The Anonymous Widower

Fourteen New Trains To Drive First Rail Open Access Growth

The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from First Group.

These four bullet points are sub-headings.

• The Group has signed an agreement with Angel Trains and Hitachi to lease 14 new five-car class 80X Hitachi electric, battery electric or bi-mode trains (70 cars in total) at a cost of c.£500m including maintenance, over a ten year lease period
• The trains will be manufactured by Hitachi in County Durham, securing the skills base and jobs in the local area
• The new trains will enable FirstGroup to significantly expand its open access portfolio and will be used on the newly announced London-Carmarthen route and to increase the number of cars on the existing Lumo and Hull Trains services
• The agreement also contains an option for FirstGroup to lease up to an additional 13 trains on the same terms if the Group’s open access applications are granted by the Office of Rail and Road (‘ORR’)

These first three paragraphs add a bit more detail.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is visiting Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, today to celebrate a significant agreement for the Hitachi factory which has secured an order to manufacture 70 new rail cars for FirstGroup’s growing open access business, creating certainty for the manufacturing skills base, and the factory’s future.

The Lease Agreement will deliver 14 new trains, which will not only give the Group a homogenous fleet across its open access operations, ensuring flexibility and reliability for customers, but also facilitates the Group’s strategic objective of materially increasing its open access capacity. Delivery of the new trains is expected to commence in late 2027. The lease will be financed by Angel Trains, adding to their portfolio of Hitachi assets. The trains will be maintained by Hitachi at their facilities around the country.

The trains will be used on the Group’s open access rail services, including the Carmarthen-London route announced on 5 December, and the existing Hull Trains and Lumo services on the East Coast Mainline.

Note.

1. Does the presence of Keir Starmer indicate any approval for open access?
2. Trains could be electric, battery electric or bi-mode.
3. Bi-mode trains should only be purchased these days, if they are convertible to battery-electric trains. Hitachi’s can.
4. Delivery is expected to commence in late 2027.
5. The first fourteen trains will be deployed on the London to Carmarthen, Edinburgh and Hull routes.

This table shows the trains needed initially  for each route.

• Carmarthen – Class 802 trains – 5 tpd – 5 trains – 75.3 miles unelectrified
• Edinburgh – Class 803 trains – 5 tpd – 5 trains – electrified
• Hull – Class 802 trains – 5 tpd – 5 trains – 44.3 miles unelectrified

Note.

1. tpd is trains per day.
2. I’m assuming that as unelectrified distances to Carmarthen and Hull are not that far apart, the number of trains needed is the same.
3. Class 802 trains are bi-mode.
4. Class 803 trains are electric.

After the fourteen new trains are delivered, there will be a combined fleet of 29 trains.

Consider.

• Hull Trains have started running some services as pairs of trains. I wrote about this in Ten-Car Hull Trains.
• Lumo has been a success and perhaps needs more capacity.

The Wikipedia entry for Grand Union says this.

Grand Union proposed to operate with ex-LNER Class 91s and Rail Operations Group Class 93s hauling nine-car Mark 4s and a Driving Van Trailer.

So perhaps the Carmarthen service needs ten-car trains.

That would mean that the number of routes needed for the three routes would be as follows.

• Carmarthen – Class 802 trains – 5 tpd -10 trains
• Edinburgh – Class 803 trains – 5 tpd -10 trains
• Hull – Class 802 trains – 7 tpd – 10 trains

It would appear that we’re a train short with 29 in the combined fleet against a need of 30 trains.

But then it would also appear that Hull Trains can provide the required five/ten car service with only four trains.

I would assume that the extra train, goes to make up the numbers for  Lumo’s Carmarthen service.

December 6, 2024 - Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Angel Trains, Battery-Electric Trains, Class 802 Train, Class 803 Trains, East Coast Main Line, FirstGroup, Hitachi, Hitachi Intercity Battery Train, Hull Trains, Keir Starmer, Lumo, Open Access Operators