Slade Green Depot
October 9 2006
On Monday 9th October, ten Young Professionals made the journey to Slade Green Depot, on the edge of south-east London, hoping to get an insider’s view of one of London’s biggest maintenance depots, supporting one of Europe’s busiest commuter railways. Providing service to the railway since 1901, Slade Green was totally refurbished and renovated in 1991, to coincide with the introduction of the Class 465 and 466 Kent Link Networker fleet. It’s now run by Southeastern, the new franchise owned by the Govia consortium, and is home to the Class 465 (43 x 2-cars) and 466 (113 x 4-cars) Networkers, as well as new Class 376 Electrostars (36 x 5-cars).
We were met by Dave Ling, Metro Fleet Engineering Manager, who gave us the low-down on the history of the depot, the units and the staff who work there. It was fascinating to hear just how many vehicles (965 in total) are maintained and cleaned in a very short time span.
On our tour, Dave showed us the daily performance figures, drawing our attention to the “miles per casualty” figures, which he has stringent targets to meet as set by the DfT. We then went into the “war room” which was a mini-library giving the entire unit history of all the fleet at the depot; it is here that, every morning, the previous day’s performance and unit defects are discussed, and a plan to rectify any deficiencies updated.
As we made our way round the 8 road shed we witnessed staff working on an overhaul of a Class 465 unit, which required the total stripping out of the unit’s interior, including a re-paint of walls and griprails, and re-installation of carpets and new window panels. Completed units are also given a re-paint or vinyls, to replace their Network SouthEast livery, dating from the trains’ original introduction in the early 1990s, with Southeastern’s white, yellow and black livery.
Overall, a thoroughly enjoyable and interesting visit was had by all.
Written by Rowland Stepney.
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