Articles: Siemens trains

[ozbob]

From the Melbourne Age click here!

Siemens trains the biggest cause of rail delays

Siemens trains the biggest cause of rail delays
REID SEXTON
January 31, 2010

MELBOURNE'S troubled Siemens trains are causing more delays on the rail network than any other issue, freedom of information documents reveal.

The $500 million fleet is creating havoc across the network, with the vehicles causing hours of delays and often forcing more than 100 services to run late each day.

The Sunday Age last week revealed seven of the trains had been impounded over safety fears after they overshot station platforms in recent weeks.

That number has since risen to at least eight, leaving commuters facing a train shortfall and cancellations across the network as thousands of children return to school this week.

Similar problems last year led to speed restrictions of 30 km/h being placed on Siemens trains at positions across the network before it was slightly scaled back several weeks later to apply where level crossings are within 100 metres of a station end.

At the time, two drivers wrote separately to then operators Connex warning that its refusal to withdraw the trains was putting passenger lives at risk.

New documents obtained under freedom of information laws show the restrictions caused more delays in their first six months than other major problems such as decaying infrastructure or passenger overcrowding.

From March to August the restrictions delayed more than 14,000 services by about 80,000 minutes. This is equivalent to 1335 hours or an average of about nine days a month that trains lost.

Metro spokeswoman Lanie Harris said the restrictions were in place because the ongoing problems with Siemens trains were a serious safety issue.

''Safety is the guiding principle and the Siemens speed restrictions will continue ... around the network until a solution is identified and implemented,'' she said.

Opposition transport spokesman Terry Mulder blamed the passenger delays on State Government mismanagement. ''This farce has been going on since 2003,'' he said.

Metro chief Andrew Lezala last week said the speed restrictions remained a crucial part of minimising the risk posed by Siemens trains.

He admitted the withdrawal of eight six-car trains from the fleet of 36, which make up just over 20 per cent of all trains on the network, would result in cancellations, but he said the problem could be solved by applying a sand-based gel from Britain to the tracks.

However, rail experts have criticised Mr Lezala's claim that Siemens trains were vulnerable to overshooting stations because of their relatively light weight, suggesting they weighed just fractionally less than other trains on the network.

''They are a very light train and when there's very low adhesion they're more susceptible to slides than the older trains ... it's an issue to do with the laws of physics,'' Mr Lezala claimed.

Figures provided by the Department of Transport show a six-car Siemens set weighs 241 tonnes, just 3.2 tonnes lighter than the X'Trapolis trains that were ordered at the same time and operate on the network.

This is equivalent to 45 adult passengers, or about a quarter of what one train carriage carries during a peak period.

Many Comeng trains on the network weigh about 250 tonnes, or are less than 4 per cent heavier than the Siemens trains.

RMIT public transport advocate Paul Mees said the claim was ''barking, shrieking nonsense and ... just an insult to people's intelligence. All the other models of trains can cope with our tracks.''

Melbourne's Siemens trains have been plagued with problems ''almost since day one'', according to one Metro source, with brake problems cited as a major factor when scores of them were withdrawn from the network in 2006 and 2007.

The trains eventually returned to the network after braking software was upgraded. The cause of the problems remain a mystery but sources say it is caused by ongoing issues with the braking software and the wheels being too smooth. Siemens says there is nothing wrong with its trains.

[Dean Quick]

More proof that cheaper rollingstock built overseas just doesn't compare with the more reliable and most importantly TRIED AND TESTED locally built units.

[ozbob]

From the Melbourne Age click here!

Five trains out after brake failures

Five trains out after brake failures
CLAY LUCAS
March 9, 2010

COMMUTERS face fresh delays this morning as operator Metro struggles to cope with yet another series of braking failures on the city's trains.

Five of the government's 36 Siemens trains have been pulled from service, after they failed to brake after the weekend's storms.

All the Siemens trains - many of which have had braking problems for seven years - are now not allowed to travel on the Frankston, Pakenham and Cranbourne lines.

A train driver said this could affect peak-hour services today, as controllers would have to rearrange some operating patterns.

Metro, today in its 100th day since taking over from Connex, has confirmed that on Saturday night and Sunday morning five city-bound trains failed to brake at Malvern railway station.

German manufacturer Siemens made all five trains.

Metro spokesman Chris Whitefield said the five trains had been taken out of service indefinitely.

Train drivers vowed last month to put a permanent ban on any Siemens trains that had a brake failure.

Rail Tram and Bus Union divisional president Terry Sheedy said drivers would not be driving the trains.

''There are five impounded and as far as I'm concerned they are staying there,'' he said. All had failed to brake previously, he said, and would do so again.

Metro chief executive Andrew Lezala last week told a parliamentary inquiry into Melbourne's rail system that the Siemens trains had ''very low adhesion''.

Stephen Moynihan, a government spokesman, said the brake failures had happened at the same place after extreme storms.

[ozbob]

From the Melbourne Age click here!

Metro, train test drivers headed for showdown

Metro, train test drivers headed for showdown
CLAY LUCAS
March 12, 2010 - 12:41PM

CLAY LUCAS

Metro and the train driver's division of the Rail, Tram and Bus Union are heading for another stoush before the national industrial tribunal.

The operator and the union will go to a conciliation hearing of Fair Work Australia at 1pm this afternoon, over an accusation by Metro that the union's members have acted unlawfully.

