Anyone know if there was a HCMT transfer Thursday night? Or if not when the next one is?

I didn't see it myself but Marcus Wong has very kindly answered your question by posting photos of the latest transfer on his Rail Gallery. B & T leading, pair of Ps ahead of the HCMT with container flats in between

HCMT E005 transfer

Neil

Thanks Neil, The seats look good

The delivery of these is going to have to pick up substantially to meet the PPP contract. Evolution are supposed to have 37 7 car units operational by August 2nd 2021, with all 65 delivered by July 2023. Somewhere I've seen it stated that the intention was delivery of 15 sets a year, which is not going to be met, at least this year. At this rate it will take 5 years to deliver all 65, meaning the last will enter service in 2025, two years late. Assembling and adding the middle three cars will then take more time. I don't have the details on contractual obligation for the intermediate cars but I assume that they would be contracted for delivery by 2025 so 10 car sets can be available when the Metro tunnel opens.
The time between assembly beginning on the first set and it going to Pakenham was about 5 months and it wasn't complete then. It would appear that the first one was sent to East Pakenham early, as a government PR stunt before the 2018 election. It obviously lacked seats and numbers; who knows what else was incomplete at the time. I wonder how many of the Downer workforce, from Newport, spent time out at Pakenham finishing it off when they should have been at Newport working on subsequent sets? The fact that it then took 6 months for the next set to be transferred implies a lot about the speed at which assembly is occurring.
Since then they've been transferred at roughly 5 week intervals with a much bigger gap between #3 and 4; i.e. 3/5, 20/6, 14/8 & 21/9. Based on this pattern #6 will head east late October, followed by #7 early December and then, probably, #8 and #9 in reasonably close succession late January. What happens after that is anyone's guess. From what I've seen, cars for #8 are at Newport and probably, by now, #9 and maybe #10. Deliveries of shells from China don't seem to be the constraint on completion as there appeared to be up to four sets of cars waiting for assembly before #4 was transferred. It appears to me that Downer need to pick up speed at their end if they're going to meet their obligations.
The refurbished Comengs are going to be in service a lot longer than expected at this rate, even if X'trapolis mk2 are ordered and delivered in the interim.

Neil

The delivery of these is going to have to pick up substantially to meet the PPP contract. Evolution are supposed to have 37 7 car units operational by August 2nd 2021, with all 65 delivered by July 2023. Somewhere I've seen it stated that the intention was delivery of 15 sets a year, which is not going to be met, at least this year. At this rate it will take 5 years to deliver all 65, meaning the last will enter service in 2025, two years late. Assembling and adding the middle three cars will then take more time. I don't have the details on contractual obligation for the intermediate cars but I assume that they would be contracted for delivery by 2025 so 10 car sets can be available when the Metro tunnel opens.
The time between assembly beginning on the first set and it going to Pakenham was about 5 months and it wasn't complete then. It would appear that the first one was sent to East Pakenham early, as a government PR stunt before the 2018 election. It obviously lacked seats and numbers; who knows what else was incomplete at the time. I wonder how many of the Downer workforce, from Newport, spent time out at Pakenham finishing it off when they should have been at Newport working on subsequent sets? The fact that it then took 6 months for the next set to be transferred implies a lot about the speed at which assembly is occurring.
Since then they've been transferred at roughly 5 week intervals with a much bigger gap between #3 and 4; i.e. 3/5, 20/6, 14/8 & 21/9. Based on this pattern #6 will head east late October, followed by #7 early December and then, probably, #8 and #9 in reasonably close succession late January. What happens after that is anyone's guess. From what I've seen, cars for #8 are at Newport and probably, by now, #9 and maybe #10. Deliveries of shells from China don't seem to be the constraint on completion as there appeared to be up to four sets of cars waiting for assembly before #4 was transferred. It appears to me that Downer need to pick up speed at their end if they're going to meet their obligations.
The refurbished Comengs are going to be in service a lot longer than expected at this rate, even if X'trapolis mk2 are ordered and delivered in the interim.

Neil

Good post, however the first transfer happened the week after the election iirc. A pretty useless stunt if your suspicions are true!

Tbh I can't see how Evolution are going to get anywhere near hitting any of the contractual milestones on time - they're too far off the pace already.

Tbh I can't see how Evolution are going to get anywhere near hitting any of the contractual milestones on time - they're too far off the pace already.

You're right about the timing; election 24/11, transfer 29/11, although Andrews was at Newport spruiking the new train before it was moved iirc

Neil

There's been a few rumours about that the first one is basically a botched job that won't see revenue service. No idea how true or not, but explains some of the delays.

There's been a few rumours about that the first one is basically a botched job that won't see revenue service. No idea how true or not, but explains some of the delays.

There are major electrical issues.

