Modern Railways – April 2019

http://www.modern-railways.com April 2019 Modern Railways 83

Moving Wheels

‘717’ FULL SERVICE SOON

A FULL introduction of Govia

Thameslink Railway’s new

Siemens-built Class 717s on Great

Northern suburban services was

thought to be imminent as Modern

Railways went to press.

Siemens has delivered the

full 25x6-car fleet, and preview

services between Moorgate and

Gordon Hill have been operating

since September last year in the

northbound direction only. GTR is

finalising operating processes for the

units in the Northern City Line tunnels

between Moorgate and Drayton Park

prior to a full service introduction.

Modern Railways understands

the operator hopes to have five

units in service by April, but that a

cautious introduction is planned to

ensure reliability. Each six-car unit

will enable two of the 44 three-car

Class 313s to be withdrawn, with

ambitions for the full ‘717’ fleet to

be in service by the summer.

GTR has stored ‘717s’ at various

locations pending their introduction

due to a lack of space at Hornsey

depot. The latest move in late

February saw units moved to store

at Worthing, a move which freed up

space at the depot for a locomotive

to be coupled to a ‘313’ ready for

when the units are withdrawn.

Moorgate unit: EMU No 717003 at Finsbury Park on a

preview service on 22 January 2019. Philip Sherratt

SCOTRAIL ‘385s’ ROLL OUT AS ‘365s’ WITHDRAWN

SCOTRAIL INTRODUCED its

Hitachi-built Class 385 EMUs on

services out of Glasgow Central

from 18 February, as it prepared to

withdraw its Class 365s in mid-March.

From 18 February the ‘385s’ began

working on the Cathcart Circle and

Newton routes, releasing elderly

Class 314 EMUs which are being

withdrawn by ScotRail. The ‘385s’ were

already operating on the Edinburgh

to Glasgow route via Falkirk, on the

Stirling, Dunblane and Alloa route

and on services to North Berwick.

ScotRail drafted in the

10 Class 365s, owned by Eversholt

Rail and dubbed ‘Happy Trains’,

following delays to the ‘385s’, with

the first sets operating in passenger

service on 23 June last year. With

sufficient ‘385s’ now received, the

operator planned to begin a phase

transfer of diagrams from 13 March,

with all ‘365s’ due to be out of use

by 18 March. Latterly the class

has been deployed on Edinburgh

to Dunblane services, having

initially worked on the Edinburgh

to Glasgow route via Falkirk.

ScotRail commented that

having one less traction type

would assist with driver rostering

and maintenance, and that whilst

they were very reliable running

as eight-car sets, there had been

some quite disruptive failures

with single ‘365s’. The company

confirmed to Modern Railways

that it had no plans to keep any

sets as standbys as it needed the

siding space for Class 385 units.

ScotRail has ordered 70 ‘385s’ from

Hitachi, with 24x4-car and 46x3-car

trains. The class is also set to be

introduced on the newly-electrified

Shotts route between Edinburgh

and Glasgow later this year.

Philip Sherratt/Tony Miles

FIRST REFURBISHED ‘323’

THE FIRST refurbished West

Midlands Trains Class 323 has

returned to passenger service.

Upgrades carried out at the

Gemini Rail Services facility at

Wolverton included provision of

an accessible toilet, upgraded

passenger information screens,

new seat covers and an internal

deep clean. No 323217 was

the first unit to be completed,

with all 26 of the class which

work with WMT due to follow

by the end of 2020.

Spreading their wings: Class 385. This is unit Nos 385106 and 385005 at Edinburgh

Park while en route from Waverley to Queen Street on 7 February 2019. Ian Lothian

Refreshed ‘333’ rolled out

NORTHERN HAS introduced its

first refurbished Class 333 EMU into

passenger service.

The first unit to be treated,

No 333013, has received Northern’s

new livery as well as a refreshed

interior with newly refurbished

seats and new LED lighting.

The work was carried out at RTS

Holbeck by Chrysalis Rail and

Diamond Seating. Northern says

a further phase of refurbishment

to add other improvements will

follow at a later date. The 16-strong

fleet operates on electrified

routes across West Yorkshire.

Northern is refurbishing all existing

units being retained long-term,

and says that by early March it had

refurbished more than half of these.

As well as the ‘333’, the operator has

completed refurbishment work

on 37 Class 150s, five Class 155s,

30 Class 156s, 10 Class 158s, eight

Class 170s and 32 Class 319s. The

refurbishment programme is

planned to be complete by the

end of 2020. This is in addition to

the introduction of 101 new DMUs

and EMUs built by CAF, which are

due to enter service this year.

Northern livery: No 333013 at Skipton. Courtesy Northern

Refreshed interior: inside one

of the Class 333s that has been

treated. Courtesy Northern

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