Fleet of at least 15 but up to 30 Bi-Mode Locomotives for TransPennine Express (TPE) with an option for up to a further 5 additional Locomotives for use on the Great Western Railway (GWR) Sleeper Service

TPE specific requirements

The locomotives must be compatible with the existing, TPE-operated, CAF MKVa trains. For clarity, the locomotive must have the interface modifications installed to enable control of systems to support passenger service operation, e.g door control, passenger information system, automatic selective door operation (ASDO system). A detailed description of these systems will be provided during the tendering stage.

The MKVa rakes are nominally 5-car configuration (including a driver trailer to enable push-pull operation with 1 x Locomotive coupled at the non-DT end of the rake), giving a Total tare mass of 5 x vehicles = 161.11 Tonnes (172.04 Tonnes for VTAC calculation purposes), maximum ETS load of 300kW. The MkVa design also allows for an additional 2 x coaches to be homologated into the design, if the need arose, therefore, the locomotive should be able to operate with up to 7-cars at a total tare mass to 224.89 Tonnes (241 Tonnes for VTAC calculation purposes) and ETS load to 410kW. The Driver Trailer vehicle currently has control equipment fitted that is compatible to the Class 68.

For TPE, the supplier should provide a full maintenance provision (TSA type arrangement) and where possible work with TPE to minimise locomotive swaps by aligning maintenance with the Mk5a fleet. The Mk5a Maintenance is currently carried out by Alstom at Longsight Depot in Manchester.

GWR specific requirements

An option must also be provided to supply up to a further 5 locomotives for the existing GWR riviera sleeper service operated by Mk3's (up to 9 coaches at approx. 344 tonnes tare mass and ETS draw at 340kw).

The locomotive must be capable of operating on the Paddington to Penzance route with appropriate consideration of the gradients on the route (see section 'Main site or place of performance') including adequate brake retardation rates and systems to combat the adhesion issues on the route.

It is desired to make a step change improvement on communications between the locomotive and coaches, and it would be preferable for the locomotive to be able to interface with the coaches for dispatch and alarm indications.

For maintenance on GWR locomotives, a TSSSA agreement would be required with scheduled maintenance carried out by GWR's own staff at Longrock Depot, Penzance and Reading.