The first AT300 bi-mode for Great Western Railway arrived at Port of Southampton from Japan on June 17.
The five-car Class 802 is the first of 36 trains to be delivered, and is one of three pre-series trains due from the Far East. Hitachi is building the first three trains in Kasado, Japan (two five-car trains and one nine-car train), with the remaining 33 being built by Hitachi Rail Italy in Pistoia (RAIL 828).
It is planned that the AT300s will enter traffic from next summer, running to Penzance, and enabling GWR to withdraw its High Speed Trains. The full fleet must be in the UK by the end of next year, to enable a new timetable to be introduced by the operator from the start of 2019. AT300s will take over all West of England trains from London Paddington from the second week of March 2019.
- For more on the Class 802s including a visit to the Italian factory where 33 are being built, read RAIL 829, published on June 21.
- For more on the first Class 802s arriving in the UK, read RAIL 830, published on July.
AndrewJGwilt1989 - 20/06/2017 02:19
And what about the other rolling stocks such as the Class 165's and Class 166's that could operate on the rural branch lines in Cornwall and other branch lines in Devon and Somerset as the Class 387's are replacing the Class 165's and Class 166's with some to be kept on the branch lines in the Thames Valley area as the Class 387's has been extended to Maidenhead and soon to extend to Reading and Didcot.