British Rail MPV
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The Multiple-purpose Vehicle or MPV is a purpose-built departmental derivative of a
diesel multiple unit A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are also ...
. Twenty-five two-car units were ordered by
Railtrack Railtrack was a group of companies that owned the track, signalling, tunnels, bridges, level crossings and all but a handful of the stations of the British railway system from 1994 until 2002. It was created as part of the privatisation of ...
to enable it to replace its varied collection of ageing departmental vehicles, many of which were converted from redundant passenger stock. The vehicles were built in Germany by
Windhoff Windhoff is a German manufacturer of specialised railways rolling stock, and heavy industrial plant. The company was founded in 1889. The company is well known for its CargoSprinter rail vehicle, and derivatives. History The company started ou ...
. The design is based on the Windhoff " CargoSprinter" units that are operated by
Deutsche Bahn The (; abbreviated as DB or DB AG) is the national railway company of Germany. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). The Federal Republic of Germany is its single shareholder. describes itself as the ...
(
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...
) and
CRT Group CRT Group is an intermodal transport company in Australia. It was founded in 1954 as Colin Rees Transport, a taxi truck company in Sydney. In 1981 it became known as the CRT Group, and by the time of its acquisition by QR National in June 2005 ...
( Australia). Normally a unit consists of one powered vehicle fitted with twin Railpac diesel engines, semi-permanently coupled to an unpowered slave unit without engines. The later orders for the South East of England and for overhead line replacement are instead composed of two powered units, to give better acceleration and top speed. When first built there were problems with the vehicles being 'out of gauge' when running empty. The concept of the design is that each vehicle has a driving cab and an under floor engine/transmission with Multiple unit (MU) control. The majority of each vehicle is a flat load bed that can carry combinations of 10-foot and 20-foot modules that are secured using the locking system for ISO standard containers. Modules can be changed as required to suit current requirements. In 2005, two powered MPV units were used to form a "Freight Multiple Unit" for freight trials, made by coupling standard freight wagons in between the pair of MPV units. Temporary multiple unit control cables were run along the wagons in order to connect the two MPVs, which are acting as locomotives working as a push-pull train.


Variants

There are five distinct types of MPV unit that represent the development of the concept for use in the UK. All are owned by
Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...
.


High output wiring train

For the replacement of overhead lines on the
West Coast Main Line The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...
at the start of the 2000s, Railtrack designed and ordered two new self-powered High Output Wiring Trains (HOWT). The order was placed with Windhoff in July 1999 and the first train available for trials in Germany in June 2000 before being shipped to the United Kingdom shortly afterwards. The replacement program using the new trains began in November 2000. Replacement of a tensioned overhead span measuring 1000–1500 metres takes four hours with a HOWT, compared to sixteen hours for original method (using rolling stock and road-rail vehicles). Up to 30 crew are required to operate the HOWT. The full train comprises nine vehicles; four MPV CargoSprinter-based units and five flatbed units. All of the units were designed to accept standard shipping container modules, secured with standard ISO
twistlock A twistlock or twist lock, together with matching corner castings, as defined in norms including ISO 1161:1984, form a standardized (rotating) connector system, for connecting and securing intermodal, and predominantly ISO-standard internatio ...
clamps, allowing modules to be transferred as needed. After the full train has arrived at the work site it is split into five sections. The sections follow each other along the length of wire to be replaced, each performing a step in the wiring renewal process, according to the modules it carries: # Old wire recovery #* MPV unit (short working platform), facing forwards #* Flatbed unit (old wire cable drums) # Catenary cleanup #* Flatbed unit (long working platform) #* Flatbed unit (long working platform) # New wire deployment and tensioning #* Flatbed unit (new wire cable drums) #* MPV unit (short working platform), facing backwards # Registration and alignment #* MPV unit (short working platform), facing forwards #* Flatbed (long working platform) # Measuring and recording #* MPV unit (recording/pantograph cabin; rotating working platform), facing backwards At the end of February 2003, a total of 650 wire lengths had been replaced by the two trains. Two conventional wiring trains would have taken over seven years, as the conventional trains would be limited to one single sixteen-hour engineering possession per week (only available at weekends). The cost of each of the two trains was £3.3 million.


