Making fleets more resilient to high temperatures
Porterbrook has been working alongside Knorr-Bremse Rail Systems and East Midlands Railway (EMR) to trial a new approach to managing the impact of high ambient temperatures on passenger comfort and train reliability.
Following the exceptionally high temperatures in the summer of 2022, Porterbrook decided to fund the development of new software that could be implemented on fleets, including those over 20 years old.
EMR agreed for the software to be trialled on their Class 170 Turbostar trains, and the three companies have worked collaboratively to develop the technology which has involved bench testing, factory acceptance tests, site tests and now the fleet trials.
The trial is running until the 28th June and EMR is asking passengers to give their feedback on how comfortable the temperature was on their train. If successful, the software will be rolled out more widely across the fleet for the duration of the summer.