V/Line VLocity

To honour a commitment made when it was awarded the V/Line franchise, National Express requested tenders in early 2000 for 29 two-carriage diesel multiple units. The order, which coincided with the Regional Fast Rail project then being undertaken by the state government, was awarded to Adtranz's Dandenong factory in mid-November with a value of A$410,000,000.[5][6][7][8] The contract was extended to 38 two-car units and an initial fifteen-year maintenance contract.[7][9] By the time the first was delivered, the V/Line franchise had reverted to the state government, while Adtranz had been taken over by Bombardier Transportation.[10][11]

The design was an evolution of the Xplorer/Endeavour railcars.[12] Although Bombardier originally intended to use the same body shell design as the Endeavour, difficulties with the aerodynamic drag characteristics of this shape for the intended 160 km/h (100 mph) operational speed of the VLocity led to a complete redesign of the train body.[13] Ultimately, the VLocity was designed concurrently with the B series being developed for Transperth as an electric multiple unit, resulting in a number of shared design elements.[14]

The original plan was for the 29 sets to be fitted with 2+3 seating, for a total capacity of 173 passengers per two-carriage set. However, in February 2003, that was changed to 144 seats in a 2+2 formation.[15]

In 2003, it was announced that the units would be built in Bombardier's Dandenong factory, with the bogies to be constructed at Bombardier's Derby Litchurch Lane Works in England, and the control system to be supplied by Bombardier's plant in Västerås, Sweden.[16] The first unit was completed in July 2004,[17] and testing began shortly after. The trains were tested at 160 km/h for the first time on 17 September, when Premier Steve Bracks joined a test run along a 30 km (19 mi) route from Warragul to Moe.[18]

Safety improvements were suggested at various stages in the development of the VLocity and, following the Waterfall accident in New South Wales, in which a train derailed when travelling too fast around a curve, and the Cairns Tilt Train derailment in Queensland, which occurred in similar circumstances, the State Government announced in December 2004 that the Train Protection & Warning System (TPWS) would be installed on Regional Fast Rail lines and the VLocity trains.[19] In August 2005, the State Government commissioned an investigation into the fitting of seat belts on the trains, although the concept was considered potentially expensive and technically challenging.[20]

Testing revealed noise levels were too high in the cabin,[21] delaying the introduction of the trains into service while the completed sets were modified.

Unrefurbished Interior of VLocity VL24

The VLocity was introduced into service on the Ballarat line on 22 December 2005, with Bracks and Transport Minister Peter Batchelor travelling on the inaugural service from Southern Cross station. An unveiling ceremony was held at Ballarat and the train returned as a regular service.[22][23] Services on the Geelong and Bendigo lines followed on 3 February 2006[24] and 24 February 2006[25] respectively. Services to Traralgon and Seymour were introduced in September 2006. A timetable allowing the VLocity to operate at its 160 km/h (99 mph) design speed was introduced on 3 September, despite allegations by the State Opposition of ongoing issues with the TPWS.[26] In addition, the Ararat and Echuca services are operated by VLocitys. From 2010, one Ballarat line service each day was extended to Maryborough.[27]

In 2005, the Vlocity received an Australian Design Award, the first rail vehicle to do so, as well as an accolade from Engineers Australia.[14]

On 10 November 2008, seven-carriage-long VLocity trains commenced regular operation on peak-hour Geelong line services. Previously, the longest trains were six carriages.[28]

Chart showing the number of VLocity carriages ordered and in service at the end of each financial year from 2001 to 2018.

After the initial order of 38 units, a further two VLocity units were later ordered to bring the total to 40, along with 22 new intermediate trailers to be inserted in the middle of existing VLocity sets. The first 14 were promised during the 2006 State Election,[29] and the order was placed in December the same year.[30] The order for the next eight was announced on 12 October 2007.[31]

In July 2008, the State Government ordered nine new three-car units, and an additional intermediate car to be inserted into an existing two-car unit,[27][32][33] with an extra four carriages added in February 2009.[34] The final unit of the order was delivered in September 2011.

