Class 390 Pendolino Tilting Trains,Pendolino Britannico bezeichneten Britischen Klasse 390, sind ele
0Class 390 Pendolino Tilting Trains
Tilting trains can reduce journey times on conventional track, as opposed to purpose-built high-speed lines such as Fren
Britische Klasse 390
Lokomotivenklasse
Die Fahrzeuge, der auch als Pendolino Britannico bezeichneten Britischen Klasse 390, sind elektrisch angetriebene Neigezüge, die von der Bahngesellschaft Avanti West Coast auf der West Coast Main Line im Vereinigten Königreich eingesetzt werden.Tilting trains can reduce journey times on conventional track, as opposed to purpose-built high-speed lines such as French LGV or German Neubaustrecke. By controlled tilting in relation to track conditions, centrifugal force that would otherwise cause passenger discomfort is much reduced. With no dedicated domestic high-speed lines realistically expected to be built in the UK, during the 1970s the Advanced Passenger Train was developed with gas turbine and electric variants by British Rail, then the public sector operator of trains and infrastructure.
However, although prototype electric APT sets incorporating a host of innovations briefly entered passenger service on the London-Glasgow West Coast Main Line (WCML), the costs, operational problems and ensuing adverse publicity led to government cancellation of the project.
Incorporating some the powered tilt technology sold to Fiat Ferroviaria of Italy with the already in-hand developments, the company, later to become part of Alstom, went on to create the Pendolino family.
As well as the UK Class 390, other Pendolinos include the Italian ETR 450/460 and 470 Cisalpino; Portuguese Alfa Pendular; Finnish S220 and Czech CD680. The concept remains under development with the later ETR600 for Trenitalia and multi-system ETR610 in testing from 2008 for cross-border Cisalpino services.
The project
Following privatisation under the Railways Act 1993, Virgin Trains won the WCML franchise, inheriting hauled stock and Class 86/87/90 locomotives. With the West Midlands too close to London for high-volume airline competition, Virgin saw service improvements as the key to competing for lucrative business markets to north-west England and Scotland’s central belt, the latter also served by the then more recently modernised and less curve-affected East Coast Main Line.
Upgrading the run-down WCML and the £1.2bn Pendolino fleet order in 1997 was seen as the means of raising standards and giving faster journey times, such as Euston-Birmingham in one hour. Virgin planned for some operating and styling consistencies with the Bombardier-built diesel-electric non-tilt (Class 220) and tilting (Class 221) ‘Voyagers’ originally acquired for their Cross Country franchise, 17 of which were retained by Virgin following the remainder being transferred to Arriva (trading as CrossCountry) in November 2007.
Infrastructure
Including part of the world’s first mainline railway alignment (the London and Birmingham), passing through many urban areas and notably sinuous north from Preston, the WCML lent itself to the gains available from tilt technology. Virgin’s WCML services are from London Euston to Glasgow Central, with intensive schedules on ‘branches’ to Birmingham/Wolverhampton, Manchester and Liverpool.
Using the stock’s 140mph (225km/h) capability required that moving block in-cab signalling would be part of what was effectively a route rebuild, scheduled by the national private sector infrastructure operator Railtrack for completion in 2005, aspects of which were to become heavily amended. Realignments and quadrupling tracks in the Trent Valley section, the first new four-track section of which opened for testing in 2007, will assist in the segregation of Pendolino paths from restored local passenger services (largely withdrawn during rebuilding) and freight flows.