29 new GWR EMUs
Extra Class 387s will be delivered to Great Western Railway this year, joining the eight four-car units ordered last March.
HITACHI is to convert 21 Class 801 electric multiple units ordered for Great Western Railway to full bi-mode operation, rather than build the straight electric multiple units (with auxiliary diesel power) that was originally intended.
The move follows delays in the Great Western Main Line electrification programme, and was announced by Rail Minister Claire Perry in a Commons Written Reply to Bath MP Ben Howlett (Conservative) on May 26.
Perry wrote: “Following the receipt of a formal proposal from Agility Trains West Ltd, the Secretary of State for Transport has now approved the conversion of the 21 Class 801 Intercity Express Programme units scheduled for deployment on the Great Western to bi-mode operation.
“This will enable passengers in the South West and Wales to benefit as soon as possible from brand new trains which will deliver more capacity and more comfort. The first 36 trains will be bi-mode as planned.”
Agility Trains (AT) is supplying GWR with 21 nine-car Class 801s in addition to 36 five-car Class 800 bi-mode trains. The decision by the Department for Transport (the trains are being paid for by the Government under a variation of its contract with AT) will give GWR a largely homogenous fleet of the Hitachi trains, with only the seven nine-car and 22 five-car AT300s differing in having higher- powered engines and greater fuel capacity. The variation on the contract authorises the purchase of additional engines, larger fuel tanks and bodyshell modifications.
RAIL understands that industry discussions have been taking place for around a year into the feasibility of altering the GWR order, in light of electrification delays. The revised schedule for electrification ( RAIL 800) means live sections may not be contiguous along the route until completion. Ordering all GWR’s fleet as bi-mode therefore means that the trains will be able to use electric power wherever possible with diesel traction filling in between the gaps.
The Class 801s were always intended for delivery after the bi-mode Class 800s, and no impact on the delivery schedule is anticipated.