London Northwestern Railway's 730s to enter traffic in early June

London Northwestern Railway (LNR) new class 730s will enter passenger service on 9 June, the operator has confirmed.

The new units, part of a £1 billion investment from LNR’s (and sister company West Midlands Railways) parent company Transport UK will begin passenger services on the southern section of the West Coast main line between Milton Keynes Central and London Euston with the units stabled at Bletchley.

The five-car 730/2 sets are similar to WMR’s three-car 730/0 sets which began services on the Cross City Line in Birmingham last year.

LNR initially order 36 730/2 units from Alstom which were built at the manufacturer’s Litchurch Lane plant in Derby. They will be replacing the operator’s fleet of Class 350s which have begun to be taken off-lease and returned to owners Porterbrook.

LNR’s Engineering Director John Doughty told RAIL that it has plans to introduce the new units to its Liverpool-Birmingham route later in the year although it would not be a straightforward exercise.  

“It’s a little bit tricky because a lot of our class 350 diagrams can’t be swapped out one at a time. They have to be swapped out five or six at a time which makes it logistically difficult. But doing it in stages like this means that it is easier for driver training.”

Doughty also added that it was a little more complicated regarding driver and crew training than the initial introduction of the 730/0s because of the five-car set-up but he wasn’t “expecting any issues”.

Once training is complete and route diagrams become available, the expectation is the units will eventually be operating on the full West Coast main line in 2026.

One of the lines which LNR is keen to see the new units operate on is the Trent Valley line, which currently operates with a Class 350 10-car rake.

“There is huge demand on that line, so we’re really keen to see a coupled unit offering a 10-car 730. That would technically have more seats than the Pendolino. Whilst this is not a Pendolino, these are all comfortable seats.” Doughty explains.

There are subtle differences on the 730/2s than its West Midlands counterpart. The gangway is open throughout the train however it is noticeably wide. The seats are sculpted more and armrests have been added to reflect the longer distances the units will cover. Much of the layout remains the same however, including the popular 2+2 seat formations.

The units have been delayed, however. Initially due to enter service in 2024, an issue with excessive noise in the cab meant that perforated glass needing to be installed to reduce the noise.