Virgin Voyager
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British Rail Class 220 Voyager
A CrossCountry Voyager at Birmingham New Street on 3 April 2008
Typical Standard Class interior of a Voyager coach
In service	2001—
Manufacturer	Bombardier Transportation
Family name	Voyager
Number built	34 trainsets
Number in service	34 trainsets
Formation	4 cars per trainset
Capacity	162 standard class, 26 first class
Operator	CrossCountry
Specifications
Width	2.73 m (8 ft 11 in)
Intercar connections	Flexible diaphragm (within unit only)
Maximum speed	125 mph (200 km/h)
Weight	185.6 t (182.7 LT/204.6 ST) per trainset
Traction system	DEMU
Engine	Cummins QSK19
Power output	3,000 hp (2,200 kW)
Transmission	Voith final drive
Gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8½ in) standard gauge
Braking system	Rheostatic plus friction discs and pads
Safety systems	AWS, TPWS

The Class 220 Voyager is a class of diesel-electric high-speed multiple-unit trains built by Bombardier Transportation for the British train operating company Virgin Trains, but are now operated by CrossCountry. They are air-conditioned throughout, with powered doors and a top speed of 125 mph (200 km/h). They were introduced to replace the thirty-year-old High Speed Train and Class 47 fleets. The trains were built between 2000 and 2001 and the first train entered service on 5 June 2001.^[1]

Technical details

Below are the technical details for the Class 220 Voyager.^[2]

Engine

All coaches are equipped with a Cummins QSK19 diesel engine of 750 hp (560 kW) at 1800rpm. This powers a generator which supplies current to two longitudinally-mounted traction motors each driving one axle per bogie via final drives and cardan shafts. A Class 220 Voyager has a maximum range of approximately 1,350 miles (2,170 km) between each refuelling.

Formation

There are 34 Class 220 Voyager trains; numbered 220001 to 220034. They provide 26 seats in first class and 162 seats in standard class. All vehicles are air-conditioned and fitted with at-seat audio entertainment systems and power sockets for laptop computers and mobile phone charging.

The formation of a four car Class 220 Voyager is as follows:

• Coach A - First Class and driving cab
• Coach C - Standard Class
• Coach D - Standard Class with Shop/Buffet counter
• Coach F - Standard Class (Quiet Zone) with driving cab and reservable space for four bikes

The first class coach has its front coupler cover painted yellow to aid identification as a train approaches a station, as the nature of the Cross-Country network means that trains often get turned around. All Voyagers are maintained at the Central Rivers depot near Burton-on-Trent.

The train interiors provide toilets for disabled people and storage facilities for bicycles.

Brakes

Voyagers make use of rheostatic brakes. This system brakes the train by using the motors of the train in reverse to generate electricity which is then dissipated as heat through resistors situated in a grid on the roof of each coach. This slows the train until, at a certain speed, the friction brakes blend in, since the rheostatic brake becomes less effective at lower speeds. This way the train is brought to a stand via a combination of the two systems. Using rheostatic brakes prolongs the life of the friction brake discs and pads. However, the rheostatic system has caused problems: the resistors are known to reach temperatures of up to 500 °C (932 °F). In one incident a small piece of wood from a tree had become lodged in these grids, which then started a fire on the roof of the train. This resulted in the train being evacuated at Cheltenham Spa.^{citation needed}. The rheostatic brake applications can also be heard as a whining noise at certain seats at the ends of the saloon.

Couplers

The Voyagers have Dellner couplers fitted which are the same type of couplers as the Class 390 Pendolino electric trains used by Virgin West Coast, and they can be coupled together in the event of a failure, although as the electrical systems are not compatible they are not coupled in normal service. The units are also capable of being pulled by Virgin's Thunderbirds, which are Class 57/3 locomotives used for rescue of failed trains that have been named after the eponymous TV series.

Similar trains

The principal differences between the Class 220 Voyager and otherwise very similar Class 221 SuperVoyager fleet are that the Class 221 SuperVoyager is designed to tilt when going around curves in order to allow higher speeds and that the Class 221 SuperVoyager usually consists of five coaches rather than the four coaches of a Class 220 Voyager.

The requirement to tilt means that the bogies are very different in appearance. On the Class 220 the axles are fitted with internal axlebox bearings and hence the outside face of the wheel is visible. The bogies of the Class 221 have outside axlebox bearings and the wheels are obscured from view by the bogie frames.

