Industry News Premier Rail

New TransPennine Express trains on track for the North

Written by Amy

Train company TransPennine Express has released an image of the first completed body shell from its brand new fleet of train carriages.

TransPennine Express

 

 

A total of 66 shells are currently being built for 13-five carriage Mark 5A Coaches which will be operated by TransPennine Express.

The carriages are on track to enter service in 2018 and will run between Liverpool, Manchester, Huddersfield, Leeds, York, Scarborough and Middlesbrough.

These, along with the other new trains being delivered by TransPennine Express will provide 20,000 extra peak per day with more than 13 million seats being introduced across our timetable by 2019.

Each, high quality 291 seat train will contain exciting features that will transform the customer experience, from spacious, comfortable seating to free Wi-Fi, plug sockets, USB ports, improved information systems and an on-board media server for streaming TV shows and films.

The new carriages are being built by Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF) in Spain and financed by Beacon Rail. They will be pulled by Class 68 locomotives which will also be owned by Beacon Rail, leased by Direct Rail Services and maintained at Alstom’s facilities at Longsight (Manchester).

TPE will deliver an investment of more than £500million between next year (2018) and 2020 in three new train fleets which will mean 13 million extra seats across the North and into Scotland.

The three fleets will comprise of:

–       13 five carriage Mark 5A Coaches – built by CAF in Spain

–       12 five carriage Class 397 electric trains – built by CAF in Spain

–       19 five carriage Class 802 bi-mode trains – built by Hitachi Rail Europe in County Durham, England

TransPennine Express’s Managing Director, Leo Goodwin said: “It’s great that our plans are now becoming reality and I want customers in the North to know that our new trains plus more seats are on the way.

“These spacious carriages will contain brilliant new features that will really benefit customers and the on-board experience will be completely reimagined. Soon, customers will be able to travel in style on brand new, state-of the art trains.”

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Amy