Welsh freight trials

For a five-week period beginning in March 2005, trials were undertaken in Wales, transporting
timber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, w ...
from Aberystwyth to a wood-chip factory at Chirk. The daily service, arrived at Aberystwyth at 09:22, allowed approximately 2.5 hours for loading of the timber and then departed, loaded, at 11:50 as 6Z21. On the single-track Cambrian Line the freight service was timed to follow in the footsteps of a regular passenger service to avoid potentials for delay. The combined freight multiple unit (FMU) reversed in platform three at
Wrexham General railway station Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Cambrian Mountains, Welsh mountains and the lower River Dee, Wales, Dee Valley, ...
and continued to the Kronospan private siding at Chirk. The formation used the two halves of an MPV pair, sandwiched around seven open-sided air-braked timber (OTA) wagons. The MPV vehicles are normally designed to carry a combination of short
shipping containers A shipping container is a container with strength suitable to withstand shipment, storage, and handling. Shipping containers range from large reusable steel boxes used for intermodal shipments to the ubiquitous corrugated box design, corrugated b ...
, and for the trial, one specially built containerised timber carrying module was constructed for the trial at a cost of around £15,000 and mounted on MPV DR98919. For the trial, the other MPV vehicle (DR98916) carried a water-tank module for ballast. MPV units normally operate as pair consisting of a powered unit and an unpowered trailer; for the timber trials, both of the MPV units were powered versions. Additional mobile cab signalling equipment had to be carried. The trial had been scheduled to being on 3 March 2005. The first trip took place on 5 March 2005 and continued on weekdays until 1 April 2005. Loading at the Aberystwyth end was done with the train directly on the running line as no suitable terminal facilities were available and could be managed in as little as 90 minutes, with the use of three lorries delivering the timber supply. Out of the twenty-five scheduled journeys in the trial, nineteen were run, transporting a total of 2845 tonnes of timber (an average of 150–154 tonnes per trip). Loading capacity was reduced on the first journey by an imposed requirement by
Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...
to tow a
British Rail Class 37 The British Rail Class 37 is a diesel-electric locomotive. Also known as the English Electric Type 3, the class was ordered as part of the British Rail modernisation plan. They were numbered in two series, D6600–D6608 and D6700–D6999. Th ...
at the rear of the train as insurance up the thirteen-mile 1-in-47 incline at Talerddig.


Switches and Crossings video train

Double-ended single-unit MPV number DR98008 is used by the Network Rail Asset Information department as a track geometry and video train. In the Manchester area the unit is allowed to operate permissively throughout all station areas, replacing a large number of walked inspections.


Accidents and incidents

*On 3 December 2006, an MPV ran away following a collision with a tree. Similar to the later October 2017 incident, debris activated the brake release mechanism on the MPV, but was exacerbated by the operator failing to set the
hand brake In road vehicles, the parking brake, also known as a handbrake or emergency brake (e-brake), is a mechanism used to keep the vehicle securely motionless when parked. Parking brakes often consist of a cable connected to two wheel brakes, which i ...
before dismounting to inspect the MPV for damage. *On 22 March 2016, an MPV ran away on the
East Lancashire Railway East Lancashire Railway is a heritage railway line in North West England which runs between Heywood, Greater Manchester and Rawtenstall in Lancashire. There are intermediate stations at Bury Bolton Street, , Summerseat and Ramsbottom, with ...
and entered
Manchester Metrolink Manchester Metrolink (branded locally simply as Metrolink) is a tram/ light rail system in Greater Manchester, England. The network has 99 stops along of standard-gauge route, making it the most extensive light rail system in the United Ki ...
tracks, where it was derailed on
catch point Catch points and trap points are types of turnout which act as railway safety devices. Both work by guiding railway carriages and trucks from a dangerous route onto a separate, safer track. Catch points are used to derail vehicles which are ou ...
s. *On 17 October 2017, an MPV performing leaf removal duties near
Markinch Markinch (, (Scottish Gaelic: Marc Innis) is both a village and a parish in the heart of Fife, Scotland. According to an estimate taken in 2008, the village has a population of 2,420. The civil parish had a population of 16,530 (in 2011).Cens ...
, Fife collided with a tree across the line. The accident damaged the MPV's braking system, causing the train to run away for . Two crew sustained slight injuries jumping from the train. The
Rail Accident Investigation Branch The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) is a British government agency that independently investigates rail accidents in the United Kingdom and the Channel Tunnel in order to find a cause, not to lay blame. Created in 2005, it is required by ...
released their report into the incident on 11 January 2018. The RAIB determined that debris from the tree strike activated a brake release mechanism on the MPV. The debris also separated all three brake hoses, which prevented the driver from reactivating the brakes.


See also

* CargoSprinter *
M250 series The , branded "Super Rail Cargo", is a freight electric multiple unit (EMU) train type operated by Japan Freight Railway (JR Freight) in Japan. It entered service in 2004 with the objective of reducing emissions and carrying general freight for ...
(a Japanese freight EMU)


References


External links


On-Track Plant website

Photos of MPVs


{{Network Rail Departmental Multiple Unit Classes MPV Non-passenger multiple units British Rail Departmental Units Train-related introductions in 1999