The Endeavour railcar is a class of Diesel multiple unit

Diesel multiple unit

A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple unit train consisting of multiple carriages powered by one or more on-board diesel engines. They may also be referred to as a railcar or railmotor, depending on country.-Design:...

 operated by CityRail

CityRail

CityRail is an operating brand of RailCorp, a corporation owned by the state government of New South Wales, Australia. It is responsible for providing commuter rail services, and some coach services, in and around Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong, the three largest cities of New South Wales. It is...

 in New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. Built by Adtranz

Adtranz

ABB Daimler-Benz Transportation , commonly known under its brand Adtranz, was a multi-national rail transport equipment manufacturer with facilities concentrated in Europe and the USA....

, they were designed to replace some of the ageing 620 %26 720 railcars from 1994. The Endeavours were built in conjunction with the CountryLink Xplorer

CountryLink Xplorer

The Xplorer is a Diesel Multiple Unit train used on country passenger rail services in New South Wales, Australia. It is one of two types of passenger rollingstock used by CountryLink, the government owned operator of country trains . The Xplorer trains entered service in 1993, and are externally...

. This means the two types of trains are very similar, the basic design was adjusted to be suitable for relatively short journeys in the Endeavours and for long distance journeys in the Xplorers.

Features

There are two carriage types of the Endeavour, one having a wheelchair-accessible toilet (TE), and the other having luggage space and bicycles racks (LE). Both cars have driver compartments, like other DMUs in the Cityrail Fleet. All cars are air-conditioned.

Endeavours are designed to run as two car blocks (TE-LE). Two two car blocks can be coupled together to form 4 car sets for the peak period (TE-LE-LE-TE). There were 15 TE and 15 LE carriages built, although the 15th set was converted to Xplorer cars for the Broken Hill Service.

In service

Endeavours operate on three lines:

• Southern Highlands line: Campbelltown to Moss Vale, sometimes extending to Goulburn
  Goulburn railway station, New South Wales
  -Neighbouring stations:-References:...
  
   and Central
  Central railway station, Sydney
  Central Railway Station, the largest railway station in Australia, is at the southern end of the Sydney CBD. It services almost all the lines on the CityRail network, and is the major terminus for interurban and interstate rail services...
  
  .
• South Coast line: Nowra to Kiama, sometimes proceeding to Dapto and Wollongong.
• Hunter line: Newcastle to Maitland and Telarah, with some services extending to Scone and Dungog.

Refurbishment

In 2009-2010, the Endeavour railcars, along with the Xplorer railcars were refurbished by Bombardier Transportation

Bombardier Transportation

Bombardier Transportation is the rail equipment division of the Canadian firm, Bombardier Inc. Bombardier Transportation is one of the world's largest companies in the rail-equipment manufacturing and servicing industry. Its headquarters are in Berlin, Germany....

 at their plant in Dandenong, Victoria

Dandenong, Victoria

Dandenong is a suburb and major urban centre in metropolitan Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 30 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Situated on Dandenong Creek and mostly flat land at the foothills of Mount Dandenong, it is the main administrative centre for the City of...

. The refurbishment includes:

• New reversible 3x2 seats, as found in the Hunter Railcars and H Sets. The seat covers are made of Woollen Moquette Farbric
  Moquette
  Moquette is type of fabric with a thick, dense pile. It is a particularly versatile and hard-wearing material, predominantly wool with a small percentage of polyester. Moquette is renowned for its attractive, hard-wearing, durable, and fire-resistant qualities, hence it is commonly used for...
  
   which is more durable and vandal proof.
• Vinyl flooring, replacing the original carpet flooring.
• Voiceovers to closing the doors.
• Improved air-conditioning system.
• Improved crew facilities.
• A new livery (Blue and Yellow front, black window band and underskirts, and yellow doors).

Conversions to Xplorers

There have been several conversions from Endeavour carriages to Xplorer carriages, due to shortages in Xplorer carriages. The similarities of the two trains allowed easy conversions to the Xplorer. Endeavour carriages LE 2865 and TE 2815 were converted Xplorer carriages EA 2508 and EC 2528. Endeavour carriage TE 2805 was temporarily converted to an Xplorer carriage between September and November 2007. The CityRail logos were removed and its skirts painted black, but it otherwise retained its livery. It also retained its carriage number.

See also

The VLocity DMUs operating under V/Line

V/Line

V/Line is a not for profit regional passenger train and coach service in Victoria, Australia. It was created after the split-up of VicRail in 1983. V/Line is owned by the V/Line Corporation which is a Victorian State Government statutory authority...

are an evolution of the Endeavour/Xplorer structural design.

External links

• CityRail
• endeavour technical drawings and specifications