Testing imminent on converted ‘769’ bi-mode
Testing of the first Class 769 Flex at Brush Traction, Loughborough, was due to start as this issue of RAIL went to press.
Two bi-mode ‘769s’ are at the Wabtec facility, having been converted from Class 319 electric multiple units (769434/456), although their entry into traffic has been delayed while testing continues. Porterbrook is supplying additional Class 319s to Northern to help make up for a shortfall in trains ( RAIL 855).
While gensets fitted to the trains had been started in test rigs at Loughborough, they have yet to be started when fitted to a ‘769’. Once that is completed, a four-car Flex will move to the nearby Great Central Railway for testing.
A genset from Unit 2 was displayed at Rail Live, while 319426 was renumbered 769000 and reliveried into something similar to the scheme that will be carried by Flex in traffic (right). A number of other ‘319s’ were also on display from the project.
Currently, Porterbrook has orders for 32 Class 769s from three operators, and this is likely to rise to 36.
Northern will be the first recipient with eight trains, followed by an initial five for Transport for Wales that could rise to nine. Great Western Railway has 19 tri-mode ‘769s’ on order.
The University of Birmingham has expressed interest in working with Porterbrook on a hydrogen version of Flex, but this is at an early stage, and the rolling stock company refused to confirm or deny the project.
Other Porterbrook-owned EMUs could also yet be used as donors for Flex-style conversions, with Class 455s a possibility when they are sent off-lease by South Western Railway in 2020.