Avanti West Coast has announced the final day it will use Class 221 Voyager units.
Avanti West Coast has announced the final day it will use Class 221 Voyager units.
The operator has just six DEMUs left (out of its original fleet of 18) after 221101 and 221102 were stood down on Saturday.
Avanti has now confirmed the last day of ‘221’ operation will be Saturday December 14, when a pair are due to operate the 0628 Chester-London Euston, 0902 Euston-Holyhead, 1353 Holyhead-Euston and1816 Euston-Birmingham New Street.
CrossCountry is rumoured to be in talks to take the remaining six Class 221s in a bid to address overcrowding.
XC wouldn’t confirm the speculation, merely saying: “We are taking an additional 12 Class 221s. Three are already in service, with the remaining nine currently planned to come into service with [us] at the May 2025 timetable change.
“The destination of the remaining off-lease Class 221s is a question for Beacon Rail Leasing.”
In addition to 221107-118, industry insiders have indicated to RAIL that 221101-106 could also make the switch. This would give XC 221101-141/144, all of which are five-car sets apart from 221136/140/141/144, which are four-car sets.
Only 221142/143 will not be with the operator. They remain on short-term lease to Grand Central.
XC also has all the original 34 four-car Class 220 units (220001-034.)
Meanwhile, Avanti has now accepted five Class 807 EMUs into traffic after 807006 and 807002 entered service on November 27 and December 5 respectively. A sixth unit, 807008, is expected to be accepted on December 12.
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Dougie - 06/12/2024 19:09
What are they going to do with 221s