A Southeastern engineering team has dramatically reduced the time taken to maintain the key Class 465 Networker fleet by carrying out the job in-house.

Southeastern kept the heavy-duty C6 maintenance programme at its Slade Green depot in southeast London, which meant that it did not have to lose a train for up to three weeks while it was shunted to a depot hundreds of miles away then brought back, as would have happened had the work been contracted-out.

For over two years between 2021 and 2023, a bespoke team of engineers spent a week on each unit carrying out procedures involving couplings, brake control units, suspension, components, seals and hoses. During the overhaul, the following components were replaced:

• Levelling valves
• Parking brake check valves
• All valves on the brake frames
• Brake control unit
• Driver’s Safety Device (DSD) pedals
• AWS reset buttons
• Tightlock couplers
• Leading end draft gear
• Intermediate coupler assembly
• Main compressor
• Wheel Slide Protection (WSP) dump valves
• Cab and saloon door regulators
• Air hoses (compressor, intermediate, sander)

The in-house approach for the fleet of 97 trains saved Southeastern money, ensured that trains spent less time out of service, and kept a tighter grip on quality control while forging strong links with parts suppliers. The team of ten completed the work ahead of schedule.

In January 2021, when Southeastern decided to prolong the life of the Networkers, the Slade Green shed had already been set up for mileage-based C4 maintenance. This meant that the C6 work had to be undertaken on traditional maintenance roads.

With no pit to work from, colleagues had to adopt new procedures to split and join coaches, while undergoing fresh risk assessment.

The Class 465 (465/0 and 465/1) fleet was built by British Rail Engineering Limited between 1991 and 1994, and is now owned by Eversholt.

The C6 overhaul project for these 97 trains at Slade Green depot, completed between 22 January 2021, and 23 March 2023, showcased a significant milestone in efficient planning, resource management, and innovation in maintenance processes.

It was the first in-house C6 overhaul project for Slade Green, and involved a comprehensive time-based maintenance programme, which is carried out every ten-and-a-half years. It aims to ensure optimal performance and reliability of the units by replacing crucial components before they begin to fail at an increased rate.

To optimise the overhaul process, the team at Slade Green in partnership with Eversholt Rail made several strategic decisions, including:

• Not sending the units to another depot for maintenance, which would have required using translator vehicles and negotiating routes, incurring additional costs and extending downtime for each unit to approximately three weeks. By performing the overhaul in-house, the downtime for each unit was significantly reduced to just 5-6 days, resulting in substantial cost savings and improved operational efficiency.
• Avoiding using the lift roads for the overhaul work. This choice helped prevent dedicating one of the two lift roads to the C6 overhaul for nearly two years, impacting other work and potentially causing delays to day-to-day operations at the depot. The team at Slade Green instead devised an innovative solution: manufacturing specialist lifting tables and cradles that allowed them to carry out the overhaul tasks without using the lift roads, ensuring that regular operations and other work streams at the depot continued without disruption.

Nick Hancock, Depot Manager for Southeastern at Slade Green, said: “These trains are around 30 years old, and a lot of the technology, including electrical circuitry, isn’t around anymore, which means that there is some obsolescence. It’s a bit like running a vintage car for 400 miles every day and expecting its reliability to be what it was when it was new.

“Year-on-year, they’ve improved reliability or maintained the status quo when compared with similar fleets across the UK. It’s testament to everyone who works in the Metro team. It’s one of the older fleets in the UK, but out-performs units 10-15 years younger.

“Though we were streamlined anyway, this was innovative. We had to change our working practices from the way it had been done since 2013. The majority of those working on the project were ex-contractors who had taken on full-time positions, with many years’ experience using traditional methods of overhaul. The shunting team supported. We’ve maintained quality in-house.”

“This new approach has proved quicker, more reliable, and ultimately a better product for the customer – maintaining safe and reliable operation of these trains for years to come”.

C6 Programme Lead, Production Manager Steve Lloyd added: “We were fortunate in that we had recently completed the C4 overhaul programme at Slade Green, along with a significant modification package on our Metro Fleets. We were able to use what we learned and apply these to C6. This helped us to develop new ways of working and improved communications, as well as formation of a cross functional management team with individual areas of responsibility.”