AN interim solution has been agreed to deal with the cracks found in the yaw damper mounting brackets on the CAF Class 195 and 331 sets at Northern.
This has been supported by data provided from strain gauges fitted to No. 195002, which carried out a number of e.c.s. workings with the equipment in place.
As it appears that the principal issue is the level of stress where the yaw dampers connect to T-slots underneath the CAF bodies, spreader plates will be fitted between the yaw dampers and the T-slots which will distribute the load evenly over a much greater length of the slots.
In the meantime Northern has been able to maintain most of its timetable, even following the service increase from May 17, while several damaged CAF sets have been moved at slower speed to other locations to free up space in depots.