GWR’s £500m fleet
Testing of GWR’s new Class 802 bi-mode trains begins in September, ahead of due arrival date in December.
TESTING of the first Great Western Railway Class 802 bi-mode train to be built at Pistoia by Hitachi Rail Italy begins in September. The work will take two weeks. It is due to arrive in the UK in December.
GWR has 36 Class 802s on order for its West of England services to Devon and Cornwall. These are formed into an initial order of 22 five-car and seven nine-car trains, supplemented last year by a further seven nine-car trains as GWR seeks to resolve the capacity and performance issues caused by delays to the Great Western Electrification Programme.
All 36 must be in the UK by late December 2018, with all in traffic by mid-March the following year. Eversholt Rail Group has funded the trains.
Three pre-series trains have been built by Hitachi in Kasado (Japan), and as this issue of RAIL went to press all three were on their way to the UK.
At the launch of the ‘802s’ on May 23, Hitachi Project Director Berry Sas explained that the trains en route were two five-car (802001/002) and one nine-car train (802101). They will arrive at Port of Southampton this month, and be taken by road to Hitachi’s Doncaster depot for final commissioning before testing begins from Stoke Gifford depot.
Meanwhile, 802003 is currently in Hitachi’s assembly facility at Pistoia in Italy. It is being fitted out internally, while mechanical components are also being assembled. Vehicles for 802004/005/006 are also in
various stages of construction, with the first two already carrying GWR green.
Hitachi Rail Italy Chief Operating Officer Giuseppe Marino said that each train takes 45 days to manufacture. Components are sourced from around the world, with many from the UK including pantographs, air-conditioning facilities, fuel tanks, floors and toilets.
He explained that the trains arrive from Japan as a series of bodyshell components that are then welded together by robots at Pistoia. This is different to the Newton Aycliffe operation in County Durham, where bodyshells arrive already complete from Kasado.
The AT300 fleet is designed to replace the High Speed Train fleet dating from 1976. Each vehicle is 26 metres, as opposed to 23 metres for an HST Mk 3. GWR says this offers up to 24% additional capacity on its trains.
GWR Commercial Development Director Matthew Golton said that while the trains have been ordered as five- and nine-car formations, they will not run as five-car trains from London. He said ten-car trains could run to certain locations such as Plymouth and then be split, with the front five-car train continuing to Penzance, for example.
The Class 802s are being built at Pistoia, rather than assembled at Newton Aycliffe, because the northeast facility is currently at its capacity. It is producing 110 Intercity Express Programme (IEP) trains for GWR and Virgin Trains East Coast, and 54 Class 385 electric multiple units for ScotRail. TransPennine Express and Hull Trains Class 802s will also be assembled at Newton Aycliffe, while should the company win orders for Europe it will also look to place them at the facility.