With 39 diagrams now in operation, we are running an incredible 500 Arterio services each weekday. That means that around a third of all the services on our network are operated by an Arterio.
In March, Waterloo welcomed a special guest, Blue Brick Girl, who boarded a uniquely wrapped Arterio train created to celebrate the 30th anniversary of LEGOLAND Windsor. Arterios are the train of choice for visitors to LEGOLAND and, as the roll-out continues at pace, there will be even more Arterio services heading that way in the future.
Matt Pocock, Arterio Programme Director said: “It’s well known that bringing in a fleet of new trains takes a business-wide effort, requiring collaboration and careful co-ordination across teams such as Central Rostering Office, Ops Training, Ops Standards, Drivers, Guards and station teams. Some of the less visible contributions that have helped us towards this significant milestone in the rollout include the train planning and engineering teams.”
Train planning
David Earley, who has been the Rolling Stock Introduction Planning Manager for the last three years is responsible for the timetable introduction plan for the Arterios. He explained: “Introducing the Arterios is a complex train planning challenge that involves prioritising the locations where their increased capacity is most needed, while carefully balancing this with the training of Drivers and Guards. We work closely with the Rostering, Fleet, and Operations and Safety Training Centre (OSTC) teams to ensure we produce a workable timetable that aligns with our train and traincrew availability. Once we’ve completed the ten-car roll out, we’ll be moving onto the introduction of the five-car units, which will require additional work.”
Engineering
Each Arterio in service will head to Wimbledon Traincare Depot for scheduled maintenance every 30,000 miles and for any faults in the interim. Wimbledon Production Manager, Oliver Jeffery said “The way we work at Wimbledon has changed dramatically over recent years as we’ve been phasing out our legacy fleet of 455s and 458s and replacing them with the new modern Arterios. Half the trains leaving the depot each morning are now Arterios and this proportion is set to increase as the roll out continues."
“With so much technology on board, the trains themselves are very different to work on for the team. It’s like switching from an analogue to a digital world to the point where the trains tell you what’s wrong with them! This has meant an extensive training programme for the maintenance team who have done a great job getting to grips with the new trains. All SWR colleagues at the depot are now working on Arterios, putting to good use the skills they’ve learned.”
