Scotland’s rail network is to face a shortage of trains from December after the biggest order of rolling stock in a generation hit major problems in testing.
A number of serious technical hitches have led to ScotRail refusing to accept a £200 million fleet of electric trains, which originally were to enter service last month, provoking an angry spat with their German manufacturer, Siemens.
The problems are now likely to delay the introduction of a full timetable on the recently completed £300m Airdrie-Bathgate rail link, which was supposed to be up and running from December 12. ScotRail has been forced to plan for a scaled-down service in place of the four trains per hour that were to operate.
The train operator was supposed to take delivery of 38 Class-380 electric trains for use on Ayrshire, Inverclyde and Renfrewshire routes, and use the trains currently on those routes for the new east-west service.
However, ScotRail suspended commissioning of the new rolling stock a fortnight ago and has refused to accept them for full passenger service until the technical issues are resolved.
The problems are thought to be software-related and have seen them break down during trial runs, with at least one train having to be shunted back from Cumbria to the Polmadie depot in Glasgow. It is now thought likely the trains will only begin passenger service from mid-November, with ScotRail examining options for borrowing train carriages from elsewhere in the network to ensure the Airdrie-Bathgate service can operate.
This could lead to some trains on other routes having the number of carriages reduced to make rolling stock available for the new service. An industry source said: “ScotRail has made clear its deep disappointment to Siemens. It had every right to expect the trains to work straight out of the box but they have been dogged by technical hitches ever since arriving in the UK. Their unreliability is such that the company is refusing to accept the trains from the manufacturer at this time. There is no question of ScotRail operating the trains until they are fit for purpose.”
A ScotRail spokesman confirmed the company had suspended the commissioning runs on September 24. He said: “We advised the manufacturer that all commissioning had been suspended and that we could not operate, or accept, these trains.
“We resumed running on Thursday after modifications to the trains but will not accept them until all the problems are resolved and reliable operation is proven. We are in constant contact with the manufacturer and monitoring the extended commissioning trials.”
The spokesman said there was “no doubt” Glasgow-to-Edinburgh services via the new Airdrie-Bathgate route would be delivered on December 12, but added: “We will commence with an introductory service, which will increase over time until the complete new fleet is commissioned and drivers are trained.”
The Herald understands the revised timetable will see four trains an hour operating at peak periods, with a reduced service during off-peak periods.
David Wilson, director of sales at Siemens Mobility, said the problems were a normal part of testing. “We’re going through what is a very normal procedure of shaking down a new set of trains,” he added. He said software engineers were working on problems that had been identified after the trains began operations and were working to upload the amended software.
“They have been working fine on test circuits in Germany but it’s perfectly normal to then encounter difficulties when you introduce them onto real track. We wouldn’t suggest they should be introduced until those problems are resolved,” he said.
Transport Scotland, the government agency that oversaw commissioning of the new fleet, conceded the problems were likely to delay introduction of the trains, but only by “a few weeks”.
source: www.heraldscotland.com
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