Prompt delivery of new vehicles key for East Anglia
SIX brand new trains at a time will be under test on Abellio East Anglia’s network, when delivery of the new vehicles begins.
Abellio Greater Anglia Managing Director Jamie Burles, who will lead the new AEA franchise that is due to start on October 16, told the East Anglia Rail Summit at Westminster on September 7 that one of the key elements regarding the order for 1,043 new vehicles from Bombardier and Stadler was that they could be delivered quickly.
“We wanted new trains in as soon as possible. They start coming in in 2019 -that’s pretty quick,” he said.
“We need them for a massive timetable change in May 2019, so we needed a proven platform and we couldn’t afford to wait.”
Burles said that the 660 Aventra vehicles ordered from Bombardier are a follow-on order from the Class 345 Crossrail production, and so manufacturing will already be in place. Likewise, the bi-mode trains ordered from Stadler will be built following the completion of a similar production line for Abellio in the Netherlands.
Burles compared the delivery of the new trains for AEA with that of the Class 379s to Stansted Express in 2011, which were the last trains delivered to the region. He said: “The Class 379s were 120 vehicles delivered over 13 months, this will be 1,043 vehicles delivered over 18 months.”
The regional bi-mode trains will be delivered first, and again this was a priority, Burles explained. “They offer a massive capacity increase, they replace ageing trains and the ‘15x’ fleet they are replacing does not have wheel slip protection, and there is not equipment that can be bought for them.”
As of September 7, the deal had not been signed for the trains, but Burles was confident everything was in place.
“The order must be placed before the franchise starts to deliver in time. It is extremely advanced and I don’t have any worries,” he said.
Burles was speaking on the day that Siemens issued a legal challenge to the order for 660 vehicles from Bombardier ( RAIL 809). ■ Feature, pages 96-99.