LNER 10-train deal with CAF
A new fleet of 10-car tri-mode units is expected to spell the end for the remaining Class 91 and Mk.4 sets on the East Coast Main Line.
SPANISH train builder Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF) has won a contract worth in excess of 500 million Euros (approximately £437 million) to build and maintain a 10-strong fleet of 10car tri-mode multiple units for London North Eastern Railway.
To be assembled at the company’s Newport plant in South Wales, the trains will be capable of taking traction power from 25kV AC overhead wires, as well as from on board batteries and diesel engines.
They will be part of CAF’s ‘Civity’ family, which includes the TransPennine Expressoperated Class 397 ‘Nova 2’ EMUs, to which they are expected to bear a strong resemblance.
Although details are still to be confirmed, LNER’s description of them as ‘long distance’ and trimode (which includes the ability to arrive and depart stations on battery power, thereby lowering noise and emissions compared to diesel) suggests their duties could include its most far-reaching AngloScottish diagrams to and from Aberdeen and Inverness, which each include 130-140 miles of unelectrified route. Since the withdrawal of the operator’s HSTs in 2019, these have been worked by Hitachi-built Class 800 bi-mode ‘Azumas’.
Financed and leased to LNER by Porterbrook, information has not yet been given about when production of the new trains will begin (the Newport factory is currently completing an order of Class 197 DMUs for Transport for Wales) or their anticipated entry into service. But their introduction will lead to the retirement of the remaining ‘Intercity 225’ sets formed of Mk.4s and a Class 91.
Based in Leeds
The CAF-built units will be based at Neville Hill. The RM understands that representatives from the manufacturer visited the depot in late August and are planning to install lifting jacks running the full length of the maintenance shed, and overhead walkways as part of preparations for the new fleet.
LNER announced its intention to procure at least 10 new intercity units to augment its fleet of 65 Hitachi-built ‘Azumas’ (23 Class 800 bi-mode and 42 Class 801 electric units) in October 2020, just weeks after the last of those trains entered service.
Given that Hitachi was beginning to experiment replacing one engine with a battery pack on a TransPennine Express Class 802 (almost identical to the ‘Azumas’, but with more powerful diesel units) as well as similar plans for a Great Western Railway Class 802, it seemed the potential might exist to purchase trains from them which would meet the specifications, while also being largely familiar to crews and engineering teams and compatible with existing maintenance systems and facilities.
Hitachi has, however, refused to confirm any involvement with the procurement project, while neither CAF nor LNER would elaborate on the decision, other than to say it was the result of a “thorough” process.