[Trivia] Fastest Introduction Of Brand New Stock (Since Franchise Award)

[tbtc]

Northern recently introduced new trains into passenger service - Arriva were awarded the franchise in 2015.

The TPE franchise was also awarded in 2015 and are almost just about to nearly introduce their new trains.

These things can take time - tenders, contracts, appeals, designs, trials, acceptance testing, staff training etc.

But what has been the shortest time between a franchise being awarded and the new trains coming into passenger service?

To avoid arguments, I'm talking about trains ordered by the new TOC, so not trains that were already in the pipeline due to the Government specifying them or the previous franchise specifying them - e.g. the SWR 707s that were already ordered by SWT - any trains ordered since privatisation are valid for this.

 

[hwl]

Probably C2C's small batch of 387s, that weren't even part of the originally plan...

 

[J-2739]

377 Electrostars for Southern?

 

[NoMorePacers]

The first batches of Chiltern 168s?

 

[GusB]

I'm using Wikipedia as my source here, so have a large pinch of sodium chloride to hand. According to:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ScotRail_(National_Express) the franchise was run from March 1997, and;

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_170 the units were built between 1999 and 2001, so that would be two years (ish).

I'm not certain when the first (small f) Scotrail franchise was actually awarded, nor when the 170 order was placed. I also have it in the back of my mind that there were some "teething troubles" and that they were late into service, but I'm fairly sure they were in service before the turn of the century.

 

[Stow]

Gatwick Express 387s.

 

[BigB]

I'm using Wikipedia as my source here, so have a large pinch of sodium chloride to hand. According to:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ScotRail_(National_Express) the franchise was run from March 1997, and;

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_170 the units were built between 1999 and 2001, so that would be two years (ish).

I'm not certain when the first (small f) Scotrail franchise was actually awarded, nor when the 170 order was placed. I also have it in the back of my mind that there were some "teething troubles" and that they were late into service, but I'm fairly sure they were in service before the turn of the century.

Remember that the Scotrail 170s were not a new design - these were effectively just a class 168.
The majority of issues that we are seeing is with completely new designs (385s being a great example). The only testing required for the 170s was mileage acceptance IIRC.

 

[Neptune]

Class 333.

RRNE franchise let in 1997 and units arrived summer 2000. Worked almost out of the box and in service by January 2001 with all 308’s replaced by the August of that year. Within 2 years half were extended to 4 cars and within another year the remaining half also extended to 4 cars. All done with no issues. Sadly Arriva didn’t take up the offer of an additional 5 units to replace the 3 x 321’s and remaining diesel peak extra diagrams and the jigs were scrapped by CAF.

An undoubted success story in the early days of privatisation new fleet introductions. How many other new fleets have been introduced as successfully as this.

 

[NoMorePacers]

Class 333.

RRNE franchise let in 1997 and units arrived summer 2000. Worked almost out of the box and in service by January 2001 with all 308’s replaced by the August of that year. Within 2 years half were extended to 4 cars and within another year the remaining half also extended to 4 cars. All done with no issues. Sadly Arriva didn’t take up the offer of an additional 5 units to replace the 3 x 321’s and remaining diesel peak extra diagrams and the jigs were scrapped by CAF.

An undoubted success story in the early days of privatisation new fleet introductions. How many other new fleets have been introduced as successfully as this.

Hadn't CAF made the very similar 332 beforehand, so they could iron out any issues before the 333s went into service?

 

[Neptune]

True, but from what I recall the 332’s were similarly reliable out of the box unlike the other new products of the time. Bear in mind both classes were built by CAF but with Siemens workings. Siemens have generally been the best out of the box products in recent times hence one of the reasons SWT chose the desiro when going through the Big Bang slam door replacement rather than the Junipers that they were planning on sending off lease at the time.

The only real technical problems I can recall with the 333’s were the interference monitors tripping out whenever a 91 was about on the triangle. Upgrades to the infrastructure sorted this which was the problem rather than the units.