It’s clean and ‘green’, and it’s playing a significant part in reducing the environmental impact of Central Trains’ fleet maintenance operations, as well as helping Central Trains’ passenger performance.

Resembling a giant car wash, the Central Maintrain underframe washer unit, based at Tyseley Depot in Birmingham, has cut the time taken to clean a three carriage train from three hours to just seven minutes, compared to equipment that was previously in use.

In turn, this has dramatically reduced the amount of water and detergent needed to clean trains as part of their essential maintenance schedule. The wash now consumes 600 litres of hot water, compared to the previous wash which required around 30,000 litres.

Nick Coad, National Express Group's Head of Environmental Strategy, said: “As a group of companies we are committed to looking at ways in which we can minimise our impact on the environment.  Water is the world’s most precious commodity and, at a time when it is in such short supply, initiatives such as this are essential. National Express is determined to lead the industry in seeking solutions to ensure public transport remains the most environmentally responsible way to travel.”

Use of the plant and its speedy operational cycle also brings benefits to Central Trains’ passengers, as it means train units can be quickly released back into service after undergoing maintenance at Tyseley Depot.

The £800,000 underframe cleaning plant, designed by Hyder Consulting (UK) Ltd, was declared winner of the Institution of Civil Engineers Innovation Award last year as “an outstanding example of a civil engineering project”. It is the first of its kind in the UK.

The underframe washer plant, which features four high pressure pumps and banks of static and rotary sprays to clean the underside of a train, is one of a number of ways that Tyseley and other Central Maintrain facilities have been reducing energy consumption. These include replacing Tyseley’s older lighting units situated on gantries, overlooking maintenance bays and along the sidings, with new energy efficient units to cut electricity consumption.

There are now 145 such lighting units in use – half as many as with the older, less efficient lamps and their bulbs.

Gary Stokes, Central Maintrain’s Fleet Manager, commented: “Cleaning the underside of our trains isn’t the most pleasant of jobs, but it is essential as without it the build-up of oil, brake dust and general detritus from the track could mean our trains would eventually grind to a halt.

“Our cleaning unit is the only one of its kind, uses much less water, gas, detergent and electricity than its predecessor and helps us continue to achieve a high standard of cleanliness of our trains, while being kind to the environment.”