Rolling stock

D-Train starts next set of mainline testing

14.06.17: Vivarail has today begun its next set of mainline testing for its battery-powered Class 230 D-Trains on the Cotswold Line between Evesham and Moreton-in-Marsh. A shuttle service will leave the Quinton Rail Technology Centre (QRTC) at 11.39...

Greater Anglia reveals mock-up of new Stadler FLIRT trains

07.06.17: Mock-ups of Greater Anglia’s new trains being built by Stadler have today been revealed by the operator. Just a day after Greater Anglia announced that its refurbished Class 321 rolling stock was ready to enter passenger service, it h...

Greater Anglia’s revamped Class 321s set to enter passenger service

06.06.17: Greater Anglia’s newly refurbished Class 321 Renatus rolling stock is being prepared to enter service for passengers very soon, boasting a number of features that make the carriages more modern and energy-efficient than before. The op...

RSSB moves forward on robotic rolling stock maintenance innovations

02.06.17: Four new robotic technologies to maintain and inspect rolling stock are ready to be taken forward and developed for the rail industry, the RSSB has announced. The projects, which are all part of an RSSB funded programme of work, seek to fin...

Eurostar introduces new e320 trains on London-Brussels route

30.05.17: Eurostar has this week started running its new e320 trains on the London-Brussels route as part of the company’s £1bn programme of investment. A total of 17 new e320s will be introduced to Eurostar’s fleet over the next 18...

New Merseyrail fleet a platform for future innovations

26.05.17: David Powell, programme director of rolling stock at Merseytravel, talks about the procurement of the new fleet of metro trains for the Merseyrail network and plans for the future. Back in December 2016, Liverpool city-region leaders made t...

Great Northern completes refurb of Fen Line Class 387s

23.05.17: Great Northern has now replaced all the trains running between King’s Lynn and Cambridge with more modern, air conditioned carriages. The news comes a day after the new Cambridge North station was opened, which will serve both Great N...

A major production year for the new TransPennine Express fleet

19.05.17: Robin Davis, head of new fleet at TransPennine Express (TPE), talks to RTM about the progress being made on the TOC’s new CAF and Hitachi Rail Europe (HRE) rolling stock. Just over a year ago, FirstGroup took sole control of the TPE f...

RSSB unveils innovative carriage design for passenger and freight use

12.05.17: An innovative design has been released by the RSSB that allows seats on passenger services to be stowed away and carriages to be used for freight during off peak hours. For the first time, carriages could be configured to carry passengers a...

Alstom unveils new EMU for UK and launches CLever at Railtex

10.05.17: Alstom has unveiled plans to introduce a new regional EMU platform for the UK at this year’s Railtex exhibition, as well as launching its new CLever cantilever for the country’s rail network. Presenting the new EMU design to the...

IET fleet work moves forward at Hitachi's Pistoia plant ahead of UK delivery

09.05.17: It won’t be long now until the brand-new bi-mode Class 802 trains make their way from Italy to the UK’s south west coast, writes Berry Sas, project director at Hitachi Rail Europe, in an exclusive update for RTM. In the coming y...

Hitachi gets to work on bodyshells for Virgin’s Azuma Class 800s

05.05.17: Hitachi has today started work on Virgin Trains’ new fleet of Azuma Class 800s that are due to enter service on the east coast in 2018. Engineers at Hitachi’s factory in Kasado, Japan, have begun building the bodyshells ahead of...

Great Northern unveils refurbished carriages for Fen Line

02.05.17: Great Northern passengers are set for an improved rail experience after it was today announced that new carriages with air-conditioning and wi-fi will be rolled out across services on the King’s Lynn – Cambridge Fen Line route. ...

RSSB issues guidance to reduce broken-down train disruptions

27.04.17: New industry guidance has been issued by the RSSB to reduce the amount of disruption that is caused by broken-down trains on the UK rail network, a move the body claims could lead to savings of up to £2.5m a year for the sector. In a...

RMT slams ‘crazy’ First MTR decision to drop new £200m SWT trains

31.03.17: First MTR is reported to be abandoning £200m worth of carriages that are being built in Germany – a decision that union RMT has described “crazy” as it called on the government to undertake an investigation into the decis...