Informed Sources
Cutting edge analysis of the issues which really matter
■ Reliability is with Hitachi’s big battalions
■ Open access service patterns minimise scope for failures
■ Improvement after promotion varies
When the New Train TIN-watch table first appeared in ‘Informed Sources’, the intention was that ‘promotion’would be secured by achieving a Miles per Technical Incident Moving Annual Average (MTIN MAA) of 25,000.
But after two fleets had achieved this – South Western Railway’s Siemens Class 707 and ScotRail’s Hitachi Class 385 – it gradually became clear these were the exceptions that proved the rule.
To thin out what was becoming the ‘table of shame’, the rule was changed. Promotion now depends on passing an MTIN MAA of 15,000, combined with at least two years in revenue earning service.
Why 15,000 MTIN MAA? That is generally reckoned to be the level of reliability at which ‘fleet’ ceases to be a significant factor in an operator’s performance.
Under this relaxed regime, 14 fleets have now left TIN-watch and, in advance of next month’s annual rolling stock reliability spectacular, I thought it would be interesting to see how their reliability growth continued.
Two recently-introduced fle…
