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Rolling stock
Eurotunnel
awards new
refurbishment
contract
Kent supplier Dartford
Composits has seen its contract
with Eurotunnel renewed for
vehicle door replacement and
the provision of new seatback tables.
The doors of Eurotunnel’s AMC
vehicles – the passenger carriages of its
freight shuttles – are to be refurbished
and treated for corrosion, while 400
seatback tables are to be fitted to its Breda
vehicles. Aluminium exterior door skins
will be replaced by a fire retardant skin,
while the interior honeycomb is replaced
and corrosion protection applied. The
exterior skins will then be painted on
both sides prior to dispatch. Dartford
Composits will also design and produce
the new tables. The contract is worth
£125,000 in total.
Mark Silvester, managing director
of Dartford Composits, said: ‘The first
contract is now approaching completion,
with the second contract now in the
tooling stage prior to production.
Dartford Composites is a small company
that is determined to grow, through
providing cost-effective solutions to our
customers. We have a core team of 15 very
experienced laminators and spray painters
and have a considerable history in the rail
refurbishment and part supply.’
He added: ‘We have always had our
roots in the rail sector and, while we have
expanded our services to other areas, our
primary focus has and always will be the
rail industry.’
London sees record-breaking
success during the Games
During the highly successful
Olympic Games, London’s rail
transport network was breaking
a few records of its own. The
Underground carried over 60 million
passengers – more than at any previous
time in its 149-year history.
The Docklands Light Railway (DLR),
with vehicles provided by Bombardier,
carried over six million passengers, more
than twice as many people as in the same
period last year. On Friday August 3 the
DLR carried more than half a million
passengers for the first time in its history –
a 70 per cent increase on normal
daily levels.
Bombardier’s Olympic Project Team
worked for seven months leading up to
the Olympics to make sure it was fully
prepared for its role in supporting the
biggest peacetime logistical event in the
UK. Behind the scenes, Bombardier’s
maintenance teams and support functions
worked around the clock to solve problems
as they arose and ensure that more than
800 Bombardier trains on nine key routes
serving London were available to meet
increased demand during the Games.
London Overground, featuring new
Electrostar trains, carried more than six
million passengers, an increase of 47 per
cent compared to last year.
Steve Murphy, managing director
at London Overground Rail Operations
Ltd (Lorol), which operates London
Overground rail services on behalf of
Transport for London (TfL), said to
Bombardier: ‘Thank you for a job very well
done over the Olympics. Our 378s carried
more than 6.7 million passengers during
the Games on over 17,000 services and
delivered a PPM of more than 98 per cent.
In addition, your staff at all key locations
were unfailingly proactive and committed.
Let’s jointly deliver to the same standard
for the upcoming Paralympics.’
East Midlands Trains units travelled
2,000 additional miles per day during
the Olympics, while C2C fleets operated
approximately 1,750 additional miles on
weekdays and doubled their capacity at
weekends to 18,000 miles to meet customer
demand. London’s sub-surface railway
carried 10 to 15 per cent more passengers
during the Games.
Bombardier’s additional Olympic
support arrangements in the UK will
remain in place until the end of the
Paralympic Games on 9 September and
through the GB Olympic and Paralympic
Teams Parade through London on 10
September.
SEPTEMBER 2012 Page 55