REFURBISHMENT is an ugly word for British passenger train operators. Increasingly stringent disability access regulations mean that the costs of upgrading old passenger fleets are now much higher than ever before, and are becoming increasingly difficult to justify either on a financial or operational basis.

The trend, therefore, is to ‘refresh’ trains rather than refurbish them. It means that upgrades such as passenger information systems go by the wayside in favour of replacing existing items with newer equivalents. First Great Western (FGW) in particular is pushing the concept of a refresh as far as possible in order to offer a modern passenger environment.

Britain’s 200km/h diesel Intercity 125 (IC125) fleet began entering service more than 30 years ago, and still forms the backbone of the country’s non-electrified long-distance fleet. When introduced, the trains were a massive improvement on the locomotive-hauled coaches they replaced in terms of journey times and comfort. It’s no surprise they are now starting to look a little tired.

The biggest operator of the trains is FGW, which operates long-distance and local services from London Paddington station to the far west of England, and South Wales. Last year it won a 10-year franchise and a key commitment was to refurbish these trains to modern standards.

It needed to. At the start of last year, the trains had been refurbished twice since being built - but these overhauls tended to focus on the mechanical and electrical aspects of the trains rather than the interiors. The seats had always retained their awkward fixed armrests, and lighting and vehicle configuration remained the same as when they were built.

Despite the impressive ride and noise characteristics of the Mk 3 trailer coaches, the interiors were a long way behind current standards. It was with all of this in mind that FGW set about trying to update the interiors for what is likely to be the fleet’s final refurbishment before retirement in around 2015.

FGW’s focus last year was on resolving reliability issues with the IC125 power cars, of which the trains have one at each end. The result was a re-engineering programme that replaced Paxman Valenta engines with MTU series 4000s, offering significant increases in performance and efficiency, along with up to 60% fewer emissions.

This year, it’s the turn of the trailer coaches, and they are receiving the most radical refurbishment the IC125 fleet has ever received. The buffet cars are being reconfigured to make them more customer-friendly; lighting levels and general ambience are being improved throughout, and finally, the old seats are giving way to newer more comfortable replacements. It might be described officially as a refresh, but the changes are such that most railways in other countries would consider the programme as an extremely comprehensive refurbishment - so that’s how we’ll refer to it.

Bombardier won the £53 million contract to refurbish the 405 trailer coaches last year, and is now well underway with the programme. It also won an £85 million contract to undertake bogie overhauls on the fleet for the next 10 years. Work is being split between its site at Derby, which is refurbishing most of the first and second class coaches, and Ilford, which is dealing with the buffet cars and trailers Derby does not have the capacity for. At any one time, 59 coaches are out of traffic undergoing refurbishment; 42 at Derby, and 17 at Ilford.

It is the buffet cars that demand most work. The old style, where a counter ran along the centre of the coach, is being replaced with a new curved counter facing the vestibule of the second class coach most of its customers will come from. New catering modules aimed at creating a café or coffee shop type feel are being fitted, new power supplies for additional coolers installed, and new ceiling lights fitted. It’s a heavy workload which only hints at the complexity of the work. There are seven stages to the process:
• decommissioning - ensuring that the vehicle is ready for overhaul, including removing any rubbish
• stripping out internal components such as seats, panels and lighting
• corrosion repairs
• painting
• enabling work such as pipework, electrics and flooring
• installation of buffet modules, and saloon interior fit-out, and
• installation of seats, tables, and trims.

It very quickly became apparent that levels of corrosion varied according to whether the vehicles had come from store (FGW bought a number of IC125s made redundant by fleet replacement on the Virgin CrossCountry and West Coast franchises), or from service. Stored vehicles proved to be heavily corroded, while those from traffic had fewer problems, though the kitchen area has proved a challenge.

Another problem is due to the vehicles’ age. They were largely hand-built - there were no robots in the 1970s - and this means that the location of mounting points and equipment varies between each coach. Often it is by no more than a few millimetres, but the new seats and equipment are built to more exacting tolerances, and that means the engineers must be flexible and quick-witted to fit all the equipment in.

Corrosion on the buffet cars, particularly in the under-sink areas, has proved to be severe, and on some vehicles, structural and welding engineers have been brought in from Derby to advise on the best way of repairing this, as cutting away affected areas and inserting new metal poses a particular challenge on monocoque-bodied vehicles such as the Mk 3. In a bid to reduce the impact of further corrosion in this area, and to allow the vehicles to remain in service for 10 years or so, a new drip-tray has been designed and fitted: a measure which will make routine maintenance and service much easier.