With the availability of improved technologies for train control, from mid-2012, sets VL30, VL40 and VL50 were selected by Bombardier as test sets for equipment upgrades, in order to minimise the number of sets containing non-standard systems.[35]

In November 2012, the State Government announced an additional 40 carriages will be delivered between 2014 and 2016. The order comprised seven additional 3-car sets plus 19 intermediate cars to increase the remaining 2-car sets to 3-cars.[34][36][37][38]

In March 2014, the order for 40 carriages was increased to 43.[39] Further orders were placed for 21 carriages In May 2015 and 27 carriages in April 2016.[40][41] In December 2017, a further nine sets were ordered. Once all have been delivered, the fleet will comprise 88 3-car sets.[42][43] Of these, sets 76-79 will be of a modified configuration, with a single toilet per three-carriage set instead of two, improvements to CCTV, downrating of the engines to 650 hp each for fuel economy and altered standing and seating arrangements. Sets from 80 to 88 will revert to two toilets with modified seating and a different front to accommodate a safer driving cabin. As of 6 November 2020 units 80-88 have entered revenue service.

After jockey Michelle Payne won the 2015 Melbourne Cup horse race riding Prince of Penzance, becoming the first female jockey to win the race, set VL09 was named Michelle Payne in honour of her regional Victorian ancestry. The set was the first VLocity to be named and the first V/Line train to be named since the Sprinters in the late 20th century.[44]

In the 2018 Victorian state election campaign, the Andrews government promised that, if re-elected, it would place an order for 18 additional three-car VLocity sets to be delivered from 2021.[45]

In January 2016, V/Line removed approximately a quarter of VLocity units from service after identifying unusually high rates of wear to wheel flanges. Compared to a normal rate of 0.7–1.0 millimetre per month (0.028–0.039 in/month), Bombardier's service regime noted a maximum wear rate of 2.6 mm/month (0.10 in/month).[46] Although unusual wear patterns had been observed since December of the previous year across the V/Line fleet, V/Line CEO Theo Taifalos ordered the withdrawal of the most badly affected units for safety reasons.[47]

Meanwhile, on 15 January 2016 a VLocity set failed to activate boom gates at the Progress Street level crossing in Dandenong. This led Metro Trains to ban all sets from operating on suburban lines until the issue had been resolved. The combined restrictions on the VLocity fleet led to the daily cancellation of nearly 70 V/Line services from mid-January.[48]

By the beginning of March, Bombardier had increased its capacity to remachine affected wheels, and track identified as potentially contributing to the wheel wear situation had been reprofiled; as a consequence, VLocity units were gradually returned to service.[49]

In April, a report by the Institute of Railway Technology at Monash University identified tight curves and an inadequate track lubrication on the newly opened Regional Rail Link as the root cause of the increase in wheel wear, and suggested that the relatively stiff suspension of the VLocity was the reason it had been most severely affected.[50]

The New Generation Rollingstock ordered for Queensland Rail from Bombardier will be based on the VLocity design and the A-City Class 4000 EMU used by Adelaide Metro, which was itself based on the VLocity shell.[51]

A 2016 asset management report presented by V/Line noted that the VLocity would be unsuitable for higher passenger loads without a complete body redesign, and acknowledged that the operational performance of the VLocity was hampered by the inferior acceleration of V/Line's locomotive-hauled fleet.[52] The 2016–17 Victorian budget allocated funds for a project to redesign the VLocity for long-haul services, particularly those to Shepparton, Warrnambool and Albury/Wodonga.[53]

V/Line Next generation VLocity VL87 arriving in Traralgon

By late 2017, design work had begun on modifications to the interior for units VL76-VL79. Many of the changes were required for improved compliance with the Disability Discrimination Act. For the later order of VL80 and above, more significant alterations to the crash protection in the driver's cabin were introduced.[54]

In October 2018, the state government announced that a new interior layout would be introduced on units VL76-VL88 with 14 extra seats per three-carriage set, at the expense of removing a toilet and bike storage rack from each set.[55] Cycling lobby groups criticised the new layout, but the government argued that the sets would be restricted to short-distance routes where the additional capacity would be valuable.[56] The first of the updated type entered service in August 2019.

V/Line VLocity VL61 at North Shore in September 2017

In the lead up to the 2018 Victorian election, opposition leader Matthew Guy announced that his party, if elected to government, would order 16 6-car VLocity variants from Bombardier for dedicated long-distance operation, with catering and first class facilities.[57]

From May 2018, improvements to level crossing infrastructure saw test VLocity runs to Bairnsdale, ahead of an introduction to revenue service on the line later in the year.[58] At the same time, government representatives announced that the long-haul variant of the VLocity would include onboard refreshment facilities and improved seats.[59] A media event was held at Bairnsdale in July of that year, at which it was announced that 2 of 3 daily Bairnsdale trains would be taken over by VLocity sets.

