Auckland ADL Class DMU (remanufacture) – New Zealand

The Auckland ADL/ADC Class DMU railcars originally manufactured in the early eighties were purchased by New Zealand, second-hand from Western Australia when the Perth suburban network was electrified in 1993 and entered service on the Auckland network.

In 2006 the HVAC units were 24 years old, proving unreliable and utilised obsolete technology, this was exacerbated by there being a rotable spares pool of only one HVAC unit. Noske-Kaeser Rail & Vehicle were engaged to remanufacture the HVAC units and in addition to manufacture two brand new additional spare units.

The scope of work involved removing and replacing everything inside the unit, including pipework and wiring, only the stainless-steel housing was kept, effectively turning these into new units. At the same time the old single circuit design was changed to a dual circuit design introducing increased redundancy.

Since the introduction of electric trains on the Auckland network in 2014, the ADL/ADC DMU railcars used for a shuttle service between Pukekohe and Papakura station and are still going strong.