Turbostar

Turbostar
Class 170 in CrossCountry livery, westbound towards Leicester
In service 1998 – present
Manufacturer Adtranz / Bombardier Transportation
Built at Derby Litchurch Lane Works
Constructed 1998 – 2011
Number built 196 sets
Formation 2, 3 or 4 carriages per set
Capacity Varies depending on number of cars and seating configuration, see individual articles for details
Operator(s)
Specifications
Car length 23.62 m (77 ft 6 in)
Width 2.69 m (8 ft 10 in)
Height 3.77 m (12 ft 4 in)
Maximum speed 100 mph (160 km/h)
Weight Varies depending on number of cars and seating configuration, see individual articles for details
Prime mover(s) MTU 6R 183TD
Safety system(s) Various combinations of ATP, AWS, TPWS, Tripcock system
Coupling system BSI[1]/Dellner couplers (Class 171, see below)
Track gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge
These trains, like modern DMUs, have onboard station monitors

The Turbostar is a family of Diesel Multiple Units (DMUs) that was built by Adtranz and later Bombardier Transportation at Derby Litchurch Lane Works, England between 1998 and 2011. The Turbostar was the first new train type to be introduced after the privatisation of British Rail. The first units were ordered by Chiltern Railways in 1996 and were designated Class 168 (also known as Clubman). Since then the family has grown with the addition of the Class 170, Class 171, and the Class 172.

Description and technical details

The Clubman/Turbostar/Electrostar platform is a modular design, which shares the same basic design, bodyshell and core structure, and is optimised for speedy manufacture and easy maintenance. It consists of an underframe, which is created by seam-welding a number of aluminium alloy extrusions, upon which bodyside panels are mounted followed by a single piece roof, again made from extruded sections. The car ends (cabs) are made from glass-reinforced plastic and steel, and are huck-bolted onto the main car bodies. Underframe components are collected in ‘rafts’, which are bolted into slots on the underframe extrusion. The mostly aluminium alloy body gives light weight to help acceleration and energy efficiency.

Much of the design is derived from the Networker Turbo Class 165 and Class 166 trains built by British Rail Engineering Limited's Holgate Road carriage works. Notable features shared are the aluminium alloy frame and two-speed Voith T211r hydrodynamic transmission system. The diesel engine has changed to an MTU 6R 183TD. A cardan shaft links the output of the gearbox to ZF final drives (instead of Gmeinder in the Networkers) on the inner bogie of each vehicle. The engine and transmission are situated under the body; one bogie per car is powered, the other bogie unpowered.[2]

Turbostars have been acquired for use by several train operating companies, each with different specifications. One of the more noticeable differences with later units compared to earlier ones are the larger headlights now specified for safety reasons.

Units are numbered 168 xxx, 170 xxx, 171 xxx, or 172 xxx, where xxx is the serial number of the unit. Individual carriages are numbered 50xxx and 79xxx for driving motor cars, and 54xxx, 55xxx and 56xxx for centre cars.

Working in multiple

Class 172/3 at Birmingham Moor Street – the 172/2 and 172/3 sub classes are the only Turbostar types with end gangways

One factor which contributes to the popularity of the Turbostars is that Class 170 units are fully capable of working in multiple with older types from the Class 15x Sprinter and Class 16x Networker Turbo series of units as well as other units of the same class,[3] unlike all other types built since privatisation, giving them greater flexibility. However, there are issues with so-called "sandwich" formations, formed either as 170-15x-170 or 15x-170-15x, which causes problems with empty stock movements where up to four units of various types coupled together is common. A possible side effect of this is that Turbostars' performance is in line with the second generation 15x units, in fact being somewhat slower than a Class 150 or Class 156 on "short hop" workings, and slower than a Class 158 on longer distance workings unless there is enough 100 mph running to take advantage of the 10 mph higher top speed of the Class 170.

The Class 171 units are fitted with Dellner couplers rather than BSI (Bergische Stahl Industrie) couplers, which means that they can mechanically couple with Southern's Class 377 Electrostar EMUs for rescue purposes.

Variants

ClassImageOperatorIntroducedNumberCarriagesEnd gangways
168 "Clubman"Chiltern Railways1998193 or 4No
170 19981222 or 3No
171Southern2003162, or 4No
1722010392 or 3172/2 and
172/3[4]

References

  1. ↑ "System Data for Mechanical and Electrical Coupling of Rail Vehicles". Rail Safety and Standards Board. Archived from the original on 5 July 2008. Retrieved 2009-01-05.
  2. ↑ "TURBOSTAR - United Kingdom". Bombardier.com. Archived from the original on 13 June 2011. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
  3. ↑ "CLASS 170 'Turbostar'". Therailwaycentre.com. Retrieved 2010-05-22.
  4. ↑ "Class 172 Technical Data". Therailwaycentre.com. Retrieved 2010-05-22.

Further reading

  • West, Lee (7–20 October 1998). "'Turbostar' is ready to roll!". RAIL. No. 341. EMAP Apex Publications. pp. 22–25. ISSN 0953-4563. OCLC 49953699.
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