The real ‘age of the train’!
Scrolling through Facebook in mid-february, I came across the following comment: “The south and midlands get all the new trains while the north gets 30-year-old-plus cast-offs.” Pretty quickly the poster was reminded of the £500 million CAF fleet introduced by Northern between 2018 and 2020. The response? “Those are the exceptions in this world. Everything else is 15-30-year-old hand-me-downs.”
This got me wondering, not for the first time, if this is actually correct. For many years now, the narrative from politicians, campaigners, sub-national transport bodies such as Transport for the North, and the regional media is that the north routinely loses out when it comes to rolling stock investment. Arguably this really came to a head in 2018 when the May 2018 timetable debacle considerably affected the North West.
Delays and cancellations were routine, and the calls for Arriva to be stripped of the franchise it had been operating for two years at that point got louder and louder, led by the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham.
A constant criticism was the use of Pacers. In my previous role on another magazine, I often highlighted the inaccuracies contained in statements and reporting, which reached a stage where some would think that Pacers were the ONLY trains used in northern England, and that Northern was the ONLY operator to ever use the railbuses.
By the time of the May 2018 timetable debacle, I and other members of the trade and regional press had visited Zaragoza in Spain to see the first complete Class 331/1 electric multiple unit at the CAF factory, while the first Class 195 diesel multiple unit was already undergoing testing. These were rarely mentioned though, as the Pacers continued to be used as a stick to beat the railway with.
And so, this narrative seeped into the conscience of many people. A great piece of work making the case for investment in northern England, but was it fair – and is it right?
Now, at this point I would like to acknowledge that the Pacers were certainly not suitable for the railway in 2018. They were not accessible for passengers with reduced mobility and did not provide customer service facilities fit for the 21st century railway. However, at the time I often found myself having to point out that Pacers were also still in use with Great Western Railway and Arriva Trains Wales/transport for Wales. Indeed, TFW was the last operator to rid itself of the unpopular trains, with its fleet of Class 142s and 143s on the Valleys gaining the dubious accolade of being the last to carry passengers on the British railway network.
The Pacers were due to have been withdrawn by the end of 2019, which was always part of the franchise plan, and this document is available to view and read on the Department for Transport website, right down to the planned number of trains being withdrawn on certain dates.
Yes, it is also true that Class 150s, 156s, and 158s, which all date from the late 1980s, as well as Class 319 EMUS, were also transferred to Northern, but these were made available to replace the Pacers and provide more capacity on busy routes.
Again, Andy Burnham has been quoted as saying he wants a service in certain northern cities like that seen in London. However, it is worth remembering that Northern received the highest subsidy prior to Covid, which in turn allowed lower ticket prices to be charged compared with those outside of the Oyster ticketing system used in the capital.
So, with that in mind, I thought it was about time we took a look at the real ‘Age of the Train’.
This got me looking for the most recent statistics on passenger train fleet ages. The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) releases this information annually as part of a range of statistics relating to the railway. The most recent figures are for 2020-21 and reveal that Merseyrail has the oldest fleet, at 41.6 years. This indeed plays into the perception that the north has the oldest trains, but it’s worth noting here that
Merseyrail only has its fleet of Class 507 and 508s because the new Stadler Class 777s are late entering traffic. Once the new electric multiple units are in traffic, then Merseyrail will go towards the bottom of the table.
The next few operators in the table are interesting. Considering the comment about hand-me-downs for the north, it is somewhat surprising that the next operator based in northern England is Northern – in eighth place. Grand Central is ninth, Transpennine Express is 19th and Hull Trains is 23rd out of 23 operators.
Of the top five operators, TFW Rail was second, with a fleet aged 29.9 years, followed by Chiltern Railways (27.9 years), East Midlands Railway (23.4 years) and South Western Railway (22.9 years). Hardly all northern operators.
TFW Rail is due to receive brand new CAF Class 197 DMUS, Stadler Class 231 DEMUS, Class 756 tri-modes and Class 398 tram-trains, so that average age will drop significantly, although it will still be
affected by the use of older Mk.4 coaches and Class 230 battery units.
EMR is due to receive new Class 810s from Hitachi and cascaded Class 170s from West Midlands Railway, so that too will see a drop in its average fleet age profile. Finally, SWR is also expected to see a significant decrease at some point, once the Alstom Class 701s finally enter traffic, replacing EMUS built in the 1980s. For Chiltern Railways, there is no plan for a new train fleet at the moment. This means that the Turbos, dating from 1991-92, will continue in traffic, serving London and some of the most affluent areas of England. Any change is likely to be the mode of traction, with diesel engines replaced by alternative power, such as the Hybridflex that has recently gone into service using 168329 (Railways Illustrated, issue 230) and the HYDROFLEX version using 165004, which is in the process of being modified. Even
Northern, which is currently in eighth place, could see its fleet get even younger after it launched a tender for a new fleet of alternatively powered trains. Its chief executive, Tricia Williams, has also told me previously that she would like a standardised CAF fleet, which would fit with the Department for Transport’s ideas published back in 2016 in a rolling stock strategy.
Looking at the bottom end of the table where the youngest fleets are, there are two operators based in northern England (Hull Trains and Transpennine Express) and a third that has all of its destinations in the region (and Scotland) on its route from London (LNER).
Heathrow Express is the youngest non-northern operator (4.6 years), and this is thanks to the removal from service of the CAF Class 332 fleet, which was replaced by Class 387/1s transferred from Great Western
Railway. At 6.8 years, London Overground is the third youngest, due to the introduction of Class 710s and the withdrawal of Class 315s and 317s.
TPE could yet get younger still once an order for as many as 30 new locomotives is placed, which would replace the Class 68s sub-leased from Direct Rail Services, although whether additional coaching stock will be ordered has not been confirmed. Interestingly, the CAF Mk.5a fleet can be extended to seven-coach formations from the existing five coaches, so there could yet be an order. And this would see TPE’S average fleet age get even younger.
So, what does this all mean? The north does have some older fleets, including the current oldest, but hand-me-downs are in use elsewhere and there are plenty of new trains in a region that some would have you think never benefits from such investment.