Northern Rail

[Sprinterdriver]

RE: Northern Rail

(17/09/2015 15:59)jtd508110 Wrote:  There is several theories as to why these units keep on failing

1) Before entering service up north, they were fitted with new "traction cards" which is a computer that controls the application of power to the motors

2) Poor driving techniques from Northern Drivers due to unfamiliarity and poor management of the training. There has been many different people all stating the "correct" way to notch up power. Notching straight from 0 - 4 damages the motors and can cause flashover.

3) Maintenance staff unfamiliarity with the units

This list is not exhaustive as there is many other theories and some of these are more credible than others but all will probably be contributory factors.

Some interesting comments there!

1: The new traction cards have not contributed to any of the failures. That info came from both the Fleet Engineer and the staff at Allerton.

2: No poor management of the training at all. Nobody was trained to go straight from notch one to four.

3: Several of the staff at Allerton have worked on 319's or similar traction before.

There was bound to be some bedding in issues, plus it probably doesn't help that the staff at Allerton have had to work with a much reduced shed size while three of the five roads were extended.

The units were far from perfect when with Thameslink, several ran around coupled together with a group of traction motors isolated on one set until faults were sorted, up here there is very little multiple working, plus the nature of the work they are doing is different, with much shorter gaps between stations.

With the spotlight on them any failure is bound to get attention. I believe the problem yesterday with 383 was down to a spike on the OLE. The fault with the wiper is something that happens quite a bit with the DMU fleet too!

SD.