The first Great Western Railway High Speed Train will go off-lease on August 31, Angel Trains has confirmed to RAIL.
Power cars 43021 David Austin - Cartoonist and 43132 We Save the Children - Will you? will leave GWR, along with Trailer First (TF) 41032, Trailer Standards (TS) 42045-047, 42207 and 42561.
Owned by Angel Trains, these are the first HST vehicles to be withdrawn by GWR, and they are destined for ScotRail. The coaches will be moved to Wabtec Rail’s Doncaster facility for modifications, overhaul and refurbishment which includes fitting plug doors to the coaches to enable them to be in operation beyond January 1 2020.
ScotRail will introduce HSTs on routes serving its seven cities from next year. All will be leased from Angel, with 54 power cars to be refurbished by Wabtec at its Brush Traction Loughborough site, and 121 Mk 3s to pass through Doncaster.
The project will be completed in May 2019, with 17 five-coach and nine four-coach sets entering traffic.
- For more on this story, including details of what HSTs are staying with GWR, read RAIL 834, published on August 30.
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Edward Hannan - 22/08/2017 17:39
They getting the old cast offs from the west country . At last we will have new trains taking us from penzance - Paddington. .
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Alan Car - 28/08/2017 21:03
I would prefer the old ones thankyou not another Voyager clone with similar cramped interior
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Paul - 22/08/2017 19:01
It's going to be a sad day when they leave GWR , Japanese trains replacing a true British Legend of a train.
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FrankH - 22/08/2017 20:33
To pastures new for the HST's with many more years left in them despite their age. For GWR a strange twist really. New IEP's certainly greener to Reading or wherever the OHL has reached but back to diesel for the rest of the journey at a lower top speed. Sort of a forward and backward step simultaneously.
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Steven Craig - 22/08/2017 22:08
Hard to believe hst s are on way out. Still years left in them. But someone thinks new trains will help overcrowding and punctuality. The east coast trains are full and standing on most services. Plus hsts had the capacity for luggage. Just look at voyagers. Too small and cramped. And they re modern.
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AndrewJGwilt1989 - 23/08/2017 12:14
At least some of them are to transfer to Scotland. Whilst other Class 43 HST's could go to other train operates including Grand Central, Crosscountry and East Midlands Trains as they could need extra HST trains.
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Nick Eade - 23/08/2017 13:19
Great if the windows still open to take photos.
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jak jaye - 29/08/2017 17:50
Cant wait for a Dawlish sea wall wave to crash over the first IEP!
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FrankH - 30/08/2017 20:29
Have any figures been released re fuel consumption of bi-modes re HST. It would be interesting to find out whether the new stock is any greener in that respect.
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