■ Substantial yaw damper arm mountings dwarf similar trains
■ Machined castings include bodyside stiffening
■ Alternative solutions reported on trial train
Hitachi’s solution to the various fatigue and corrosion cracking problems in the bogie bolster area of the 800 Series vehicles began test evaluation in January. My thanks to our alert reader for spotting the test train and taking photographs of the modifications.
When the cracking was first identified, No 802007 had been taken out of service for examination, including cutting out sections of the affected areas for metallurgical examination. It has now become the test set for the proposed solutions to the fatigue problems, with the most comprehensive strain gauging of the new structures I have seen on a rail vehicle in a long time.
Two vehicles have been fitted, a Driving Pantograph Trailer (DPT) and the adjacent Motor Composite (MC). Significantly, separate designs of modified interface structures are being tested at both ends of the driving car. Informed sources also hint that different solutions may be under evaluation, one set on each side of the vehicles.
To put the 800 Series modifications in context, I thought it would be useful to consider oth…
