How does him from the radio wandering round Germany herald good news for the region? Our rail technology correspondent Angus Young finds out.
You might know him from his days at BBC Radio Humberside or as a current presenter on Hull’s 107AM community radio station. So what was DJ Andy Comfort doing hanging about in Berlin recently?
A clue comes in his other line of work as features editor at RAIL magazine. “The simple answer is I was looking at trains as part of my job and, yes, it’s a long way to go to look at trains, but these are all new trains and new rail technology on show at Europe’s biggest public transport exhibition, InnoTrans,” Andy revealed. In other words, the trip was a train buff’s’ version of a busman’s holiday.
“InnoTrains is huge. It has an exhibition area of 200,000 square metres with over 3,000 exhibitors from 59 countries, including the UK; there are 42 halls and around two miles of outdoor tracks with 113 trains and vehicles on them,” he said.
As a self-confessed trainspotter, you can tell Andy loves his stats. However, there was also another special reason why he was there and it’s got a link to this neck of the woods. He explained: “One of those trains was the new London Underground Piccadilly line train due to enter service next year. Of the 94 new trains being built, 75 are being assembled at the Siemens Mobility factory in Goole, East Yorkshire.
“The order is supporting up to 1,000 jobs at the site, with another estimated 1,700 jobs in the local supply chain, so good news for East Yorkshire. What is special about these new tube trains – and it’s one of the reasons that they are late coming off the production line – is that they will be London’s first deep-level tube trains to have air-conditioning.
“When I say deep-level tubes, I mean the Bakerloo, Central, Jubilee, Northern, Piccadilly, Victoria and Waterloo and City lines. Because the tunnels are so narrow in diameter, there has never been any room to install air-conditioning on previous trains, but this is why the new trains are described as the most technologically advanced in the world.
“The designers made space for air-con by ‘floating’ some of the carriages between fewer wheel bogies – all clever stuff and happening in Goole. Transport for London is talking to Siemens Mobility about confirming an order for similar air-conditioned trains for the Bakerloo line, which should keep people in work at the Goole site.
“As for the new train, I had a walk through – because you can, from end to end. There are no doors between carriages, which makes it brighter, more spacious and safer. The seats are a bit hard but the train is a vast improvement overall with new digital information screens and, yes, you’ll be pleased to know – it is cooler.”
Cool from Goole? We like it. So if you’re down in London next year, head for the Piccadilly line and try one of the new trains from East Yorkshire yourself.