Major milestone for overhaul of bogies belonging to AWC's Pendolino fleet

On 12 September 2024, the biggest overhaul of bogies belonging to the Class 390 fleet has reached a major milestone, when the first part of the work to overhaul 1,148 bogies across Avanti West Coast’s Pendolino fleet has been completed by Alstom. All 35 eleven-car Pendolinos have had their sets of 22 bogies examined and reconditioned to give them a new lease of life after clocking up over 750,000 miles – the equivalent distance of travelling to the moon three times.

In just one year, 770 bogies have been revamped by Alstom’s facility in Crewe – a centre of excellence for component repair and overhaul. Each week the bogies and traction motors are transported by road to Crewe, where they are disassembled, and their subcomponents refurbished to like-new condition. The bogie frames are separated from the wheelsets and washed to remove excess dirt and oil, then stripped into component parts that are reconditioned before being painted and reassembled. 

It is part of a wider programme of work on the Pendolinos – known as a heavy overhaul, which each week sees component parts including, pantographs, train control and information systems, batteries, and valves reconditioned or replaced. In one week, Alstom’s teams in Crewe and Manchester will replace 24,456 individual fixings and 9,511 parts, as well as repair 249 items. 

The heavy overhaul, which follows the award-winning 117 million GBP investment programme to refurbish the Alstom-built Pendolino trains, is designed to ensure the fleet continues to provide a reliable service. A team of 35 highly skilled workers employed full-time are dedicated to the project at Crewe – many of them have a family connection.

The latest phase of the project will see a set of 18 bogies belonging to the 21 nine-car Pendolinos transformed each week. Pendolino 390 002 is the latest nine-carriage train to undergo its bogie overhaul. After operating as the 10.42 London Euston to Manchester Piccadilly on Sunday 8 September it arrived at Alstom’s Manchester Traincare Centre at Longsight before its bogie sets were sent to Crewe less than 24 hours later.