On the afternoon of 15th October John Murphy, First Great Western’s Fleet Manager for London & Thames Valley welcomed 11 IRO South West & Wales Area members to the new Reading Train Care Depot. The depot, which Volker Fitzpatrick began constructing in November 2011, has been built to the west of Reading station to free up the depot’s previous location for new rail routes to increase rail transport capacity. Built with enhancements to allow for future stabling and servicing of electric trains, the new depot provides capacity for 147 vehicles. The £150M depot was officially opened by Patrick McLoughlin, Secretary of State for Transport on 18th July 2013.

The IRO delegates were given an overview of the new facility, that included the challenges of operating two sites simultaneously; workforce and maintenance migration and introduction of new facilities with minimal impact on service delivery and an overview of the L&TV Fleet and its operation. This was followed by a tour of the Train Care Depot including the Depot Control Office where all movements on the depot are controlled and the maintenance shed where First Great Western’s fleet of 165, 166 and 150/0 units are serviced and maintained.

The IRO would like to thank John Murphy and the First Great Western Team at the Reading Train Care Depot for facilitating this interesting and rare opportunity to experience the operation of a train maintenance facility.

15/10/2013 Reading
Train Care Depot