CAF ‘Civity’ DMU enters service with West Midlands Trains
THE long-awaited entry to traffic of the first Class 196 took place on October 17, when No. 196101 started on a morning peak diagram between Shrewsbury and Birmingham. Three days earlier, the unit had been named Charles Darwin at Shrewsbury after a press trip from Wolverhampton (see Headline News, p12).
The initial diagram, which runs on weekdays only and is for a four-car unit, covers the following services: 1G05 06.51 Shrewsbury-Birmingham NS,
2J06 08.00 Birmingham NS-Shrewsbury, 1G14 09.11 Shrewsbury-Birmingham NS. The set runs from/to Tyseley before and after its workings. At the end of October, No. 196110 entered traffic, when a second diagram was introduced on the same route.
Further diagrams will be introduced over the next couple of months, with the Birmingham to Hereford line going over to ‘196’ operation early next year. Their introduction will allow the remaining Class 170/5 ‘Turbostars’ to be released for transfer to East Midlands Railway. Still to move are
Nos. 170501/502/504-510/512514/516/517/533/535.
West Midlands Trains’ fleet of ‘Civity’ units, made up of 12 two-car (Class 196/0) and 14 four-car (Class 196/1) sets, were ordered in October 2017 and were due to enter service in January 2020. However, the first set did not arrive at Tyseley until May that year, the pandemic causing delays in construction, which took place in
Spain and Newport. More delays were encountered in the testing and crew training stages. All 26 units have now been delivered, except No. 196114, which has still to emerge from Newport.