New Formula for Wembley
30 Jul 2009
Alstom has launched its new Pit Stop method of train maintenance at its West Coast Traincare Centre in Wembley. Formula One driver, Rubens Barrichello, helped launch the new fleet maintenance approach at the Brent site where Alstom maintains its fleet of Virgin Pendolinos.
Alstom built the fleet of 52 nine-coach Pendolino tilting trains and is contracted to deliver 47 trains for daily passenger service on the WCML. The fleet covers approximately 42,000 miles every day.
The new Pit Stop will concentrate resources and engineers before the trains arrive, reducing down time for the Pendolinos. The first Pendolino will normally enter the Pit Stop at nine at night. The components needed to service the set will already be in position on the blue squares, known as drop zones, located along the pit stop floor. Maintenance staff should not have to walk more than three carriage lengths to carry out a repair.
Examples of time savings are dramatic. Wheelset change has been reduced from 4 hours 35 minutes 2 hrs 10. Bogie actuator change is down from 4 hours 44 minutes to 2 hrs 52. Alstom uses its on-board telemetry, Traintracer, to analyse fault data from the train management systems during the day and send it via wireless communication to the maintenance teams for immediate action.
Teams also communicate directly with the train driver to establish corrective actions that may need to be taken while the train is still in service. The Pit Stop methodology also encompasses Alstom's APSYS production system.
Says Paul Robinson, managing director, Alstom Transport UK, ‘Downtime of the Pendolino trains for maintenance is at a premium with the clock ticking until they are back on the track. In adopting a Pit Stop regime, Alstom continues to enhance operations to help Virgin deliver a world class intercity service.'
Alstom plans to introduce Pit Stop maintenance at four other West Coast Traincare Centres in Liverpool, Glasgow, Wolverhampton and Manchester. Central to the pit stop approach is Kaizen, the Japanese philosophy of continuous improvement.