£1.2m train carriage washer installed in Ilford

A new carriage washing machine has been installed at Greater Anglia’s Ilford depot and is set to bring a sparkle and shine for commuter trains near London.

The machine which cost £1.2m, can clean up to six of Greater Anglia’s new five carriage Alstom commuter trains an hour, which is a total of 40 in 24 hours.

When the trains leave the depot to begin passenger service, they travel through the wash at a maximum speed of 3mph which is just right for giving the carriages a good clean.

Detergent gets mixed with approximately 225 litres of water for each carriage that is washed.

The new machine comes as a replacement to an earlier model and is much more efficient using approximately 10% less water compared to its predecessor. Every wash gets logged electronically and records the exact number of litres used per train which easily alerts the team of any issues or leaks allowing them to be repaired quickly.

Taking just short of three months to fit, calibrate and test the new machine began working in September.

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Martin Moran, Greater Anglia’s Commercial, Customer Service and Train Presentation Director, said:

“We are very pleased to have a new train washer at Ilford.

“The new washers will improve the quality and standard of train washing, as well as helping to save up to 10% of the volume of water needed, compared to what was previously used.

“Our new trains look great and we want to keep them looking this way for years to come, which is why we are heavily investing in cleaning. We are currently in the process of replacing every single train in our fleet to make our customers’ journeys easier and more comfortable.

“I would like to thank everyone who was involved in this project.”

The new carriage washers have also been installed by Greater Anglia at Colchester, Clacton, Southend Victoria and Orient Way sidings and is part of a £4m initiative to improve train cleaning as the rail operator introduces its new trains.