Refurbished London Tube trains are the solution to Greater Manchester’s problem of too few trains and over-crowded carriages, says the engineer transforming them so they could run on the region’s rail routes.

Adrian Shooter’s firm Vivarail is converting District Line stock into diesel trains and plans to lease the renovated ‘D-Trains’ to new operators.

The MEN took a tour of the workshop and a ride on the first prototype.

On a testing site in the Warickshire countryside - complete with its own circular track - we saw the carriages that could end up running on shorter routes like Manchester to Buxton, Leeds and Southport.

Critics say they are a safety risk and Manchester deserves better - but there is also a growing band of supporters.

Vivarail, run by former Chiltern Railways engineers, have enough old tube carriages to make 75 three-car diesel trains to help with the country’s severe lack of rolling stock. One Tube train has been currently refurbished. It will take around six months for each order to be fulfilled.

The carriages are dismantled, put back together and fitted with diesel engines.

Watch: The prototype train in action

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Alex Hynes, the managing director of Northern Rail, has already visited the site, after which he said he ‘had no doubt’ they would be successful.

His glowing review is not a commitment to lease the carriages - but Adrian is confident. He told the M.E.N: “There’s quite a good possibility these will arrive in Manchester in the next five years.

“You will have to ask Northern Rail what they think, but they were pretty impressed by what they saw. I think they are right for Manchester - but we only have enough to make 75 trains and they will soon be sold.”

Crucially, the D-train could be ready for roll-out next year - when the new operator rail franchises are due to start with a severe lack of trains.

Critics question their safety and the fact they are second-hand cast-offs - but some passenger groups have come round to the idea as a ‘stop-gap’.

These new supporters argue they could help to tackle the appalling overcrowding on our trains.

They could make up for the trains Manchester keeps losing to the south at the whim of franchising firms.

Adrian says their completion would come at the right time for Manchester after the ‘pausing’ of the Manchester to Leeds electrification.

He says they are perfectly placed to replace the 30-year-old Pacer trains currently operated by Northern Rail.

Adrian said: “Our trains are around half the price of a brand new train. But the cost is only part of the story.

“The train we are selling off is extremely good value for money and clearly the government is ultimately looking for the best possible value for money.

“But it doesn’t stop there - our starting point has always been from our experience of running trains ourselves for many years.

“That means we want those trains to be as good for the passengers as we can possibly make them.

“We’ve started off from the passengers’ point of view and made this into a train that’s very comfortable, that rides very smoothly, that’s quiet and that can have a variety of different seat layouts.

“They are trains designed to be suitable for the commuter of today and tomorrow rather than of yesterday.”

He added: “They’re high quality but it’s made affordable by reusing the main parts and it costs less to maintain. It will use a lot less fuel than existing trains because it’s more efficient and lighter, and it costs less to run. As a passenger, I’ve suffered uncomfortable journeys on old trains, which are equally uncomfortable for staff to work on.

“It was one of the factors that led me to create the D-Train. I knew we had to keep it simple to make it viable, which is why recycling the existing shells works so well.”

Watch: Interview with Vivarail's Adrian Shooter

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A DfT spokesperson said: “We have ambitious plans to transform the north’s rail network as we build a Northern Powerhouse.

“There is no government proposal to use old London Underground trains in the North. We are absolutely clear that we want modern, high-quality trains on the next Northern and Transpennine franchises, and we expect bidders to tell us how they will deliver this.”

A Northern Rail spokeswoman said: “The decision of which trains operate where on our network will be for the winners of the next Northern franchise and the Department for Transport to decide.

“The next franchise starts in April 2016 and includes requirements for significant investment in new rolling stock.”

The D-Train at a glance

At half the price of a new diesel train they will have a 15 to 20-year life span. All internal fittings would be replaced, the cab strengthened and configuration refreshed.

Adrian says they will be rented for £7,000 a month per car, as opposed to the £15,000 monthly price of a new diesel train.

They cost 40p a car in monthly maintenance per mile, as opposed to 60p for a new train, and they are more fuel efficient.

Vivarail have already carried out safety testing - crashing them at 23mph - and bosses say they passed with flying colours.

There will be racks between the seats for folding bikes and space for ipads. There will be USB sockets, and space for laptops.

The trains will use just the shells and bogies of the original Tube trains.

Adrian said: “Although the shells are 30 years old, they are aluminium with no corrosion - as good as new. The bogies are good too.”

Everything else, he said, would be thrown away and replaced - with new wiring, diesel engines and electric transmission.

“Manchester would be getting a train which is going to have much better facilities even than the new trains being bought for down south.

“I think the commuters who get these trains will be proud to have some of the best trains in the country.”

Watch: A train crash test

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How safe are the D-Trains?

Union bosses have slammed the idea over ‘serious safety issues’ with campaigners saying the carriages would be too uncomfortable for journeys of any length.

Mick Cash, RMT General Secretary, said: “In New York, they are dumping clapped-out subway trains in the sea. In Britain, they are threatening to dump them on the railways of the north.

“We now know that the pledges to replace the clapped-out Pacers have been exposed as nothing but hot air as the government strategy for rail across the north unravels before their eyes. They are also being forced to consider replacing one lash-up with another by press-ganging 30-year-old London Underground stock into service, which raise serious safety issues.”

But Adrian Shooter, who is leading the project, insists testing shows they are up to the task.

The trains are being put through their paces - with a 23mph crash test.

