ScotRail’s HST plans

Refurbishment of 54 Class 43 High Speed Train power cars bound for ScotRail will begin this year.

REFURBISHMENT of High Speed Trains (HSTs) bound for ScotRail will begin this year, with Wabtec Rail contracted to carry out the work.

Fifty-four Class 43 HST power cars owned by Angel Trains will be refurbished at Brush Traction’s Loughborough facility and 121 Mk 3 coaches will be refurbished by Wabtec Rail at Doncaster.

The work begins in late 2017 and ends in May 2019. The sets will be formed into 17 five-coach sets and nine four-coach sets, with two spare ‘43s’. HSTs are due to enter traffic with SR from May 2018.

The four-coach trains will have 32 First Class seats (four priority) and 206 Standard Class seats (24 priority). The five-coach trains will have the same number of First Class seats and 278 Standard Class seats (32 priority). The trains will offer a 30% increase in seating capacity, according to the operator.

They will replace Class 170 diesel multiple units on journeys to Scotland’s seven cities, and will offer reduced journey times due to an increased power:weight ratio.

ScotRail explained that the HSTs will have 4,500hp for a 280-tonne four-coach set (16hp per tonne) and 4,500hp for a 315-tonne five-coach set (14.2hp per tonne), against 1,266hp for a 135-tonne three-car ‘170’ (9.3hp per tonne). Journey times from Inverness to the Central Belt will be reduced by ten minutes on average, the operator said.

The Mk 3s will be fitted with ‘Vapor Stone’ electric-powered single-leaf doors. A Wilee door control system will be used, and door control panels will be located at two doors in the same vestibule in each coach. The panels will have the same layout as the ‘170s’. Doors will be interlocked with the power and brake controllers, and there will be a temporary override plunger and permanent isolation switch in the driving cab.

In First Class, there will be a 2+1 formation with leather reclining seats. Tables will have one 240V socket and one USB port per pair of seats. Saloon lighting will be fitted with auto-dimming LED tubes. There will be large luggage stacks at the end of the saloons.

In Standard Class, the Mk 3s will be fitted with the same ‘Grammer’ seats as fitted to SR’s 158701- 158725. Seats will be fitted with fold-down tables and armrests. There will be a 240V socket per bay of seats at low level between the seats or on tables. There will also be large luggage racks at each end of the saloon.

SR told RAIL that the Standard Class seats will have a pitch of 1,800mm (the same as the ‘170s’). Currently the pitch on Great Western Railway HSTs is 1,680mm. The space will be created by widening tables and moving the seats back 120mm.

There will also be a complementary self-service catering