[AMcWhirter]

As we have already reported the new rolling stock will enter service in October.

Coaches are being constructed in Spain then delivered by rail to Glasgow where they are now being fitted out.

Augmented Reality

[transtraxman]

CAF, who are building these coaches, has entered the British train/tram construction market in a big way. It is centred at Beasain in the (Sp)Basque Country and is very well run. Every week it announces new orders from places such as Mexico, Brazil, Philipines and most recently a tram order for Amsterdam. To help develop the British market it has set up an operation in Newport.
Add this to Alstolm´s setting up of an installation in Widnes, Cheshire, and the previous setting up of manufacturing facilities by Hitachi in the North East so you can see that UK manufacturing is on the up and up. Now it is up to the government to ensure there is a steady flow of orders so that the factories remain open.Is it too much to ask of the government that they think the long term so there is rational beneficial investment in the rail infrastructure?

[1nfrequent]

transtaxman – I agree with you that the government should be thinking long term and investing in rail infrastructure but I fear very much that it won’t happen. I know some senior people at Hitachi and notwithstanding the investment in the North East, there’s a nervousness about the long-term future, which is why they could an Italian manufacturer a couple of years ago (not helped by criticism of the seating on the Great Western trains, which were introduced recently).

I hope the fear’s misplaced but I find it difficult to be optimistic.

1F

[openfly]

@Infrequent There is massive investment in the Brighton line….we haven’t had a train at weekends for years due to “the investment”, it’s always an awful bus replacement service.
…..or is it just their way of reducing train services because Southern have too few drivers. What a suggestion!!

[nevereconomy]

Of course if we were not spending 52 billion (twice that by the time it gets done) on getting from London to Birmingham half an hour faster then we can now, there might be some money for proper improvements in our rail system. As one who as a small boy lived and breathed railways and their engineering living in Crewe, it is very sad to see that just 60 years later we now cannot make a locomotive or carriage any more without a foreign investor..If we had had more forward looking governments of both parties we could have had high speed rail for the kind of much smaller investment the French had in the 60’s/70’s.

[lostantipod]

Given the shoddy daily commute that railways across the U.K. are providing at the moment, not to mention regularly closing routes for work on weekends and public holidays, why would anyone in their right mind give more money to our TOCs, and take more risk on being late, by buying sleeper tickets ? Yes we deserve better rolling stock and on paper it makes sense….but the reality out there today is awful.

[AMcWhirter]

But new trains are coming to Hull Trains which has in recent times suffered a number of breakdowns * owing to its aging fleet.

* As I write there is major disruption on the ECML as one of this operator’s trains has failed at Welwyn and passengers have been evacuated. No reported injuries thank goodness.

These new trains can’t arrive soon enough. Planned service entry is December 2019.

http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/traction-rolling-stock/single-view/view/hull-trains-reveals-luxurious-and-aesthetically-appealing-at300-design.html

https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/news/live-hull-trains-passengers-evacuated-1553087?304

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