RAILROAD Development Corporation (RDC) has developed plans to take a Vivarail D-Train from Britain to the United States to demonstrate how the rebuilt former London Underground (LU) trains could provide a low-cost rolling stock option for new passenger services.
RDC is a major investor in Vivarail, a British company established in 2012 with the aim of rebuilding LU D78 stock vehicles into multiple units for use on main line railways. Vivarail obtained its first firm order for three two-car class 230 DMUs from West Midlands Trains earlier this month.
RDC chairman Mr Henry Posner III told IRJ the D-train could be used to provide “pop-up rail transit or commuter rail services” in urban areas where rail infrastructure exists but is currently either not used for passenger services or is underutilised.
Posner says that with the established US practise of temporal separation – running passenger trains during one period and freight trains at other times, the lightweight Vivarail trains could be used on existing freight lines in urban areas with relatively little infrastructure expenditure.
RDC has begun sales activity with “multiple cities” on both the east and west coasts of the United States and plans to take at least one D-Train adapted for North American operation to the USA. The diesel train will be remanufactured by Vivarail at its Long Marston facility in central England.
Posner believes there is an opportunity to change the approach of US cities to rail projects by demonstrating that they can be implemented at lower cost, therefore requiring less state and federal funding, especially at the early development stage.
I’m a bit sceptical about this, as it ignores the fact that D trains require high level platforms to be in place.
@SHLR
There are a number of lines in North American with high level platforms:
Commuter Rail
All high level platforms: Connecticut (most lines), Boston (most lines out of South Station), Denver, New Jersey.
Mix of high and low level platforms: Chicago’s Metra and South Shore lines, Montreal, NYC’s Metro North and Long Island Rail Road, Philadelphia’s SEPTA, Washington DC’s MARC Penn Line.
LRT
All high level platforms: Calgary, Edmonton, LA, Philadelphia’s Norristown line, St Louis, Toronto’s Scarborough RT (vehicles are about due to be replaced) and Union-Pearson Express.
Mix of high and low level platforms: Buffalo, Pittsburgh, San Francisco.
Given the general lack of funding for many US rail systems, an off the shelf vehicle could be a cost-effective solution. Of course, the high level platform heights above rail vary a bit across North America, and could be different from the UK standard.
@LBM: In New Jersey such high level platforms are not available in some parts, e.g. High Bridge, where the platform level is barely above that of the sleeper, nor the next half dozen stations towards town, some of which are little more than parking the train across a level crossing…. On this part of the line passengers tend to be restricted to a single carriage and special steps (which can be covered closer in) are used.
Furthermore lines which haven’t been used for passenger trains for decades might simply lack the platforms or have them is such bad state that they are simply unusable!
This is precisely the kind of territory the article implies the D-Train could be used, hence my doubts…