Hitachi will build 23 new trains for Avanti West Coast in a £350 million deal.
Ten seven-car electric multiple units and 13 five-car bi-modes will be introduced from 2022. They will be built at Hitachi’s Newton Aycliffe facility.
The EMUs will run between London Euston, the West Midlands and Liverpool, while the bi-modes will run between Euston and North Wales.
Regarding capacity, in a statement, FirstGroup said: “There are 453 seats on a seven-car train and 301 seats on a five-car train, increasing compacity compared to the Class 221 Voyager trains they replace (which have 258 seats).
“The seven-carriage version of the electric trains will have similar numbers of seats to a nine-carriage Pendolino, owing to the longer 26 metre carriages of the Hitachi trains.”
The trains are funded by Rock Rail West Coast. They will be based at Oxley, with a maintenance agreement signed with Alstom to carry out work alongside Hitachi on the trains.
Avanti West Coast replaces Virgin Trains this weekend as the operator of the West Coast franchise.
- For the FULL story, read RAIL 894, published December 18, and available digitally on Android, iPad and Kindle from December 14.
VT Fan 3 - 06/12/2019 15:05
Questions for the new trains: 1. Will they tilt? And 2. Will they look completely different from the other Hitachi trains from GWR, LNER, TransPennine, Etc.