Greater Anglia finalises design plans for new trains

A design freeze for Greater Anglia’s fleet of Stadler electric multiple units and bi-mode multiple units is due at the end of June, after which construction plans will be finalised.

GA Deputy Managing Director Mike Kean told RAIL that the cutting of metal for bodyshells will begin in August in Bussnang, Switzerland, where the trains are being built. He said that 12 months later the first BMU (a four-car unit) would be in the UK.

The operator has 14 three-car and 24 four-car BMUs on order from Stadler, as well as 20 ten-car EMUs, of which ten are earmarked for the Norwich-London Liverpool Street route with the other ten for Stansted Express.

The trains will enter traffic in 2019 as part of GA’s plans to introduce 1,043 new vehicles to replace the entire existing fleet. The Stadler trains will replace the Class 90-hauled Mk 3 sets on the Great Eastern Main Line and the diesel multiple units on the rural routes.

Kean explained that the units would move to Norwich Crown Point for training and commissioning, but that a new facility at Great Yarmouth will also house the BMUs as they are delivered. This facility will be a stabling site with security and fencing, but which will enable GA to use it as a base for training. There is the prospect that the BMUs could run from Yarmouth as far as Reedham, as the line via Berney Arms has three trains per day.

On June 6, GA launched what it believes will be close to the final design of the interior, using a mock-up at Norwich Crown Point. It has been designed to illustrate

every element of the train fleet on order, including First and Standard Class seating, cycle storage, disabled access areas, a bistro area, toilet and vestibule. It is being used for staff, customer and stakeholder feedback ahead of the design

Kean told RAIL: “Our colleagues’, customers’ and stakeholders’ views are very important, which is why we launched a public consultation process, seeking feedback which will inform the final design and specification of the new traiins." He said that work to convert Norwich Crown Point to be ready for the 12-car EMUs starts in October or November, but that work on the Wensum sidings (near Thorpe Junction) begins this August. These are needed to stable older vehicles as the new fleet arrives. @Clinnick1

RICHARD CLINNICK. A Standard Class bay of four inside the Stadler mock-up at Norwich Crown Point on June 6. The design is all but finalised, with final consultation being carried out by the manufacturer and operator before a design freeze is introduced at the end of June.