In a drive to improve efficiency, publicly owned train operators Northern, London North Eastern Railway (LNER), and TransPennine Express are coordinating their maintenance plans.

The coordinated maintenance is being carried out at Heaton TrainCare Centre in Northumberland, on the outskirts of Newcastle.

Northern is the depot facilities manager for the site, but the other operators also use the depot to maintain their fleets.

Engineering teams from the three operators had previously scheduled their work independently of each other.

That occasionally caused problems with capacity issues and bottlenecks at the depot as each operator attempted to park its rolling stock and move it in and out of the depot.

The three operators are publicly owned as a Department for Transport (DfT) Operator (DFTO). They now collaborate on a single plan to make maximum use of the capacity, engineering facilities, and movements at the depot. The problem becomes worse when timetables change, as established plans need to be rewritten.

Garry Roseby, Heaton TrainCare Centre manager, commented that working together in this way will enable all DFTO operators to pool their resources more effectively and share learning and experiences across teams to create a more efficient TrainCare Centre.

The success shown by a coordinated approach at Heaton will now be implemented at other depots managed by other operators, with the next depot planned to be Neville Hill at Leeds in West Yorkshire, an engineering base for LNER and Northern.

Further cooperation between operators is an agreement by Northern, East Midlands Railway, and TransPennine Express, to allow passengers to travel on other operators’ train service during times of disruption.

As well as servicing its trains at Heaton, TransPennine Express trains are serviced by maintenance depots at Manchester and Glasgow.

“Congestion at major depots has been a problem for many years, with different train operators developing maintenance timetables in isolation to suit their own business requirements – despite the fact these are shared facilities with operational limitations. Being part of DFTO has enabled Northern, along with LNER and TransPennine Express, to work together to deliver a safe and workable plan that meets operator’s engineering requirements whilst simultaneously maximising the depot’s capacity, which is particularly important at timetable change moments when fleet maintenance routines are in flux.”

Tricia Williams, managing director of Northern