Vivarail D-Train to be tested in US cities

[DavidB-AU]

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.

 

https://www.railjournal.com/index.php/north-america/vivarail-d-train-to-be-tested-in-us-cities.html

 

(Not sure if LU stock meets American crashworthiness requirements. Maybe rebuild New York subway R46 stock?)

[PatB]

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.

 

https://www.railjournal.com/index.php/north-america/vivarail-d-train-to-be-tested-in-us-cities.html

 

(Not sure if LU stock meets American crashworthiness requirements. Maybe rebuild New York subway R46 stock?)

 

So are they offering a version with moulded on handrails and a Lima pancake motor?

[Glorious NSE]

(Not sure if LU stock meets American crashworthiness requirements. Maybe rebuild New York subway R46 stock?)

 

See the reference to 'temporal separation' - IE not to be used on a bit of railroad in use for anything else concurrently.

 

OC Transpo in Ottowa already uses that system with seemingly off the peg Alstom 'Lint' low floor DMUs - you don't need it to survive a head-on with an SD70 if you don't let them anywhere near each other!

 

From memory, their passenger network shuts down overnight, once the passenger trains are clear there is freight access to some customers online overnight, that needs to be clear of the railroad before the passenger network restarts.

 

A bigger issue might be floor height. You'll need to build high platforms for access - a fixed high platform will almost certainly foul the loading gauge of anything else, so it won't be easy to demo it in between other trains.

 

OTOH, leave it in London Underground livery and it might be a bit of a draw for novelty value if nothing else...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mike Kieran]

I hope nobody drowns while transporting it from the London Underground to NYC Subway.