56 Modern Railways April 2019 http://www.modern-railways.com
to that on the Class 395s is to be adopted for
the Azumas, with some rubber mouldings
between the cars. The Office of Rail and Road –
the relevant safety authority in this case – has
authorised the trains for entry into service,
provided Hitachi has in place a programme for
modifying units to reduce the climbing risk.
In early March, LNER had two trains that it
was using for driver training purposes, with an
increase to four imminent. Some 90 drivers are
in training or already passed on the Azumas,
with all LNER’s 390 drivers set to be trained
over time. With the ducks coming into a row
a few months later than originally planned, the
first Azumas should be in passenger service
some time in May. The first nine trains will cover
six diagrams on the Leeds route, with DavidHorne anticipating introduction to Edinburgh
in the summer. By August 2020, the entire
fleet of 65 new trains is set to be in service.
Whether or not today’s fleet of 30 ‘225s’
and 15 ‘125s’ will all be stood down is a moot
point. Former operator Virgin Trains East
Coast anticipated keeping a small fleet of
‘pocket rocket’ shortened ‘225s’; David Horne,
whose Managing Directorship has spanned
both the VTEC and LNER eras, confirms that
65 Azumas is insufficient for the timetable
aspirations on the East Coast. ‘It is notable that
ETCS was fitted on the Class 91 driver training
simulator at King’s Cross, but the economics
of new trains have changed in recent years.
We may keep some “225s”, or it might make
sense to just buy some more new trains.’SERVICE INTENSIFICATION
The first big winner from the modernisation
will be Harrogate, which in December 2019
is set to go from today’s one through train
a day to King’s Cross to a two-hourly service
throughout the day using bi-modes.
Also gaining will be Lincoln, again with just
one through train a day at present. In December,
today’s four daily stoppers terminating at
Newark will be extended to Lincoln, again
taking advantage of bi-mode technology.
Importantly for the cathedral city’s economy, an
08.06 through train off the Cross and an evening
return will allow tourists to venture out from
the capital on a day trip to Lincoln. Altogether,
Lincoln will see today’s sole daily through train
rising to six in December, seven days a week.
Hull will retain its present one through
LNER train to London, but the city already
benefits from a day-long through service
provided by open access operator Hull Trains.
LNER aspires to improve the service to
Bradford to once every two hours, but is
reluctant to adopt splitting and joining
at Leeds, fearing this would introduce
fragility to the service. Changes to the
Bradford service are pencilled in for 2020.
The major redrafting of the East Coast
timetable, originally planned for December 2020,
has been rescheduled for December 2021 as a
result of the King’s Cross remodelling slipping
back. The 2021 timetable will see eight inter-city
paths an hour out of London. One hour will
have six paths for LNER and two for open access
operators (which then will comprise today’s Hull
Trains and Grand Central, along with FirstGroup
with its planned five return services between
London and Edinburgh each day). On alternate
hours LNER will have seven paths, with the
remaining one for open access purposes.
The aim is that in December 2021 most
Leeds journeys will be at two hours, while
Edinburgh will be a shade over four hours.
Besides more frequent services, the
Azumas represent a huge increase in capacity
as the 26-metre carriages result in 100 orClimbing hazard? Inter-car cables on Azuma. Tony MilesJavelin solution: inter-car connectors
on Class 395. Philip SherrattBig winner: an Azuma on a test run at Harrogate
on 11 February 2019, where a two-hourly service
is planned in December. Andrew J. Dodd052-057_MR_Apr 2019_LNER.indd 56 11/03/2019 17:22