When operated by Virgin the two types had differently coloured Virgin 'shield' logos on the nose of the train to aid identification; the Class 220 Voyager had a silver background to the shields and the Class 221 SuperVoyager had red background.

The Class 222 Meridian/Pioneer trains operated by East Midlands Trains and First Hull Trains are also similar, but more closely related to the Class 221 SuperVoyager in that they are also designed to tilt. They have a revised front and are, according to Bombardier Transportation, '80% new train'.^{citation needed}

Operators

A Class 220 Virgin Voyager at Bristol

Virgin Trains

Virgin Trains were the sole operator of all Class 220 Voyager trains when they were introduced in 2001, but this changed when the new CrossCountry rail franchise began on 11 November 2007. Until 8 December 2007 the Voyager fleet was shared between Virgin Trains and CrossCountry. Virgin Trains no longer operate any Class 220 Voyagers. They still operate some Class 221 SuperVoyagers for their West Coast services.

CrossCountry

As the winner of the new Cross Country franchise, CrossCountry have now inherited all of the 34 Voyagers from Virgin CrossCountry. CrossCountry have the following plans regarding the Voyager trains.^[3]

• They wish to introduce more services on key routes.
• Although initially CrossCountry decided that the shops would be taken out of the train, they then decided not to because both of the extent of the structural work and the requirement to reinstate the shops prior to lease expiry, this led to complaints from Virgin trains who re-bid for the franchise, as each company put forward clear targets and ideas only for Arriva to change this once the franchise was secured. It has since been confirmed that the shops will be removed from all Voyagers and Super Voyagers by the middle of 2009.

Voyager names

Virgin Voyager 220003 Solent Voyager at Doncaster on 4 September 2007

Voyager arriving at Exeter St Davids in December 2007.

Virgin Trains named all the Class 220 Voyagers after places which they serve or companies which have relations with Virgin Trains. When the Class 220s were transferred to the new operator CrossCountry the names were removed.

This table shows the names which the Voyagers had under Virgin Trains operation. As of August 2008, all 34 Voyagers are in the CrossCountry Colours:^[4]

Problems

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Voyagers are about half the length of their predecessors (four or five cars compared to seven previously), proponents of the units counter by pointing to the increased frequencies at which the trains operate. Therefore overall capacity is said to be at least equal to, or in some cases greater than, the trains they replaced. However, some critics have noted that in areas where frequencies have not increased (such as at the extremes of the network, and where services are limited), or in areas where trains carry large amounts of commuter or holiday traffic, Voyagers do sometimes struggle to cope with these loadings. Even if frequencies are increased, commuters still all pick the same "key" commuter train, resulting in overcrowding on that service.

Many point out that the interior of the Voyager units suffer from much increased noise and vibration when compared to the non-powered Mark 2 and Mark 3 coaching stock they replaced, or compared to electric multiple units, due to the underfloor diesel engines. This might have had the effect of deterring a few passengers.

The profile of the bodyshells is designed to allow clearance for tilting (although the Class 220s do not tilt, they use the same shell as the Class 221), this reduces the interior space, particularly above the waist.

The electric interior doors close on a timer and do not have movement sensors to detect if a passenger happens to be walking through them or not. This often results on doors closing on passengers, unless the 'open' button is pressed again quickly.

Christopher Garnett, former Chief Exectutive of rival operator Great North Eastern Railway considered them "cheap and nasty".^[5]

The trains have also been criticised for providing less space for cycle carriage due to the lack of a guard's van, coinciding with increased demand for cycle space by passengers, the current solution being a stricter system of advance cycle reservations being imposed by CrossCountry.

Also, the "smelly toilet" condition in which smells from the toilets plagued the train, which was caused by superheated exhaust fumes passing near to the underframe toilet retention tanks, has apparently been fixed since.

Fleet details

References

See also

• CrossCountry
• Virgin Trains
• Class 221 SuperVoyager
• Class 222 Meridian/Pioneer
• Class 390 Pendolino

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

British Rail Class 220

• Angel Trains data sheet
• Virgin Trains web site
• Voyager tour and gallery (from Virgin Trains)
• Virgin Trains Voyager Seat Plans from V-Flyer, customer created site.
• Voyager and Super Voyager official web sites (from Bombardier)
• Class 220 pictures
• Testing the Class 220s