The fleet of Multi Purpose Vehicles has, as the name suggests, a number of roles on the British railway network. A key role being rail cleaning and weed killing. The vehicles were bought by Railtrack to allow the withdrawal of a variety of ex-revenue earning vehicles performing these roles [1] and are based off Windhoff's Cargosprinter unit.
DR98904 RHTT duties through Huyton
Information
Number built:
32
Built:
1999-
Builder:
Windhoff
Motor:
2 Railpac diesels
Power:
710 hp (530 kW)
Wheel arrangement:
Bo-Bo
MPVs usually operate in pairs, one of the units being unpowered. Most of the vehicle (apart from the cab) is a flat bed - the engine, transmission and other machinery being under the floor in the manner of a DMU. This allows for equipment modules or pods to be installed as per the duty required, such as tanks for rail head cleaning (RHTT) duties.
The Windhoff Overhead Line MPV is a specialised version of the Multiple Purpose Vehicle (MPV) used for a number of duties by Network Rail and derived from Windhoff's Cargosprinter platform. As the name suggests the Overhead Line MPV is used to maintain overhead lines on electrified routes.
DR 98009 heads through Stafford
Information
Number built:
16
Built:
1999-2000
Builder:
Windhoff
Motor:
2 Railpac diesels with hydrostatic drive
Power:
710 hp (530 kW)
Wheel arrangement:
Bo-Bo
The trains were ordered in 1999 for renewing equipment on the West Coast Main Line. The single cabbed MPVs usually operate in pairs with different equipment carried in between depending on the job. A formation can consist of five sub-trains with existing wire removed, replaced and checked by the different parts of the train. The MPVs are fitted with hydrostatic drive to allow for slow speed control.
DR 98003 heads through Stafford at the head of a train
The fleet of Windhoff built Multiple Purpose Vehicles (MPVs) perform a wide variety of departmental duties for Network Rail and supporting companies. One specialist MPV is the High Definition Switches & Crossings Video Inspection Train (DR 98008) which originally was part of Network Rail's fleet of Overhead Line MPVs [1]. This is a double cab single car vehicle (most MPVs have cabs at one end only and operate in pairs).
DR 98008 at Manchester Piccadilly
Information
Number built:
1
Built:
(Modified) 2012
Builder:
Windhoff
Engine:
2 Railpac diesel engines
Power:
710 hp (530 kW)
It is used by Network Rail's Asset Information department with visual inspection equipment especially for switches and crossings (pointwork in other words). It has a version of the Plain Line Pattern Recognition (PLPR) system, which compares video footage of the track with a database of track fixings so broken fixings and irregularities can be detected [2], for switches and crossings. It is also fitted with a track geometry system.
