Rail Express

The past month has been busy for Rail Express. We’ve been able to get out and meet people, arrange interviews and visits and sample new fleets. It’s been fascinating learning about the introduction of new, and not-so-new, fleets across the country. I’ll be honest, I thought it was a lot easier than it actually is but I was only able to discover that by speaking to people on the ground who make these plans happen. That is my aim for this publication – I want us to be talking to those actually making the railway work, rather than talking heads. This month you can read about Rail Operations Group in the latest of my exclusive interviews (pages 76-79). ROG has been a force for good in the industry since it began operating…

TESTING of the first Rail Operations Group Class 93 tri-mode locomotive is underway in Valencia, Spain. Stadler is building an initial 10 ‘93s’ although there is an option for a further 20 locomotives which must be exercised by the end of the year. STAR Capital will fund them. In an interview with Rail Express (see pages 76-79), Rail Operations (UK) Ltd chief executive officer Mr Dave Burley revealed that No. 93001 is due to be delivered to Portbury Dock on April 11, before being moved to the Rail Innovation and Development Centre (RIDC) at Old Dalby where it will remain for around a fortnight while initial testing is undertaken. Once that is completed it will be dragged to the Class 93’s maintenance base which, as this issue of Rail Express went to press,…

A Class 47/7 operating in push-pull with a Mk.2f Driving Brake Standard Open (DBSO) ran on the main line in passenger service for the first time in almost 33 years on February 24-26. Preserved No. 47712 Lady Diana Spencer, owned by the Crewe Diesel Preservation Group (CDPG), powered a rake of Locomotive Services’ Mk.3s and DBSO No. 9707 on a three-day charter that ran from Crewe-Edinburgh and north to Inverness. This was the first time since May 1990 that a ‘47’ and DBSO operated in push-pull mode on the main line. The train was formed of Buffet Standard No. 10404, Open Firsts (FO) Nos. 11066/082, Open Standards (TSO) Nos. 12111/171 and the DBSO. The CDPG also owns a DBSO, No. 9711, but this was not part of the set, and had until…

LOCOMOTIVE-hauled trains operated by West Coast Railway were provided to take passengers between London Liverpool Street and Peterborough on February 18/19 due to closures on the East Coast Main Line (ECML). West Coast Railway No. 47813 and 47815 Great Western top-and-tailed a rake of 10 Riviera Trains Mk.2s on both days, covering for the lack of trains on the ECML south of St Neots. The ‘47s’ hauled the trains via Ely, Cambridge and the West Anglia Main Line (WAML) and into London Liverpool Street. In a similar fashion to the additional trains operated by WCR taking mourners to London last year, following the death of HM Queen Elizabeth II, the trains were not advertised and did not appear on the National Rail ticketing website. WCR dispatched the ‘47s’ from Carnforth to Nemesis Rail’s Burton…

NEXUS took delivery of the first Tyne and Wear Metro Class 555, No. 555003, built by Stadler, on February 28. The five-car train was delivered to Gosforth depot by rail having arrived from Switzerland where it was manufactured. Testing and commissioning will now begin ahead of the Class 555s entering service this autumn. Nexus has 46 five-car trains on order as part of a £362 million modernisation programme. Testing has already been undertaken using various sets across Europe and at the Velim test track in the Czech Republic The trains will feature air-conditioning, an open-plan interior, linear seating, charging points, USB chargers, ‘double’ grab poles, more than 40 CCTV cameras and sliding steps at doors to improve accessibility. There are two multi-use areas for buggies, bicycles and heavy luggage as well as four…

CROSSCOUNTRY has confirmed that its fleet of five High Speed Trains will be withdrawn by October. XC has a fleet of 12 Class 43 power cars and 40 Mk.3 coaches. These are formed into five HST sets, although since the pandemic there have only been two booked diagrams for the trains each day. An XC spokesperson told RE on March 3, that two HSTs would be removed from traffic in September, with the other three following in October. They told RE that the HSTs would be replaced by pairs of Voyagers operating on the same route, and that there would be no capacity loss. They did not say if extra Class 221s being sent off-lease by Avanti West Coast would be acquired. The current XC contract expires on October 15, after which it…