Rolling stock

Heavy delays to new trains forces TfL to bring in temporary replacements on London Overground

29 January 2019Modified electric trains have been launched by TfL on the London Overground as a temporary replacement for the delayed delivery of new Class 710 electric trains. Earlier this month, the planned rollout of electric trains on the troubled Gospel Oa...

Delayed new Caledonian Sleeper trains complete first test to London in ‘exciting landmark’

23 January 2019New Caledonian Sleeper carriages have made their first test run from Scotland to London Euston ahead of the £100m fleet’s delayed launch in May this year. The carriages will include en-suite bathrooms and double beds, operating betwee...

Rail company in bid to build multi-million-pound rail depot near Ipswich station

22 January 2019Rail company Freightliner has revealed that it is hoping to build a new multi-million pound depot for its trains just outside Ipswich station. Freightliner said it wants to build an extensive workshop to maintain its locomotives and wagons, with...

Porterbrook awards £11m contract to modify new digital Heathrow Express fleet

22 January 2019Porterbrook has unveiled a £11m contract with Bombardier to modify 12 Class 387 trains in preparation for their use on the Heathrow Express rail link. The 12 specially converted ‘Electrostar’ trains currently operate on London c...

Siemens Deep Tube: Keeping London moving

22 January 2019Paul Baines, sales director for rolling stock at Siemens Mobility Ltd, expands on the many benefits of the £1.5bn Deep Tube rolling stock contract award. In November, Siemens Mobility Ltd was awarded a £1.5bn contract by London Underg...

Crossrail train doors open onto tracks in fault at Stratford station

21 January 2019TfL has launched an investigation after footage filmed by a passenger showed the door of a new Crossrail train opening directly onto the track. Footage posted on Twitter by Johnny Beverton at Stratford station showed a door opening on the wrong s...

Unions launch campaign after closure notice served on 200-job Glasgow rail depot

18 January 2019Rail maintenance company Gemini Rail has served a closure notice on its Springburn depot and served workers with redundancy notices, sparking unions to launch a campaign to save the rail works. Gemini Rail announced its intention to close the dep...

Train derailment between Sheffield and Doncaster prompts RAIB investigation

17 January 2019The RAIB have launched an investigation into a train derailment after a freight train came off the tracks between Sheffield and Doncaster, causing major disruption. The freight locomotive had just left Roberts Road depot at around 5.17pm on 21 De...

Porterbrook signs supply deal for new rail parcel service

08 January 2019Porterbrook has signed a deal to supply specialist train operator the Rail Operations Group (ROG) with bi-mode FLEX trains to help the group enter the rail postal industry. The derby-based company is the largest owner of passenger trains in the U...

New hydrogen ‘Breeze’ trains unveiled by Alstom and Eversholt

07 January 2019Hydrogen trains will be introduced in as little as two years after a deal has been struck to convert more than 100 trains into the first fleet powered by hydrogen fuel cell technology. The new trains, to be called “Breeze” trains, are...

Final intercity train sees GWR deliver 10,000 more seats

03 January 2019More than 10,000 more train seats have now been made available on the Great Western Railway (GWR) network after the train operator delivered the remainder of the new fleet of Class 800 intercity trains yesterday. Before Christmas GWR took the del...

Hitachi and Spencer Group join forces for £500m Tyne and Wear Metro deal bid

12 December 2018Hitachi and Spencer Group have launched a joint bid to win a £500m contract to build new trains and a maintenance depot for the Tyne and Wear Metro. The two northern engineering giants have formed a partnership to bid for the contract which...

ScotRail brings in new Hitachi trains and services for disrupted timetable launch

11 December 2018New electric Class 385 trains and more than 100 new services have been introduced by ScotRail, but the launch of its new timetable has been plagued by signalling faults and staff shortages. ScotRail says new electric and high-speed trains includi...

Greater Anglia installs innovative WSP braking system across rural services

20 November 2018Greater Anglia has fitted an innovative new braking system, known as Wheel Slide Protection (WSP) to more of its rural trains across its network. WSP has been fitted to five of the TOC’s single carriage Class 153 trains which operate on rur...

HS2 train race: making the case

20 November 2018Bombardier and Hitachi’s commitment to providing the best HS2 rolling stock pitch to the government was signified with the launch of their new bid centre in Birmingham in September. With other transport giants Alstom, CAF, Talgo and Siemens...