Class 387 Trains On Track
February 2016’s Modern Railways has some news on the building by Bombardier of Class 387 trains. Three orders are in the pipeline.
- 27 trains for Gatwick Express
- 8 trains for Great Western Railway
- 20 trains for Porterbrook
All are of four cars.
Modern Railways says this.
The 20×4-car units for Porterbrook (for an as-yet unnamed operator) will be built first, followed by the 8×4-car units for Great Western Railway.
I feel that we’ll be seeing Porterbrook’s twenty trains on the UK rail network before the end of 2016 or soon afterwards. You have to admire their business acumen in spotting the need.
The article also goes on to say that Bombardier has created a new facility dedicated to the Class 345 trains, that will be for Crossrail. So their production will not effect production of other trains.
Does this also mean that Bombardier could use the existing production facilities to create more Class 387 trains or build the Class 710 trains for the London Overground?
If it’s the first then there are several operators, who would like a new 110 mph electric multiple unit. If it were a 125 mph train, there would be more takers.
If it’s the second, then I’d be pleased to be riding new Aventras on the Gospel Oak to Barking Line and up and down the Lea Valley Lines.
I think that it is true to say, that judging by the mess, that is the Great Western Electrification, that Great Western Railway will have a few spare Class 387 trains, if any operator had an electrified railway.
I would also love to ask Porterbrook and/or Bombardier how many of the leasing company’s twenty trains will be delivered with an IPEMU capability.
As I’ve said many time before, a 125 mph four-car IPEMU would be some train and would transform rail services in East Anglia, Across the Pennines, on the Midland Main Line and perhaps many other places.
All is starting to be revealed!
The Anonymous Widower 
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