Class 802s will start operating two booked duties with Great Western Railway from July 16.
Two pairs of five-car sets will be used, replacing High Speed Trains on the West of England route. These are the first booked service for GWR’s new Hitachi trains west of Taunton, which is currently served by Class 800/0 Intercity Express Trains (IETs).
There are currently two five-car Class 802/0s (802001/002) undergoing testing and commissioning in the UK, as well as nine-car 802101.
Two more five-car ‘802/0s’ (802003/004) are on their way from Pistoia (Italy), where Hitachi Rail Europe is building the fleet. However, they are currently unable to travel through France due to strike action by SNCF.
In total, GWR has 22 five-car and 14 nine-car Class 802s on order, in a £497 million deal financed by Eversholt Rail.
- For the FULL story including details of the trains the '802s' will operate, read RAIL 851, available on iPad and Android from April 21, and published on April 25.
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AndrewJGwilt1989 - 18/04/2018 22:56
And Class 802’s will soon be delivered for Hull Trains and Transpennine Express that they will enter passenger service from next year that will the Class 180’s and Class 185’s. With Class 180’s transferred to Grand Central as Class 180’s from GWR have already been cascaded to Grand Central.
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Patrick Murrell - 30/06/2018 12:22
But will the seats on these be as dreadful as those on the Class 800 trains. They are appallingly uncomfortable for anything longer than 15 minutes!!
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Jim Wigmore - 22/07/2018 14:12
802003 and 802005 were noted on 19th July at Exeter St David's heading South. An electric train running under diesel power did look rather ridiculous.
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