Bedford Cauldwell Walk depot,Also referred to as Bedford Cauldwell depot, Bedford depot, Cauldwell depot.. also .. EMU depot, .. E.M.U.D, .. Traction Maintenance Depot (TMD) etc is an electric multiple unit maintenance depot located on the

Midland Main Line The Midland Main Line is a major railway line in England from London to Nottingham and Sheffield in the Midlands. It comprises the lines from London's St Pancras station via Leicester, Derby/Nottingham and Chesterfield in the East Midlands ...

in the Cauldwell district of Bedford. A four road maintenance depot opened in 2004 to service trains, and was extended to a fifth road in 2009.

Location

Bedford Caudwell depot is located in the Cauldwell area of Bedford, east of the

at Cauldwell walk, and south of

Bedford railway station Bedford railway station (formerly Bedford Midland Road and historically referred to on some signage as Bedford Midland) is the larger of two railway stations in the town of Bedford in Bedfordshire, England. It is on the Midland Main Line from ...

and the River Great Ouse. A rail connection with the MML is made south of the depot. The facility's shed code is BF.

History

The site has been historically undeveloped for housing or industrial buildings; from the during the second half of the 19th century a tramway (siding) running from the London to Bedford line accessed the site; the site remained occupied by rail sidings throughout the 20th century. In the early 2000s the construction of phase 2 of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link required a 25-week closure of the railway line between King's Cross and

Kentish Town Kentish Town is an area of northwest London, England in the London Borough of Camden, immediately north of Camden Town. Less than four miles north of central London, Kentish Town has good transport connections and is situated close to the open ...

; this blockade would prevent easy access of trains of the London-Bedford line to their traditional servicing facilities at

Selhurst depot Selhurst is an area in the London Borough of Croydon south-south-east of Charing Cross. Historically it lay in Surrey. The area is bounded to the west and south by Thornton Heath and Croydon and to the east and south by South Norwood and Woo ...

in south London. As a result,

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 ...

calculated it would be cost effective to construct a depot at Bedford to service the trains, and for future use, including as a depot for the

Thameslink Programme The Thameslink Programme, originally Thameslink 2000, was a £6billion project in south-east England to upgrade and expand the Thameslink rail network to provide new and longer trains between a wider range of stations to the north and to the ...

expansion. The sidings at Bedford station were to be retained for storing trains. Fitzpatrick contractors Ltd. was given a £11 million contract to build a four road train shed for the Class 319 EMUs, which in addition to the construction of the main train service and maintenance building included stabling for 22 four car trains, a train wash, and controlled emission toilet servicing. The main building was . The depot opened 3 November 2004. The initial allocation was 43 Class 319s. The Rail Engineer, April 2009, ''Most suitable site'' In 2006

First Capital Connect First Capital Connect (FCC) was a British train operating company, owned by FirstGroup, that operated the Thameslink and Great Northern sectors from April 2006 to September 2014 which later became the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern (T ...

(FCC) commenced operating the Thameslink franchise and the depot's maintenance allocation was increased to include all of FCC's 76 four car Class 319s. In 2009 the depot's allocation increased to 82 Class 319s. As part of the

another 4 class 319 trains were added, and the depot was extended to five roads for the addition of a further 23 four car Class 377 EMU trains to the depot's responsibilities.

VolkerFitzpatrick VolkerRail is a specialist railway infrastructure services company based in Doncaster, England, providing services across the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is wholly owned by Netherlands-based VolkerWessels, a multi-disciplinary construct ...

was awarded the main contract for the £2.2 million extension. The depot extension was opened in January 2009. The delivery of the class 377 trains was delayed by a year, and the initial Class 377/5 was returned to the manufacturer due to the number of faults found, resulting in a further delay to introduction of the fleet. In September 2019, with the cascade of new rolling stock having displaced all Class 319 trains from Thameslink services, the Depot ceased to be a maintenance Depot, although it continued to be used for cleaning and train presentation servicing. In 2021, Rolling Stock maintenance work restarted at the Depot, when Siemens, working on behalf of East Midlands Railway, began to use the depot to maintain its fleet of Class 360s, used on

London St Pancras St Pancras railway station (), also known as London St Pancras or St Pancras International and officially since 2007 as London St Pancras International, is a London station group, central London railway terminus on Euston Road in the London Bor ...

Corby Corby is a town in North Northamptonshire, England, located north-east of Northampton. From 1974 to 2021, the town served as the administrative headquarters of the Borough of Corby. At the 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 Census, the built-up ...

services. The maintenance is carried out by

Siemens Mobility Siemens Mobility GmbH is a separately-managed company of Siemens, arising from a corporate restructuring effective 1 August 2018. With its global headquarters in Munich, Siemens Mobility has four core business units: Mobility Management, dedi ...

, under a Train Services Agreement.

References

Notes

Sources

* * *{{citation, url = http://www.firstcapitalconnect.co.uk/about-us/media-centre/news/archive/2009/revamped-depot-ready-for-new-fleet-of-trains/, title = Revamped depot ready for new fleet of trains, date = 15 Jan 2009, work = www.firstcapitalconnect.co.uk, archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20101125111726/http://firstcapitalconnect.co.uk/about-us/media-centre/news/archive/2009/Revamped-depot-ready-for-new-fleet-of-trains/, archivedate = 25 November 2010, url-status = dead, ref = fcc2009, access-date = 11 November 2013 Railway depots in England Rail transport in Bedfordshire Buildings and structures in Bedford Transport in Bedford