The H type carriages are an interurban passenger carriage used on the railways of Victoria, Australia. The carriages were converted from early Harris suburban Electric Multiple Units between 1984 and 1990 to replace the last of the older wooden carriage stock. Fitted with economy class only high density 2+3 seating, they are exclusively used on short distance interurban services with V/Line.

The carriages are hauled by N class, A class or P class diesel locomotives, with though cabling providing multiple-unit train control and enabling push pull train operations. The carriages require a head end power supply for lighting and air conditioning operation, either supplied by an appropriate locomotive or a separate power van. Each carriage has two doors per side, manually opened by passengers, but remotely closed and locked by the train conductor. Toilets, drinking fountains and luggage areas are provided throughout each carriage set.

The 4 MTH carriage variants were originally converted for use with the DRC railcars, being provided with underfloor generators, but until 26 April 2008 (when Sprinter trains were introduced on the route instead) they were used on the unelectrified suburban Stony Point line operated by Connex Melbourne. Two H cars, BIH181 and BIH187 have been removed from their original sets (FSH21 and FSH27) in October 2006 and are stored in the Newport Workshops.

Coding

• BCH economy class with conductors van
• BH economy class
• BTH economy class with terminal connections

Additional cars were later constructed to increase capacity. These cars did not feature toilets:

• BIH economy class intermediate

Carriage sets

The H type carriage are fixed into semi permanent sets, identified with the following codes, in conjunction with a unique number:

• FSH - because of the F, this means that the sets contains 4 carriages.
• VSH - the V means that the set contains 5 carriages

Two sets were created from long Harris trailers, originally made up of carriages BCH-BH-BTH, these are known as the 'long' sets. The H sets with only conventional length cars are known as the 'short' sets.

• SH - the S meaning short.
• VLH - the L meaning long.

Refurbishment

Set FSH25 was the first set to be refurbished and repainted into the new V/Line livery, reentering service in September 2007. FSH23 followed in May 2008, with refurbishment of the remainder of the sets is to be completed by mid 2009.

Gallery

References

• Vicsig: H Cars information
• V/LineCars.com: H Cars information
• Peter J Vincent: BCH cars
• Peter J Vincent: BH cars
• Peter J Vincent: BTH cars
• Peter J Vincent: BIH cars