Bombardier Aventra
who are currently constructing the Class
345 have unveiled their bodyshell for TFL to report on.
TFL reports on their press
release:
The
production of the new Crossrail trains, which will help meet the needs of the
rapidly growing population of London and the South East, has reached an
important milestone with the completion of a test carriage at Bombardier's
train manufacturing plant in Derby.
This
first body shell is being used to refine the design and the manufacturing
techniques needed for the full production of the 594 carriages needed for the
66 Crossrail trains.
At
over 200m long, the trains will be around the length of two full-sized (Premier
League) football pitches or 18 New Routemaster buses. They will provide space
for up to 1,500 passengers and help to relieve congestion on journeys between
east and west London and beyond into Berkshire in the West and Essex in the
East. The trains will have wide interconnecting gangways and three double doors
on each side of each carriage, providing high capacity and quick boarding and
alighting times that will be particularly beneficial at busy central stations.
The
manufacture and delivery of the trains and depot at Old Oak Common are
supporting 760 UK manufacturing jobs, as well as 80 apprenticeships. Over the
course of the project, it is estimated that Crossrail and its supply chain will
support the equivalent of 55,000 full time jobs across the country.
The Mayor of London,
Boris Johnson said:
'The
first test train carriage to roll off the assembly line in Derby is a fantastic
visual reminder of how close we are to seeing a new railway line up and running
in the Capital. It also shows how this amazing construction project is
supporting jobs and apprenticeships not only in London but across the UK.'
Howard Smith, TfL's
Crossrail Operations Director, said:
'It's
really exciting to see this first body shell from Bombardier's new purpose-built
testing and commissioning facility. It not only brings Crossrail closer but
also highlights how the project is creating jobs, opportunities and economic
growth in other parts of the country.'
Transport Secretary
Patrick McLoughlin said:
'It
is great to see Bombardier's progress in delivering the first test train
carriage. This is an exciting milestone for the Crossrail project, and these
state-of-the-art new trains showcase British engineering at its best. As well
as transforming travel across the capital when it opens, our investment in
Crossrail is also helping to boost local economies by creating jobs and
apprenticeships around the UK.'
Joe Bednall,
Bombardier's Project Director, said:
'This
assembled body shell, which has progressed rapidly from a blank piece of paper
through to build and test, is the first off the production line for the
Crossrail project. It will first go to be tested, to validate the body shell
design, before being painted and re-assembled to form the client's cab and
saloon mock up. The on-time completion of this new light-weight body shell
design marks an important milestone in the ongoing successful delivery of the
Crossrail project.'
TfL
and Bombardier have been working with designers Barber & Osgerby on the design
of the Crossrail trains, which will be unveiled later this year.
The
first trains will begin to operate between Liverpool Street and Shenfield from
May 2017, running through the central section in 2018 ahead of the full
Crossrail route from Reading and Heathrow in the west to Shenfield and Abbey
Wood in the east in 2019.
Earlier
this year, TfL began operating the first section of what will become the
Crossrail route from Liverpool Street to Shenfield and started refurbishing the
twelve stations along the route from Maryland to Shenfield. Since 31 May, these
stations have been staffed from first to last train. TfL has been working with
the operator MTR to improve reliability and from 26 July until 22 August, 96.9
per cent of all trains along this route ran within 5 minutes of schedule, one
of the best performance figures of all operators in Britain.
The
first new Crossrail trains will operate from around May 2017 which is not too
far away. We will also be seeing the new Class
700 for the Thameslink route which is part of National Rail network. The
first Class 700 trains are expected to be in service between 2016 and 2018.
That means by 2020, we will see two mainline rail services crossing through
Central London. The interchange station for Crossrail and Thameslink will be
Farringdon station.
 |
| Computer generated image of Class 700 Thameslink train |
The
Crossrail Class 345 train has a length of 200 metres, now compare that to the
Thameslink Class 700 which has two sizes of the train length. The 8 car train
is 162 metres whilst the 12 car is 242.6 metres.
Crossrail
is just around the corner and hopefully once it kicks in, it will relieve
pressure from the London Underground Central Line and London Buses Route 25
services.
It's
interesting to see how the railway network of London is progressing and
hopefully it will encourage more and more people to use the transport services
rather than using their own cars which will help tackle the contribution to
climate change from diesel emissions. It's also worth noting that regardless of
how the fares rise, the passenger journey numbers keep increasing.
Click
to view the London Railway map in 2018 (PDF Format) created
by Project Mapping.
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forget to follow me on Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest and Google Plus which is @CLondoner92
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