V/Line expects to replace its entire locomotive-hauled fleet with VLocity units by 2022. As part of this process, Bombardier has investigated several concepts for the installation of catering facilities into trains for long-haul services. In May 2018, the Rail Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) announced that it had received confirmation that a buffet facility would be included in new intermediate carriages, added to existing sets to form 4-car trains for long-distance services.[60]

In April 2020, designs for standard gauge VLocity sets, to be used on the Albury line, were released by the Department of Transport.[61]

There are three car types in the VLocity class: the Driver Motor with Disabled Access cars, numbered 11xx and designated DM(D); the Driver Motor cars, numbered 12xx and designated DM; and the Trailer Motor cars, numbered 13xx and designated TM.[46] It is usual for the set of semi-permanently coupled cars to be described as VLxx where xx is the final two digits of the car designation – for example, the set 1150-1350-1250 would be described as VL50.[62]

Power is provided by a Cummins QSK 19R diesel engine (559 kW (750 hp)) in each car, attached on a separate underframe. The engine powers both axles on one bogie in each car, while the other bogie is unpowered.[63] The engine is supplemented by an 80 kW (110 hp) Cummins auxiliary power unit for lighting and air-conditioning purposes. The VLocity uses a Voith T312 hydraulic transmission system with dynamic braking capabilities.[7]

According to Cummins, as a result of that propulsion system the VLocity is the most reliable diesel railcar in the world, with a mean distance between failures (MDBF) of 150,000 km (93,000 mi).[64] V/Line reported a MDBF of 157,805 km (98,055 mi) in the 2016–17 financial year.[65][lower-alpha 3]

The primary suspension system of the VLocity is composed of a traction rod, with two elastomer bushes, linking the axle box and bogie frame.[63]

Among the design innovations in the VLocity units are the integration of the air-conditioning unit into the ceiling superstructure, and a structurally isolated crumple zone in the nose which can be entirely replaced with a new module following a crash.[13]

VLocity units use Scharfenberg couplers, enabling them to operate with other VLocity units.

VLocitys operate on the broad gauge, as with most other V/Line services. The bogies were manufactured by Bombardier's Derby Litchurch Lane Works, and are fully gauge-convertible to standard gauge.[16]

The units have a design life of 35 years.[23]

The driver's console for the VLocity is a dashboard mounted slightly below the one-piece front windscreen of the train. There are two seats in the driving cabin; the active driver's seat is positioned slightly to the left of the train's centre, with the second seat slightly behind.[66] The train is controlled by a combined throttle and brake lever, which has six power levels and the ability to vary the brake application. There is also an independent brake lever and a reverser handle in the driver's primary controls.[67]

The seating layout for the VLocity is 2+2, with a mix of club-style seats facing each other, and aircraft-style rows. The seats cannot be rotated to face any particular direction, and seat backs do not recline. Four wheelchair spaces are provided in each set through the provision of tip-up seats. The VLocity offers economy-class seating only, although the seat width is equivalent to first class seating on V/Line locomotive-hauled services.[68] In response to passenger feedback, the seatback angle in the intermediate carriages was made 2.5 degrees more upright than the original carriages.[69] New deliveries from July 2010 onwards (VL42 and above) featured a changed seatback angle and new seat fabrics.[70]

While VLocity carriages have tinted windows, they lack the curtains as provided by older V/Line rolling stock. Passengers may move freely between the two or three semi-permanently coupled vehicles in a set, but not between the sets themselves. Conductors move between coupled sets at station stops.

Tables were installed in one unit (VL28) for evaluation purposes, but were later removed. In three-car VLocity units, 32 seats in the intermediate carriage have fold-down tray tables,[71] much like the first class seats on locomotive-hauled services.

Overhead racks exist for small baggage, while larger baggage is stored in the middle of the unit, with some spaces large enough for surfboards and bicycles. In January 2008, passengers were banned from taking bicycles on VLocity trains during peak hours, despite the designated bike area,[72] with the ban repealed in February 2008.[73]

3 VLocitys in the original livery at Little River in November 2006

The original VLocity livery consisted of purple and green facings on a stainless steel car body.

In March 2008, newly built VLocity set VL41 was outshopped with an altered cab livery following recommendations in recent level crossing accident reports to make trains more visible to motorists. Portions of reflective yellow were added to the cabs, along with more reflective silver directly beneath the cab windscreen. All units were retrospectively treated.

In June 2010, newly built set VL42 was released in a new livery of crimson stripe at roof level replacing the purple, and red replacing the green, a red stripe along the car body below the windows, white doors, and yellow front. The set also received high-intensity discharge (HID) headlights which project light for up to 1 kilometre, modified windscreen wipers and cab windows.

In 2014, VL40 had a new Public Transport Victoria livery applied. All sets from VL52 were delivered in this livery.