EMU
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Hitachi wins £350million order for new West Coast trains
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Hitachi’s Newton Aycliffe factory will deliver a new fleet of 23 trains for Avanti West Coast in 2022. The completion of Intercity Express Programme (IEP) and ScotRail Class 385 EMU orders are on the horizon, and the £350million deal is a further boost for the County Durham facility after securing the contract to supply bi-mode…
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Unique Austrian line to lose passenger services
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THE 21.2km-long Feldbach to Bad Gleichenberg line, east of Graz, in south-eastern Austria, is closing in December 2020. The line is owned and operated by regional rail operator Steiermärkische Landesbahnen (STLB) and has used 1,800V DC electrification since it opened in 1931. The two single-car EMUs used to operate services are the original vehicles, albeit…
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New platform at Dunbar as Robroyston and Warrington West stations open
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TWO new stations opened for the start of the winter 2019/20 timetable, with a new platform at a third. Robroyston, between Stepps and Springburn on the former Caledonian Railway line to Cumbernauld, has been built close to the site of its predecessor, which closed on June 11, 1956. It serves a new development of 1,600…
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West Coast looks forward with Avanti
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Words: Ben Jones NEW trains, more services and a better customer experience are the priorities for Avanti West Coast (AWC), which replaced Virgin Trains on December 8. First-Trenitalia’s West Coast Partnership joint venture will operate the country’s busiest inter-city railway until March 31, 2031, during which time it will also become the shadow operator for…
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Class 195 roll-out continues – but ‘Pacers’ will run into 2020
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DELIVERIES of new DMUs and EMUs to Northern by CAF are running late, although the company introduced a further nine Class 195s over the Calder Valley line between Leeds and Chester via Manchester and Warrington in October. It takes the number of ‘195s’ in traffic to 29, exactly half the order. Northern has said because…
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Factory commissioning of Merseyrail Class 777 begins
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STATIC factory-based testing of the first of 52 Stadler Class 777 four-car EMUs for Merseyrail has started in Switzerland. When engineers are satisfied, the set will be moved to Germany for dynamic testing on Siemens Wildenrath test circuit, before the first completed set is delivered to Merseyside later in the year. The first trains of…
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Electric Railway Museum stock stored at Colne Valley
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A NUMBER of historic items have been accommodated at the Colne Valley Railway (CVR), Essex, following closure of the Electric Railway Museum at Coventry in 2017. The move was made possible as the CVR had recently secured its own future following a closure threat the year before. The stock includes BR EMU driving trailers, Class…
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Ryde Rail: A History of Tube Trains on the Isle of Wight
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By Richard C Long ONE of the quirkiest and most interesting parts of the UK rail network is the line from Shanklin to Ryde Pier Head on the Isle of Wight. Since 1967, the line has been operated using second-hand London Transport Tube trains, and this new book provides a thorough history of the island’s electric…
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TRAIN TEST: LONDON OVERGROUND CLASS 710
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Transport for London’s Overground operation has transformed services on many local railways in the capital. As the city’s population grows and demand increases, its train fleet is expanding to create additional capacity. Ben Jones visits the modernised Gospel Oak to Barking line to sample the first Bombardier ‘Aventra’ design to enter service. Class 710 is the…
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No Greater Anglia ‘Aventras’ before 2020
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By Ben Jones GREATER Anglia (GA) has confirmed it will not be able to introduce its Class 720 ‘Aventra’ EMUs before the end of 2019. Production and testing of the new trains is running significantly behind schedule after Bombardier experienced delays with the introduction of Crossrail Class 345s and London Overground Class 710s. However, the…
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