rather than mileage I believe. Not sure about electrics.

No, mileage is recorded for all traction. You will find maintenance is done on different components using different measures. For example a power unit is often on engine hours, but bogies will be on mileage.

 

[Billy A]

I heard somewhere that some of the HST's have clocked 40 million miles.

Rather less I'm afraid. I understand that some examples do in the region of 300,000 miles a year.

 

[43096]

Rather less I'm afraid. I understand that some examples do in the region of 300,000 miles a year.

The VTEC fleet has the highest mileage diagrams, with the average for a power car being around 260k per year. Obviously a power car which is more reliable and/or has less maintenance downtime might get closer to the 300k figure.

The VTEC trailer car sets will average around 300k per year, though.

 

[northernchris]

More complex than I realised! Some of the Pendolinos have exceeded 3 million miles, and I suspect the Voyagers have covered similar, so thought the HSTs would have been higher than 9 million

 

[CosherB]

Not sure where you heard that, but it is utter nonsense.

Even just thinking about that briefly it is nonsense: 40 years life means 1 million miles per year. That is 2,739 miles per day (or averaging 114mph 24hrs per day!) without any days stopped for maintenance. An HST's limit between fuelling is around 1,100 miles.

Highest mileage by any of the fleet is around 9.5 million miles.

Don't let facts get in the way of a good story!!

 

[TimboM]

Highest mileage by any of the fleet is around 9.5 million miles.

That's almost 400 times around Earth. Not bad going...

 

[TwistedMentat]

I imagine it's also a lot more common to change out the axles of a locomotive, carriage, or multiple unit; compared to a car, truck, or bus.

I doubt any of these trains have done their total milage on the first set of bogies they were built with.

 

[Cowley]

Would HST power cars be among the highest mileage traction units on Britains railways since the railways began? Going on longevity and the speeds they operate at they must be very near the top.
I imagine that some of the surviving class 86s must have covered a lot of miles in their 50+ years too.

 

[BestWestern]

I suspect the '40 million' HST figure might relate to the fleet as whole?

 

[swt_passenger]

I imagine it's also a lot more common to change out the axles of a locomotive, carriage, or multiple unit; compared to a car, truck, or bus.

I doubt any of these trains have done their total milage on the first set of bogies they were built with.

But the bogies will also be continually overhauled, and replaced on other vehicles, so the bogie mileage will approach similar values. The wheels will be scrapped on reaching minimum diameter.

 

[Bromley boy]

I'd be interested to know the approximate total mileage of various older electric metro fleets in the former southern region.

465s have an onboard mileage recorder and these tend to show figures around the high 800k - 950k mark. Some show a much lower figure around the 120k mark which I assume is because the counter has reset.

This seems a bit low for overall lifetime mileage - assuming (say) 100,000 miles per year (300 miles per day * 340 days allowing maintenance downtime) * 25 years this would put them around 2.5m miles.

Can anyone shed any light on these or similar fleets (455s, for example)?

 

[BMIFlyer]

At TPE the class 350 fleet has an odometer in each cab. Records distance travelled by each unit in KM however.

The traction motors are now being put through the 1 million miles overhaul on the TPE class 350's.

 

[aal7]

I doubt any of these trains have done their total milage on the first set of bogies they were built with.

Why am I thinking of Trigger and his broom?

 

[43096]

I suspect the '40 million' HST figure might relate to the fleet as whole?

It would be roughly the total power car mileage for one year. Set mileage is obviously half that.

 

[superhands]

With Thameslink almost being 24 hours some train set are doing over 700 miles a day

 

[richieb1971]

It would be roughly the total power car mileage for one year. Set mileage is obviously half that.

I heard the 40mil figure on a news report about Britains aging trains. Was about the class 800 taking over the HST's.

this report from the BBC says the HST's have done over 800 million miles in total.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-361...125-is-celebrating-its-40th-year-of-operation

 

[43096]

I heard the 40mil figure on a news report about Britains aging trains. Was about the class 800 taking over the HST's.



this report from the BBC says the HST's have done over 800 million miles in total.



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-361...125-is-celebrating-its-40th-year-of-operation

Is the correct number (so power cars have covered 1.6 billion miles between them). The 800 million miles figure was quoted by GWR at the SPM Open Day, and there was a piece on it, and how it was arrived at, in the 125 Group's magazine last year.

 

[TwistedMentat]

But the bogies will also be continually overhauled, and replaced on other vehicles, so the bogie mileage will approach similar values. The wheels will be scrapped on reaching minimum diameter.

I was more getting at the power cars probably go through bogies as the bogies get removed for refurbishment. The wonder of interchangeable parts. So a single power car won't always have the same two bogies throughout its life.

 

[Great_Western]

The Web Genimi system we use in work calculates the lifetime milliage of each carriage/powercar, not sure how accurate it is but HST's tend to be bettween 4 and 7 million miles which is quite incredible really.

 

[gg1]

More complex than I realised! Some of the Pendolinos have exceeded 3 million miles, and I suspect the Voyagers have covered similar, so thought the HSTs would have been higher than 9 million

Sounds about right to me, the oldest HSTs have been in service roughly 3 times as long as the oldest Pendolinos so 3 times the mileage is what I'd expect to see.

 

[43096]

The Web Genimi system we use in work calculates the lifetime milliage of each carriage/powercar, not sure how accurate it is but HST's tend to be bettween 4 and 7 million miles which is quite incredible really.

I have seen the Gemini numbers for the HST power cars and they are clearly wrong.

 

[t_star2001uk]

class 68s have an odometer as part of the speedometer digital display...

 

[richieb1971]

class 68s have an odometer as part of the speedometer digital display...

How many digits does it have?

 

[t_star2001uk]

How many digits does it have?

off the top of my head i couldnt tell you, but most of the ones i have been on are in the 100000mile range...