‘385’ EGIP tests
ScotRail Alliance begins testing Hitachi Rail Europe Class 385s on newly-wired Edinburgh-Glasgow line.
TESTING of the first ScotRail Class 385 on part of the newly-electrified Edinburgh-Glasgow via Falkirk High route started on October 18.
However, RAIL understands that the trains are unlikely to enter passenger traffic until next spring.
ScotRail Alliance Communications Director Rob Shorthouse said: “We’ve made clear that we will introduce the new fleet when we are confident that they are fully tested and ready to go. We won’t do anything that risks the performance we deliver to our customers.”
The first train - three-car 385001 - ran from Edinburgh to Linlithgow under its own power at around 0200. The electric multiple unit (EMU), built by Hitachi Rail Europe (HRE), reached 100mph on the already-electrified section as far as Winchburgh Junction, before reaching 30mph on the newlywired section.
As this issue of RAIL went to press, tests were expected to take place further along the route. Electric trains should start on the line from the December timetable change, although these will use Siemens Class 380s initially.
Speaking on October 19, ScotRail Alliance Programmes and Transformation Director Ian McConnell said: “Yesterday’s trial was a hugely-important step towards completing the electrification of the line between Edinburgh and Glasgow. Having a train run on the route is one of the final phases of the electrification process. That it has gone so well tells us that we are almost ready to begin the next stage, which is to start fully testing the new trains themselves.”
Hitachi Rail Europe (HRE) Programme Manager Andy Radford said: “It’s positive to see that progress is being made on Edinburgh to Glasgow electrification. We’re hopeful that we’ll be given permission to start full testing soon. We now have trains at our factory in Newton Aycliffe ready to travel to Scotland as soon as they can run on new electric power lines.”
Seventy Class 385s are on order - 46 three-car ‘385/0s’ and 24 fourcar ‘385/1s’. Sixty will come from Newton Aycliffe (County Durham) and ten from Kasado (Japan). The first four completed at Newton Aycliffe were unveiled on October 12 ( RAIL 838), but cannot move to Scotland because there is currently no space for them.
When delivered, ‘385s’ will initially run in seven-car formations, before platform extensions at Glasgow Queen Street will enable eight-car trains to run. They are replacing three-car, five-car and six-car trains on the EdinburghGlasgow line. They will also run on the Edinburgh-North Berwick line, the South Glasgow suburban lines on the Cathcart Circle, between Neilston and Lanark, from Glasgow/Edinburgh to Dunblane/Stirling/Alloa, from Glasgow to Falkirk Grahamston via Cumbernauld, and Glasgow Central to Edinburgh via Shotts.
The Edinburgh-Glasgow Improvement Programme was supposed to have delivered electric trains on the route from December last year. However, delays to the project, which is also over budget, mean it is planned to start 12 months late.
HRE told RAIL previously that testing of the ‘385s’ on Network Rail metals had been delayed due to a lack of access on the route. Two trains are undergoing testing in Germany ( RAIL 838), and two in Scotland.