FLEX The go-anywhere train
When you’ve invested millions of pounds in maintaining and updating trains to bring them up to modern standards, what do you do when those trains become surplus to requirements soon afterwards?
That was the problem facing Derby-based train leasing company Porterbrook a few years ago when several large fleets of electric trains were rendered redundant by massive new train orders.
In the case of Thameslink, 86 four-car Class 319 dual-voltage EMUs built between 1987 and 1990 have been replaced by new Siemens Class 700s over the last three years.
Most 319s have recently been refurbished and fitted with controlled emission toilets, passenger information systems and PRM-TSI compliant accessible toilets to keep them in service beyond December 2019.
Originally, much of the fleet was expected to switch to GWR’s Thames Valley commuter operation, with others moving to Northern.
The curtailment of Great Western main line electrification and GWR’s decision to buy new Class 387 EMUs for the remaining electric services left more than 60 ‘319s’ without work beyond 2018
This project started as far back as 2014 when, inspired by the Bombardier/Network Rail Independently Powered Electric Multiple Unit (IPEMU) experiment – which saw batteries fitted to a Class 379 EMU – Porterbrook challenged its engineering team to create their own IPEMU concept, using Class 319s.
At that time, the Government was still committed to a