While the most visually arresting stage in the process is unquestionably the final fitting stage, where seats and tables are fitted and new at-seat power supplies connected, it is installation of the buffet modules and counters that are the most difficult. Because space in the vehicles is very limited, Bombardier’s engineers have had to be particularly diligent in ensuring that the fitment of panels and lighting meets FGW’s specifications. Some of the ceiling panels have extremely close tolerances: a 2mm gap between them, and it takes around four men to manoeuvre the panels into the exact position. Stringent accessibility regulations meant that some of the original proposals couldn’t be carried through to the final design. Plans for a stylish stainless steel counter in the buffet car fell foul of rules for partially-sighted people, whom it was felt would find it difficult to see coins.

There is some debate within FGW about whether buffet cars should run on all IC125 services. Surveys concluded that on shorter-distance services, such as from London to Bristol (190km), just 10% of the 500 or so passengers at peak time made any use of the facility at all - meaning that a largely empty coach with at least one member of staff was being hauled for no benefit. A final decision is yet to be reached.

FGW has to decide whether the cost savings and performance gains of not running a buffet car on some services are outweighed by the benefits of having a standard fleet that can run on any diagram. Certainly, a buffet-less train running on the 488km from London to Penzance would cause hardship to passengers travelling on that length of journey, and the negative publicity that could result from a largely cynical local media can well be imagined.

A further task is to fit new disabled toilet modules to some coaches. This is a major project which is being finalised at the time of writing using toilet modules from Dubai. Extensive alterations to plumbing and electrics are needed, and two coaches are currently being used as installation test-beds to ensure the correct configuration.

One thing which isn’t changing is that all toilets continue to flush directly onto the track. This is mainly an engineering challenge because installing the necessary tanks in a Mk 3 would change the vehicle’s centre of gravity, demand many new facilities at depots, and might even require the vehicles to be re-certified. The cost would run into millions of pounds, and with the HST replacements expected to enter service around 2015, would be completely unjustifiable on vehicles with such a short lifespan. Funds have been found, however, to improve existing toilets, with better washing facilities, and more robust fittings. Often the Achilles heel of older trains, a sterling job has been done in making the most of very limited space.

When FGW announced that the seating of the coaches would change significantly, there were some raised eyebrows within the industry. Its plans for new leather seats in first class were generally well received, but those for stripping tables from the second class coaches and replacing them with many more airline-style seats met with a vitriolic response from some quarters. There were fears that passengers would be crammed in with little legroom and - with many fares across Britain rising above the rate of inflation - made to pay for the privilege.

The reality is quite different. After extensive research, FGW concluded that it could fit 30 more seats per set compared with around 470 in the existing design, and that many passengers preferred not to sit in a group of four with strangers. Careful attention was paid to the design of the seats which meant legroom was increased over the old design, and for passengers with laptop computers, the seatback table was given extendable arms to support them. Feedback from passengers has been remarkably positive. Because the new seats have high backs to meet modern crashworthiness standards, the result is that a pair of airline seats offers an extremely high degree of privacy, as well as being far more comfortable than their predecessors.

That the final result is worth it is beyond question. Challenged with translating a major rethink on the coaches’ interiors into a final product, Bombardier and FGW have delivered a spectacularly imaginative revamp of the IC125. Almost every aspect of the trains is better: the seating in second class is possibly the most comfortable on any long-distance fleet in Britain, and in first class is definitely so; the new light-coloured panels and improved lighting make the coaches feel vastly more airy and spacious; and the revised buffet cars are far more passenger - and staff - friendly. The only aspect that rankles is that from the entrance vestibule, the second class coaches do look very crowded: a divider halfway down would be a real improvement visually.

As Britain struggles to justify the sort of infrastructure upgrades that could make a real difference to capacity, the Department for Transport, which has tasked itself with specifying the IC125’s long-overdue replacement, should take a very close examination of FGW’s long-distance fleet.

More than 30 years after the IC125 entered service, Bombardier and FGW have raised the bar for what possibilities a considered and well-executed train upgrade can offer. This refurbishment returns IC125 to the top of Britain’s long-distance diesel fleet - and poses a major challenge for builders of its replacement to surpass.