Eversholt's Class 321 EMUs heading for scrap despite £60m rebuild

Eversholt Rail is preparing to dispose of its 30 Class 321 ‘Renatus’ electric multiple units, even though they were completely rebuilt with new traction equipment and smart interiors at a cost of £60 million, and only worked for five years.

The train leasing company admits there have been no takers - either in the UK or overseas - for the four-car sets, which have been idle for almost 18 months since they were replaced on electrified Greater Anglia outer-suburban services into Essex by new Bombardier/Alstom Class 720s.

The ‘321s’ are parked up in ‘warm store’ at Wembley and Warrington.

An Eversholt spokesperson told RAIL: “We have actively sought to remarket the ‘Renatus’ units for some time, but have been unable to secure a lease for the fleet either in whole or in part. They were in very good condition when they were returned to us.”

The company added: “The economics of storing the fleet in operational condition without any commitment becomes prohibitively expensive with time, so a decision has been reached to commence disposal.”

Six sets (321301/05/10/21/24/25) have already been disposed of at Unimetals, at Newport. There is no time schedule for the rest of the fleet, because Eversholt still has hopes for deals of some kind.

“We continue to pursue opportunities, but have decided to reprocess those units that would need a mileage-based overhaul before they could be redeployed. We will keep the future of the remainder of the fleet under review,” added the spokesperson.

The Class 321s that were re-engineered by Wabtec at Doncaster were highly regarded by GA customers for their comfort and ride quality, as well as by train guards who found them easier to walk through for revenue protection than their replacements.

Suggestions on social media that they might transfer to Scotland to replace older BR-built ‘318s’ have been dismissed, because the procurement of a fleet of brand new rolling stock north of the border is being actively pursued.

Train leasing companies have all had issues finding new customers for other perfectly serviceable units, such as earlier as-built ‘321s’, former Thameslink ‘319s’, and South Western ‘442s’. The only real large volume deal has been the export of High Speed Train power cars and trailers to Mexico and Nigeria.
Apart from a solitary sale of

321434 to Eastern Rail Services, Eversholt’s only other ‘321’ taker has been parcels operator Varamis Rail, which has been talking about acquiring up to ten sets for its fast parcels operation (321334/339/ 341, 321407/319/328/329/340 so far, plus possibly two more).

Eversholt spent significant sums over a three-year period to re-engineer Class 321 units at Wolverton for its Swift Express Freight project, with seats replaced by shelving and stronger floors installed. But the entire project was abandoned as uneconomic in September 2023.

RAIL had earlier reported Eversholt’s claim that it had prospective takers queuing up for what could become a fleet of up to 50 100mph units.

There were two further dead ends for the ‘321s’ when the collapse of Vivarail ended proposals for high-speed battery units in Scotland, while the joint ‘Breeze’ proposals with Alstom for hydrogen-powered trains on non-electrified lines were also not pursued.