Having identified that the highest risk for these trains would be running into farm machinery at a level crossing in a rural area, they tried to

recreate that scenario.

Mr Shooter said: “We tested it according to European law in a standardised test and we were very pleased. It hardly dented it all.

“What we’ve able to do with that test is collaborate it to see what happens at different speeds with a simulation.”

The basic model - and the optional extras

The basic layout will be left much the same, with ‘heavy refurbishment’ - but operators will have the choice to ‘buy extras’ to make them more comfortable.

Bogies - or metal chassis - are kept the same. These were built in 2003. They are the right gauge because the District Line runs outside the Underground so it’s on different tracks. But the trains will get new engines and generators, as well as freshly-fitted electro-mechanical systems.

THE BASIC:

Four doorways on each side of the carriage, with a mixture of seating in both directions with lots of standing space.

New seat covers and floor coverings, new LED lighting and recoloured grab-poles will also be fitted.

There will also be inter-carriage gangways and wifi.

A Vivarail spokeswoman said although the seats would be original tube models, no route from Manchester was longer than sitting on the District line end-to-end.

OPTIONAL EXTRAS:

Operators can buy new seating with tables, get doorways cut down to two per side, choose to have toilets fitted, luggage and bicycle racks and a coffee bar.

A Vivarail spokeswoman said this meant trains could be configured differently for commuter lines, rural services and tourist routes.

Are they better than the Pacers?

Hugh Jaeger, a former Underground driver in the 1980s and now an independent rail commentator who has also tried out the new trains, says they are much better than the Pacer trains currently running on Greater Manchester routes and which are due to be phased out.

The Pacers were built at low cost at the end of the 1970s and early 80s at a time when British Rail was desperately short of money.

They needed something cheap to replace the old stock - and the Pacer model was based on the Leyland bus body, running on four wheels instead of the usual eight used for a railway carriage.

It means they are crude and ride roughly.

Hugh said: “The Underground carriages are, I admit, as old as the Pacer but they were built to a completely different and much higher specification for a very hard-working environment on the District Line in London.

“They have good suspension, the original bogies were replaced in the last eight to 10 years and they are nearly new. Electric trains are built to last 50 years so the fact they are 35 years old means they have 15 years of good life left in them so with new upholstery they will feel like a new train.”

What the passengers say

When the M.E.N first covered this story in February, passenger groups slammed the idea. But Chris Dale, chairman of passenger champions TravelWatch NorthWest, has now been to see the trains - and he’s intrigued.

He said: “It’s a very interesting project I must admit and the way things are at the moment, it’s probably one of the few ways we are going to get additional stock. If you order new trains now they aren’t going to be here for a couple of years or longer whereas these will be available next year.

“Northern Rail have got some lines that would be good. There’s going to be a deficit whatever happens and we’ve got to have new trains.

“Having sen the figures on overcrowding it’s obvious we need more trains and we need them very quickly. It think it’s a situation that shouldn’t have arisen but as these trains are there and if they can be used for short-term they will make a good stop-gap.

“We need something to release stock for the busier lines. I’ve been on these trains and they have got potential.

“We’ve got to wait and see what the internal fittings look like - but the design team does seem very professional.”

Rolling stock in danger of becoming a laughing stock

Rolling stock has been an ongoing bugbear for Manchester. Northern Rail has been receiving electric trains from the south while Thameslink gets 1,200 brand new carriages, paid for by the taxpayer.

Last month, it was revealed three key commuter routes from Manchester were to lose 17 electric trains to the London Midland line. Passenger groups have reacted with fury to the decision by train leasing firm Porterbrook NOT to offer them to bidders for the northern franchises.

The three-carriage Class 323 electric trains, due to be moved next April, are set to go from three Manchester Piccadilly routes. The move is the latest in a series of train reshuffles to hit Greater Manchester.

Earlier this year, the Porterbrook revealed plans to move nine trains from TransPennine’s Manchester-Stalybridge-Leeds route to Chiltern Railways. It meant transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin had to orchestrate a hasty reshuffle, speeding up plans to bring second-hand trains up from Thameslink - the London route due to get 1,200 brand new ‘lighter, more reliable and more energy efficient’ carriages paid for by the taxpayer.

The second-hand carriages are among 20 four-car electric trains coming to Northern Rail in the months up to February 2016.

The government has also promised 120 new carriages. The government is investing £1bn in the north of England, much of it to electrify the network and allow up to 700 extra trains to run a day.

Bidders to run the Northern and TransPennine franchises will have to add 200 new train services a day and accommodate 19,000 extra Manchester commuters in the morning peak.

Campaigners have been calling for years for the north to get new rolling stock, arguing the current trains are too small and not fit for purpose.

David Cameron has vowed to scrap the unpopular Pacers - and warned fares could increase.

The Northern franchise operates local, commuter and rural services and long-distance services linking major cities and towns such as Leeds, Sheffield, Nottingham, York, Manchester, Bradford, Preston and Blackpool.

The TransPeninne Express franchise provides longer-distance intercity-type services, connecting Newcastle, Leeds, Sheffield, Manchester, Hull, Liverpool, Edinburgh and Glasgow, as well as Manchester Airport.

Companies shortlisted to run the new franchises were announced in August. Competing for the Northern franchise are Arriva, Govia and Northern Rail, while on the shortlist for TPE are FirstGroup, Keolis/Go Ahead and Stagecoach.