CityRail C set

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C Set
C Set 13 speeding past Bardwell Park station.
C Set 13 speeding past Bardwell Park station.

In service 1986 - present
Manufacturer A Goninan & Co.
Constructed 1986 - 1987
Number built 56 carriages, 14 sets
Formation 4, 6 and 8 car (2 4 car sets)
Capacity 104 + 115
Operator RailCorp as the product group CityRail
Lines served Inner West, Bankstown, East Hills and Airport, South & Cumberland
Specifications
Car length 20.385 metres
Width 3.036 meters
Height 4.368 meters
Weight 43 tonnes
Gauge 1435 mm (4 ft 8½ in)

The C set is a class of electric multiple unit operated by CityRail in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The C set carriages were built in 1986-87 by A Goninan & Co., and were ordered due to delays in the design work of the Tangara project. The carriage design is based on the K sets.

Contents

[edit] Delivery

The order was for 56 cars:

Motor Cars - C3581-C3608
Trailer Cars - T4247-T4274

These were split into 14 4-car trains.

[edit] Features

The C set is a stainless steel double deck train which operates on CityRail's suburban routes. These were the first suburban trains in the CityRail fleet to be fitted with chopper control, which gives the train smoother acceleration (and hence the "C" set designation). These trains were also the first to be fitted with fixed seating (originally with fabric material), glass partition vestibules, and door operation indicator boxes.

The C set is distinguished externally by a fibreglass moulding mounted on the front of the motor carriage. This fibreglass moulding was originally white with orange and red stripes on the lower portion, known as the candy livery of the State Rail Authority. Car C3596 was the only motor car to have its Candy stripes on its front repainted CityRail blue and yellow prior to its "Citydecker" refurbishment in 1998. The chopper cars are amongst the heaviest in the suburban fleet, with the motor cars weighing 52 tonnes.

[edit] In service

The chopper cars were originally known as the K sets and for a while when they entered service originally, they ran together with the earlier force-ventilated cars (then known as R set). This however caused problems as force ventilated cars were fitted with camshaft control and this caused some "jerking" while the train was accelerating.

When the CityRail fleet was reorganised in the 1980s, the R set designation was given to the older non air-conditioned six-car sets, while the force ventilated cars were given the K set designation. In turn, the chopper cars were remarshalled into six-car sets and was given the C set target. From 2001, the C sets were once again operating as 4 and 8 car sets. However, since late 2006, a 6 carriage C Set is in operation due to an incident which happened to two C Set cars.

As of October 2005, all C-Sets are operating on Sector 2 and maintained at Flemington maintenance centre (as indicated by the blue target plate), although some sets still carry the black target plate from when they were maintained at Hornsby Maintenance Centre.

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[edit] External links