Earlier this week, Melbourne's rail operator threw open all positions on a working group that tests trains.

The working group would have been responsible for deciding if a number of Siemens trains that have had braking issues were ready to go back out on the tracks.

As a result of Metro's move, union members who worked on the testing group called in sick or made themselves unavailable.

This means it is difficult for Metro to get the eight Siemens trains that have been impounded back on the tracks.

The union is expected to argue before Fair Work Australia that it has done nothing wrong, and will likely ask for a deferrment of the case until Monday.

Train drivers argue that the Siemens trains are dangerous, and need work to make them safe. Metro and the government's independent safety auditor have repeatedly found the trains to be safe.

Siemens argues that the poor state of Melbourne's rail system causes the trains to malfunction.

[#Metro]

Toxic trains!
Just dump them from the Network!

These problems have been going on since 2007- three or four years ago.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/siemens-trains-fixed/2007/02/08/1170524233623.html

His comments came as Connex announced it had found the solution to the braking problems of its Siemens fleet.

Last November The Age revealed that 14 Siemens trains had been impounded after a spate of failures; at the peak of the crisis, 31 trains were withdrawn.

[/b]

The problem has been identified as two related issues. First, Siemens trains have a tendency to experience wheel slips when the train wheel has poor contact with the rail. Connex says it has addressed this by operating all Siemens trains as six-carriage sets, increasing the trains' weight causing more pressure and increasing grip on the rail.

The date of this article? 9 Feburary 2007

[#Metro]

Connex chairman Bob Annells said the braking problems, which led to almost half the Siemens fleet being impounded, had been caused by a combination of computer error and sliding wheels.

In some sections of the track the wheels were experiencing "low adhesion" with the rails, causing them to slip, Mr Annells said.

Compounding the problem, the highly automated trains' computers misread the situation, reducing the amount of braking available to the drivers.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/suspect-trains-back-on-track/2007/02/08/1170524213820.html
February 8th 2007

[ozbob]

From the Melbourne Age click here!

Metro: stopping at most stations

Metro: stopping at most stations
CLAY LUCAS
March 15, 2010

CONFIDENTIAL ''black box'' data from a train that overshot Hallam railway station in January shows it took a kilometre to stop from the moment the driver applied the brakes.

The train, travelling at 105km/h when the driver tried to slow down, should have halted in 537 metres using its ordinary brakes, according to the train's recognised capacity.

Using its emergency brakes, the six-carriage train should have taken just 380 metres to stop. Instead, it passed through Hallam station and came to a rest 130 metres past the platform.

No one was injured, because the boom gates at Hallam Road were down as the train entered the level crossing at 41km/h.

The overshoot was the worst of at least 16 such incidents involving Siemens trains this year. The train involved in each case was immediately withdrawn from service - leading to cancellations and delays because Metro has few spare trains.

Melbourne's 36 Siemens trains were made in Vienna and have had sporadic braking failures since their introduction to Melbourne in 2003.

An engine car involved in the Hallam incident is among eight trains now impounded by Metro, after its brakes failed again last week at Malvern station.

Siemens services the trains as part of a 15-year contract it signed with the government in 2000. Siemens executive Paul Bennett said it was not faulty brakes causing the problem, and ''degraded track conditions'' were the more likely cause.

The Siemens trains' brakes have a tendency to fail when the wheels have poor contact with the rail. All Siemens trains run as six-carriage sets, not three, in a bid to make them heavier, thereby increasing their grip on the rail.

A report produced by Metro last year before it took over from Connex warned the government that Melbourne's poor rail conditions ''have the potential to cause derailment of trains ... with catastrophic consequences''.

Mr Bennett said a range of factors, including potentially the poor standard of Melbourne's rail infrastructure and atmospheric conditions such as light rain and leaves on the tracks, were behind the braking problems.

He said tests on the train involved in the Hallam incident showed there had been no failure of its brakes.

The Siemens trains have sophisticated ''wheel slide protection'' equipment, which works much like an ABS system on a car, automatically releasing the brakes to arrest sliding wheels.

In the Hallam case, on Sunday, January 17, the train's experienced driver applied the brakes as he approached the station, travelling at 105km/h.

When the brakes failed to gain traction, the driver applied emergency brakes.

The 20-page data log from the train shows it travelled into Hallam station at 56km/h and was moving at 41km/h when it entered the level crossing on Hallam Road.

The train finally stopped 130 metres after the level crossing, with its final carriage sitting in the middle of the crossing - 996 metres after the brakes were applied.

An upper house inquiry into Melbourne's rail system has looked at the braking issues on Siemens trains.

Victorian Greens MP Greg Barber, who helped establish the inquiry, said the Siemens trains were not appropriate for Melbourne and should not have been bought. ''They are a lemon, and I want to know who authorised their purchase.''

[#Metro]

Mr Bennett said a range of factors, including potentially the poor standard of Melbourne's rail infrastructure and atmospheric conditions such as light rain and leaves on the tracks, were behind the braking problems.

Really? Leaves? Light rain?
What next? ants on the track will cause a derailment?
Other trains seem to have no problems- why only the Siemens trains?

The trains should be returned to the manufacturer for free.
No point throwing more and more money down a hole. Just get rid of them.

[Dean Quick]

I agree Tramtrain. Metro should send them back and not order any more!! There are obviously many serious issues to sort out. "Degraded track" is a pathetically lame excuse, laughable if it wasn't so serious. Buy Local-Buy Right!!