As of August 22, there were 6,898 vehicles on order or being delivered for UK rail, with all due in traffic by 2021.
Two fleets due to enter traffic this year are Great Western Railway’s Class 800/0 Intercity Express Programme bi-mode trains and ScotRail’s Class 385 electric multiple units.
On August 6, eight brand new trains stand at Hitachi Rail Europe’s Newton Aycliffe facility. From left to right are: 801201 (nine-car EMU for Virgin Trains East Coast), 800023, 800024, an unidentified ‘800/0’, 800017, an unidentified ‘800’, 385103 and 800020. In total, 38 new vehicles await testing here. JAMES GARTHWAITE.
Melvyn - 22/08/2017 18:25
While we now have the crazy situation where brand new Class 707 trains ordered by Stagecoach for services out of Waterloo will become homeless in just a couple of years as new First MTR franchisee has ordered different trains ! It seems buying new trains is now better VFM than upgrading existing trains which raises questions as to what will happen to many perfectly good EMUs that will be replaced by new trains in the next few years given the cuts to electrification making it impossible to simply use these trains on newly electrified routes . It's time Sir Peter Hendy suggestion that Rail Electrification should be treated like track renewal with its own annual budget allowing rolling electrification instead of the boom and bust approach used in recent years !