First four-car HST set starts tests for Great Western duty

TESTING of the first four-car ‘short set’ High Speed Train for Great Western Railway has begun.

As this issue of RAIL went to press, GWR confirmed the set was due to be in traffic at the end of March, running between Plymouth and Penzance.

The first coaches were delivered to Laira depot, Plymouth, overnight on March 12-13 by Rail Operations Group. A further ten four-car sets will follow. They have been fitted with slide doors by Wabtec Rail, Doncaster so they meet the disability deadline of December 31 2019. Twenty-four Class 43 power cars will be modified to work with the stock, with 12 owned by the rolling stock leasing company and 12 by FirstGroup.

Moved south were Trailer Standards (TS) 48101/102/111 and Trailer Guard Standard (TGS) 49101. These were converted from TS 42168/107, 42093 and 44055 respectively. The first modified power cars are 43016 and 43093. While modified HST power cars can operate with existing slam-door Mk 3s, non-modified ‘43s’ cannot work with the slide-door GWR sets.

New passenger information screens have been fitted to the coaches, along with controlled emission toilets.

The short HSTs will be based at Laira according to GWR managing director Mark Hopwood. He told RAIL in February that the sets will be used on Cardiff-Taunton and Exeter/Plymouth-Penzance routes.

They are needed due to a shortfall of diesel multiple units created by the delays to electrification as part of the Great Western Electrification Programme (GWEP). More DMUs are needed because of routes not being wired as planned, and the Government has told GWR that any solution should not affect other operators.

The decision was made to use HSTs that would otherwise be sent off-lease, and operate them on routes to boost capacity, an initiative that will enable DMUs to be used elsewhere.

The retained power cars will be Angel Trains’ 43005/016/024/040042/170/186-189/192 and First’s 43092-094/097/098, 43122/153155/158/194/198.