Illford Railway Depot
Situated in the Illford District of Passau City is Perseus Rail's Illford Depot. This depot is owned and managed by Perseus Rail and is the largest in the country. Its primarily role is to maintain, clean and service the large custom-designed Bombardier Electrostar commuter train fleet. The depot is also utilised as a marshalling yard for trains when not in use.
The depot comprises a range of buildings and areas with specific purposes. The largest area is dedicated to train servicing and maintenance. The two large depot buildings are capable of accommodating eight 4-car trains simultaneously. Two of the eight maintenance tracks are designated for heavy maintenance (overhaul) and typical maintenance tasks such as repairs, bodywork and repainting. In addition it will be used for maintenance work on rail-borne wayside maintenance vehicles. The 30 ton overhead crane moves large sub-assemblies, e.g. bogies, motors, couplers, to and from the respective repair areas. The maintenance building also contains facilities for inventory storage, workshops, staff offices and amenities.
In addition to these maintenance buildings this area also benefit from a large parking hanger which allows for the night time cleaning of the trains and lighter maintenance work.
The second important area of the depot is that set aside for external cleaning. Train pass through a modern and sophisticated washing and drying system to ensure trains are clean and fit for service. Trains are washed every day before they are despatched for service on the network. The washing system is split into two sections, the first contains pressurised water jets which mix with biodegradable and non-harmful detergent to clean the exterior of the trains, waste water is collected, filtered and recycled for reuse on-site. The second section incorporates compressed air jets which dry the surface before the train departs the washing area.
In addition to the washing and maintenance area the site contains a plethora of warehouses, storage units and workshops which serve the Perseus Rail network and particularly requirements of the network in the Passau metropolitan area. The depot also has electrical generation capability and is connected to the national electrified rail network, however, while in the depot area trains do not have access to catenaries and use their on-board batteries for off-grid movements, upon leaving the depot trains reconnect to overhead lines.
The facility is also home to some research and engineering companies which focus on rail development. Perseus Rail also have administrative and research offices as well as the Passau Central Signalling Centre, which controls railway signalling within the Passau Metropolitan area
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