First of long-awaited £60m rail fleet is unveiled at city’s station
THE FIRST of the long-awaited brand new Hull Trains fleet was unveiled at the city’s Paragon Station yesterday.
The train operator has invested £60m into five state-of-the-art, bi-mode intercity trains – known as Class 802s – which should be fully operational in early 2020.
Trains two and three are currently en route from Italy, travelling to the UK on railway track through Germany and France before crossing via the Channel Tunnel.
They then have to be fully tested and complete 5,000 miles of fault-free running before going into passenger service. The first of the trains should be in service within weeks.
Louise Cheeseman, managing director, said she was confident the Paragon fleet – which is built using Japanese bullet train technology – would revolutionise train travel between Hull and London.
She said: “We have made a significant investment in these hitech trains which will completely overhaul the current service as our customers know it.
“Not only will these trains give a smoother ride, they will be a lot more reliable than our existing trains, they will include complimentary Wi-Fi, plug and USB sockets throughout, a brand new at-seat trolley service and an even greater choice and improved quality of hot and cold food.
“We are increasing capacity on our trains by 22 per cent which means more people are able to travel too.”
Hull Trains currently operates 92 services between Hull and London every week.
The new trains can switch seamlessly between electric and diesel power.
The train operator, followed by TransPennine Express, was revealed to be the worstperforming in the country in September for the number of trains arriving on time after tougher standards were introduced.
Trains are now considered to be punctual if they are within a minute of the schedule, rather than the previous five or 10 minutes.