Further to my post about the delivery speed of these trains, Downer made a fool of me about the timing of the sixth unit! It went to East Pakenham in the early hours of this morning! SSR provided one of their S with a T up front and a pair of P's ahead of the HCMT. This one had the "emergency brake" available but, apparently, not the ECP brake so a rake of container flats once again shared the trip east.
That at least makes up for the two month gap between #3 and 4. If they can start to turn them out as rapidly as this then they may still make their contractual obligations. We'll just have to wait and see how long before the next one goes to Pakenham to get a feel for that.

If E001 is as electrically stuffed as has been suggested earlier in this thread what's the chance that CRRC and Downer turn out a 66th unit to make up for the stuff-up? However, if the (electrical) faults are limited to the Motors what chance is there that the trailers could be spliced in between a batch of new Motors or would they strip the duds back to a shell and have another go? Either way it's going to cost Downer as I don't thing CRRC would be willing to cop the blame for faulty assembly, if all they do is create the shells!

E006 transfer

Neil

Two HCMT's parked out in the wet today. A third did testing while a safety car followed closely behind.

Nobody has posted it here yet so I will. Apparently CRRC are going to be given an increase in how much they do before they ship the shells to us over here. Downer seems to be unable to install wiring in an effective or timely manner so the Chinese are going to do it for us.
Testing of the completed six is resulting in lots more faults being discovered that are taking longer to rectify than is good according to the article linked here: CRRC work

Neil

I've just seen a clip on Youtube that says that there is another HCMT transfer ex Newport this Thursday 24/10 (@Caulfield 1:38am & Oakleigh 1:48am) with an up direction run the following morning through Caulfield at 12:03am. What this up run is is not identified. Whether it is an actual test run of one under its own power or a transfer back to Newport for remedial work is not stated. It could be the SSR locos and wagons used in the previous nights transfer but a 24 hour layover at East Pakenham seems excessive IMHO.
There is certainly another train sitting in the siding they use for assembling sets for transfer from another clip with another trains worth in shipping plastic, a few others almost ready and what looks like two wrapped Tc (driving trailers) stored at the up end of Newport Workshops (lack of space at Downer's sidings?)

Neil

There was 3 of them outside today in the depot, one with ''test train'' on the desto.

Under the night sky, E002 went out for its first mainline venture to Pakenham. It did a max speed of 40kph and has an 'Xtrapolis' horn?

Any footage?

There's an image

I've just seen a clip on Youtube that says that there is another HCMT transfer ex Newport this Thursday 24/10

Neil

It's interesting how as more HCMT are transferred to East Pakenham the number of people who video/photograph the transfers has dropped off. #1 had everyone out and about, #2 and 3 had only slightly fewer, #4 & 5 declined noticeably and for #6 & 7 I've only seen photos from, the ever reliable, Marcus Wong.
What was interesting about this one was that there was only an SSR P & T leading with the BVDY and the HCMT. No flats or other wagons for braking which virtually indicates that the braking systems on these are now functional and accredited, which makes sense after #2 went for its recent jaunt on the main line.

E007

Neil

I've just seen a clip on Youtube that says that there is another HCMT transfer ex Newport this Thursday 24/10

Neil

It's interesting how as more HCMT are transferred to East Pakenham the number of people who video/photograph the transfers has dropped off. #1 had everyone out and about, #2 and 3 had only slightly fewer, #4 & 5 declined noticeably and for #6 & 7 I've only seen photos from, the ever reliable, Marcus Wong.
What was interesting about this one was that there was only an SSR P & T leading with the BVDY and the HCMT. No flats or other wagons for braking which virtually indicates that the braking systems on these are now functional and accredited, which makes sense after #2 went for its recent jaunt on the main line.

E007

Neil

The transfers are being done at like 1am on weekdays.

Even gunzels gotta sleep.

The transfers are being done at like 1am on weekdays.

Even gunzels gotta sleep.

What? Can't miss their beauty sleep once every 3 to 5 weeks?

Neil

Its moving in the yard.



edit:
And on the mainline.

Since Sunday, there has been extensive mainline testing undergoing for the HCMT. Between Pakenham East and Berwick at this moment. This included High Speed, Slow Speed, Acceleration and Braking tests. They are trying to get 10,000km on each unit which will all contribute to the total 50,000km accreditation.  

The HCMT sounds like it has Bombardier MITRAC IGBT-inverter, sounds identical to London Undergrounds S7/8 stock, DB BR442 'Talent 2'.

Went digging and found a Video of the HCMT 9002 on test, albeit not the best quality video



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3eA1ORETbw

And train #8 has transferred to East Pakenham behind two P class as of last night.
HCMT #8

Neil

Does any one know how 9002’s testing is progressing and when we might see it in service. Also have any other units begin testing yet.

Are these considered a high capacity train by virtue of the number of carriages? Because from what I can tell, they look like standard 27 metre carriages with reduced seating.

Don't tell anybody - it's a surprise.

They have a higher seated capacity (502, current leader is XTrap 432) and a higher crush load (1800, current leader Siemens 1728 – although crush is a LOT less fun with 2 doors/side) than anything on the network.

And, of course, they are capable of extension to 10 cars.

That said, High Capacity is a stupid name, only outclassed by Next Generation in Queensland.