Welsh D-Trains ready for action in spring 2019

THE first Class 230 D-Train for Transport for Wales should be ready by March 2019, with all five in traffic from May 2019.

Speaking exclusively to RAIL at Rail Live on June 21, Vivarail Chairman Adrian Shooter said that parts for the trains are being ordered. The driving vehicles will be fitted with batteries, while the centre car will have four gensets.

Shooter said the driving vehicles will be built at the company’s Long Marston base and the centre-cars will be built at its Seaham facility.

He said that when travelling, the ‘230s’ will recover most of their energy through regenerative braking that will be put back into the batteries.

Shooter told RAIL that the trains will save around 20% on fuel consumption. He added that having four doors per car will also reduce dwell times on the Metro services on which they will be used in North Wales.

Tristan Guyard, Deputy Rolling Stock Lead - Rail Services, Transport for Wales, told RAIL: “From a passenger’s point of view, they’ll be like brand new trains as everything inside the train is new. They’re also green because we’re fitting them with brand new, state of the art engines and batteries, and we’re re-using the existing body shell rather than starting from scratch.

“On the Conwy Valley and

Wrexham - Bidston routes, ‘230s’ will be quicker than most other new trains built in the UK at the moment. This is because of the high proportion of motored wheels and the use of batteries to provide additional power. When these trains come into service, we will be able to improve journey times and have a more flexible timetable as soon as 2019,” he said.

They will initially run on the Conwy Valley to release trains for use in South Wales.

The trains will be maintained at a purpose-built depot in Wrexham, with Vivarail contracted to maintain the fleet. Shooter said that the depot will be able to fuel and clean the trains, and also swap the modules. Brake block changes and wheelset swaps will be done away from this depot, with Crewe and Chester possible locations.

KEOLISAMEY. An artist’s impression of the Transport for Wales Class 230s.

KEOLISAMEY. The proposed interior for the Transport for Wales Class 230s.

JACK BOSKETT/ RAIL. Tristan Guyard, Deputy Rolling Stock Lead - Rail Services, Transport for Wales (left) and Vivarail Chairman Adrian Shooter (right) with two-car hybrid 230002. TfW has five three-car hybrid D-Trains on order.