Testing on new Great Western Railway Class 802s reaches Taunton

Testing of the West of England Class 802 fleet reached Somerset on August 8, the first time that one of the Hitachi Rail Europe bi-mode trains for Great Western Railway has reached Taunton.

HRE has so far delivered 802001 and 802002 for testing. The 125mph bi-mode AT300s were built in Kasado (Japan) and shipped to the UK in July. Following commissioning at Doncaster Carr, they made their main line debuts at the start of August, running to Darlington as individual five-car sets ( RAIL 833), before running to Stoke Gifford where they will be based for training.

The ‘802s’ will be introduced from next August onto London Paddington to Plymouth and Penzance trains, replacing High Speed Trains.

The first tests involved 802001 running between Bruton and Cogload (near Taunton). A nine-car Class 802/1 is due to move to Stoke Gifford (802101) for testing.

“We know how important the railway is to the economies and communities of the South West, and the start of testing marks another milestone in delivering the improvements we know our passengers wish to see,” said GWR Managing Director Mark Hopwood.

“These trains will help us deliver faster, more frequent services into the South West, each providing up to a fifth more seats per train.”

GWR has 36 Class 802s on order. They are financed by Eversholt Rail Group. The initial deal placed in March 2015 was for 22 five-car sets and seven nine-car trains. Following delays to the Great Western Electrification Programme, this was increased by a further seven nine-car trains.

Thirty-three trains are being built by Hitachi Rail Italy in Pistoia ( RAIL 828). The first train is due to start testing in September, and will be moved to the UK by rail in December. All will be in the UK by the end of next year, with full replacement of HSTs on the West of England route expected in the second week of March 2019.