Naming Update

Crosscountry is an operator that hasn’t exactly been prolific with naming ceremonies over the years, but that changed on August 3 when ‘Turbostar’ 170622 was named Pride of Leicester at UK Rail Leasing’s Leicester Depot by Leicester City Mayor, Sir Peter Soulsby.

The naming celebrates work that has taken place to upgrade UKRL’S facility to allow six Turbostars to be serviced each night at the depot, creating an additional 14 jobs and representing a £2.5m investment in the project. Mark Winter, UK Rail Leasing’s managing director said: “UK Rail Leasing is pleased to be supporting Crosscountry in providing train care and maintenance services at our Maintenance Depot in Leicester.

"This is an exciting opportunity for us and it is our intention, in partnership with Crosscountry, to make a significant contribution to further improving the delivery of Crosscountry’s train service in terms of train presentation and operational reliability into the future”.

Sir Peter Soulsby said: “These projects are fantastic for Leicester as we begin to emerge from the pandemic. Rail travellers will benefit from better and less crowded trains, and the investment creating new local jobs is welcome. We are very proud to have a Turbostar train named Pride of Leicester after our great city.”

For the naming ceremony, the cast metal nameplates were applied to the lead vehicle of the unit, although this was a temporary fixing, with the nameplates being removed again afterwards. The intention was to permanently affix them to the centre car of 170622 when the unit is next stopped for maintenance, which should have taken place by the time Railways Illustrated appears in print.

Andy Coward Leicester City Mayor Sir Peter Soulsby applauds the work done by Crosscountry and UK Rail Leasing on establishing a service facility at Leicester Depot, following the unveiling of Pride of Leicester nameplates on the side of ‘Turbostar’ 170622. The nameplates are cast metal, rather than vinyl transfers which are usually applied to units.

Andy Coward Standing in front of the newly-named 170622, from left , UK Rail Leasing co-founder Ed Stevenson, Crosscountry regional director Richard Morris, Leicester City Mayor Sir Peter Soulsby, Network Rail route director East Midlands Gary Walsh and Crosscountry managing director Tom Joyner, hold a replica of the nameplate on August 3.