Jarvis have just completed their final Rail Recovery Delivery Train.

There are three RRDT sets, and I am led to believe that each is comprised of 6 wagons. These wagons were converted from former Tiphook hooded vans at York OTPD, and are similar in appearance to the old Stumec trains which are still occasionally seen on the network. Compared to the stumecs though, they are a lot more advanced.

The wagons are numbered in the YXA-DR 92501 to 92518 range, but aren't in a fixed order.

The RRDT sets will be used throughout the country retreiving old CWR from the trackside. They also has the capability to deliver new CWR to locations which need it.

Original press release:

Jarvis Rail's Train Operations Division has just completed the third and final Rail Recovery Delivery Train (RRDT) under its new £12M, five-year contract with Railtrack.

The operational contract was signed on 7th December 2001 by Les Mosco, Railtrack's Director of Supply Chain Management and Martin Brazier of Jarvis Rail.

The contract will run for five years with a team of Jarvis Rail operators providing Railtrack's National Logistics Unit (NLU) with enhanced capacity for the retrieval of long strings of continuous welded rail from the infrastructure. Where required, the system can also deliver new rail in 300-foot lengths from any of NLU's three continuous welded rail depots.

The first train took just four weeks to build at Jarvis's Main Leeman Road Workshops at York. This punishing schedule also included both Vehicle Acceptance Body and EWS loading standards testing and approval – a remarkably fast turnaround by current standards. The final two trains took around six weeks to complete as they follow the more complex, overhead-line protected design with movable canopies to shield train-borne workers from shock hazard. The first train was delivered in September 2001, the last one will enter service this week (w/c 21 January).

Les Mosco said "Jarvis Rail has worked extremely hard to prepare these train units. The service provided will be invaluable in recovering old rail from the network. Since the Hatfield accident in excess of two and a half million yards of new rail has been installed on the infrastructure and much of the old rail still needs to be recovered. The new system designed by Jarvis Plant engineers will enable us to undertake this task safely and efficiently."

In design, the train is superficially similar to traditional 'Stumec' trains with their independent petrol driven hoists, generally limited load length, 0.75 tonne cranes and poor and inconsistent OLE protection.

By contrast, the RRDTs can all handle loads up to 300 feet in length and are serviced by eight electric 1.25 tonne cranes which are controlled in unison from a single remote control unit. This control system gives the system much greater flexibility, it is safer because (with five operators) it requires just half the crew of the traditional design, and it remains workable even if one crane fails. This final feature is a significant advance over the Stumec design where a crane failing, or even just running out of petrol can render the system useless, potentially threatening a whole possession.

The RRDT can pick up and drop to the cess, six-foot or ten-foot and, with its OLE protection, does not require costly isolations to work effectively.

These new Jarvis trains will give Railtrack the additional capacity to really attack the backlog of old rail currently littering the network. Working flat out, Jarvis Rail can use each of the three trains to recover over ten miles of old rail every week. While the RRDT trains have been designed specifically to work with rail; their lifting capacity coupled with the generous load height and length they can accommodate, means that they are also ideal for most substantial engineering components required on or near the line. The RRDT could also be used to deliver other large loads such as catenary stantions, telecommunications masts, bridge elements and gantries subject to approval.