New trains accelerate the cascade of UK fleets
CASCADES created by timetable changes and by the introduction of new train fleets are under way, with more planned in the coming months.
Transport for Wales has taken delivery of ten of the 12 Class 170/2s that are transferring from Greater Anglia, with only 170205/271 still to move west (the latter will remain with GA until the end of January).
These will be followed by five single-car Class 153s that are also moving to Wales. The Turbostars enter traffic on December 15, having been released by the introduction of Class 755s in East Anglia (see pages 30-31).
Also in Wales, the first Mk 4 has arrived at Crewe for training purposes, ahead of their introduction on the North Wales Coast Line from the December timetable change. They will then operate on the Holyhead-Cardiff route once gauge clearing is completed. TfW is leasing three rakes of four ex-LNER Mk 4s.
At Northern, the operator is returning Class 319s to Porterbrook, with the electric multiple units being sent for warm storage at Long Marston.
The EMUs moved so far are 319363/365/372-374/376, with the rest of the Class 319/3 fleet to go off-lease, replaced by Class 323s that will transfer from West Midlands Railway (WMR) when the operator takes delivery of its first Class 730s from Bombardier.
Porterbrook said the ‘319s’ will be offered to other operators and be available for conversion to FLEX trains. The existing ‘319’ withdrawals have been facilitated by the introduction of CAF Class 331s in the North West.
Also at Northern, all but 11 Class 142 Pacers should be withdrawn by the end of the year, with 142005/ 009/015/016/021/022/025/037/ 038/044/046/050/052/064/066/ 088/093/096 all stood down from traffic. Most are in warm store. These are being replaced by CAF Class 195s and diesel multiple units (DMUs) cascaded internally onto other routes.
Remaining in the north, nine Class 350/4s will move from TransPennine Express to WMR (350402-410). These will be replaced initially on the North West-Edinburgh/Glasgow routes by new CAF ‘397’ EMUs and Class 185 DMUs, with the latter then being removed from the route once all 12 Class 397s are available.
In Scotland, there are eight refurbished Inter7City High Speed Trains, while all 70 Class 385s have been delivered. This will enable the withdrawal of the final seven threecar Class 314 EMUs that date from 1979-80. These units (314202/203/ 205/209/210/214/216) will be sent for scrap, although one is being preserved.
Moving south, ScotRail 156503 has moved on loan to East Midlands Railway until the end of the year, to cover for DMUs undergoing refurbishment.
Two EMR Class 153s (153310/326) have moved to WMR on loan until the latter’s Class 196 DMUs are introduced. EMR will also take GA’s nine Class 156s by the end of the year.
Into next year, and EMR said the first Class 170s transferred from ScotRail will enter traffic in late spring. Five three-car diesel multiple units (170416-170420) are moving south, to be followed by WMR two-car (170501-170517) and three-car (170630-170635) fleets, which will be replaced by ‘196s’. However, the centre-cars from the ‘170/6s’ are destined for CrossCountry and will not move to EMR.
EMR said it did not yet have any dates for the planned transfer of 21 four-car Class 360/1s from GA. However, these will need to be modified by Siemens to be able to operate at 110mph, rather than their current 100mph top speed. The ‘360s’ will also undergo an interior refurbishment to better suit the ‘Corby Electrics’ service they will be operating. These EMUs will be based at Bedford Cauldwell depot.
EMR will also receive Southern’s fleet of Class 171s (171201/202, 171401/402, 171721-171730, 171801-171806), although that transfer will only take place once replacements have been found.
As well as stock being cascaded to TfW and EMR, GA is also sending Mk 3 coaches into store, even though its Class 745 replacements are not yet in traffic.
Direct Rail Services 37409 Lord Hinton hauled Open First (FO) 11093 and Open Standards (TSO) 12015/021/037/042/084, 12170 to Wymondham Abbey on November 12. These have been removed from traffic with various faults and are due to be replaced by 12-car Stadler Class 745/0 electric multiple units, although no date for their introduction has yet been given by GA.
Meanwhile, on the NorwichLondon Liverpool Street route,
Class 321s are running in place of unavailable Class 90-hauled Mk 3 sets, while other rakes are often short-formed with eight coaches instead of nine.
Thirteen of the 15 GA Class 90s are due to move to Freightliner, originally at the end of the year, although this relies on the ‘745s’ being ready.
In London, Class 710/1s have yet to begin running on London Overground’s West Anglia inner routes, but this has not stopped Class 315s being sent to Newport for scrap, with 315814/858 the first to depart.
A further seven TfL Rail sets have been sent for warm storage at Siemens’ Kings Norton depot, with DCRail contracted to move them and keep them operational (315822/825/827/831/833/ 836/859).