The long-awaited new Thameslink trains came a step closer yesterday as Siemens revealed the new bogies which they intend to use for the contract.
The SF7000 motor and trailer bogies were unveiled at Siemens’ Graz factory in Austria where four have been built in advance of receiving the formal contract for the new Desiro City trains.
Siemens started work on a next-generation train family for the UK market back in January 2007.
In 2009, when work had already been underway for two years, this project was given new focus when it formed the basis for Siemens’ bid to supply around 1140 cars for the new Thameslink fleet.
The new SF7000 bogie is over 30% lighter than its predecessor which runs under existing Desiro fleets in the UK.
This will not only save operators fuel but will also be kinder to the track and result in lower track access charges from the infrastructure owner.
After static testing at Graz, two motor bogies and two trailing bogies will be shipped to the Siemens factory at Krefeld, Germany, where two pre-production Desiro City cars are also under construction.
Once assembly is finished, the completed vehicles will be tested at the Siemens test track at Wildenrath where it is hoped they will complete one million kilometres of development testing.
Series manufacture will commence in March 2013, provided that the much-delayed Thameslink contract is placed soon.
When questioned, a Department for Transport spokesman simply restated that contracts are expected to be finalised “in the spring”.
This is weird – you reported this in 2011 complete with pictures
https://railuk.com/2011/12/23/siemens-manufactures-first-thameslink-bogie/
Where’s the news??
Many years ago, BREL became a world leader in bogie design and production. Following privatisation however, Bombardier – in their wisdom – moved all such work to Germany, which was a definite “kick-in-the-teeth” for workers at Derby. It is sad that today, there are probably very few British made components in any of the trains running on the UK network – unless someone can advise otherwise!.
There is a British freight bogie the TF25 that shares many of the valuable attributes of the Seimen’s bogie but fitted with conventional wheelsets. Originally designed in 1998/99 by Powell Duffryn Rail, some of the early bogies have now exceeded 1 million, trouble-free service miles and there are several thousand in service in the UK. It has been approved for use in continental use. Suitable for 25te axleload It is 10% lighter (increasing payload) than comparable freight bogies running at lower axleloads. Due to controlled wheelset freedom it curves well, giving upto 250,000 miles between reprofiling. The excellent tracking ability means that less power is needed for traction and of course, there is a signicant reduction in pass by noise levels. This last attribute could reduce the need for fixed trackside noise barriers that have recently been discussed.