Tuesday 21st November 2023
2023 hasn’t exactly been a bumper year for new train introductions. Until now we’ve only had Stadler built Class 777s for Merseyrail and Class 231s for Transport for Wales back in January/February followed by c2c getting a few Class 720s for peak hour journeys, but on Monday last week West Midlands Trains’ brand London Northwestern Railway began running the latest new additions to its fleet, the Alstom built Class 730 electric powered trains.
This won’t be an overnight fleet transformation either, with initially only one Class 730 set running a handful of journeys just in the morning and evening peaks between Bletchley, Tring and Euston. And this is only a temporary measure. As you can see the trains are in WMT’s West Midlands Railway (WMR) orange and purple colours rather then the green and grey of sister brand, London Northwestern Railway (LNWR), which runs trains into and out of Euston leading to short term brand confusion for passengers.
Ultimately these first deliveries of 48 of what are classed 730/0 trains are destined for Cross-City services in the West Midlands including between Wolverhampton and Walsall and Redditch/Bromsgrove and Lichfield City. But because the company wants to urgently retire its fleet of five elderly Class 319 trains by the end of the year having enjoyed a second life with LNWR after their original gruelling years on the Southern and Thameslink networks, these new 730s are acting as a stop gap measure until the second batch classed as 730/2 of 36 trains arrive next year.
The difference between the two sub classes being the 730/0s come in three coach formation and the 730/2s have five coaches. Originally these were going to be Class 730/1 as the plan was to have 3+2 seating for the busy commuter journeys into and out of Euston but this has now been modified to all having 2+2 seating. The former will replace Class 323 trains in the West Midlands and the latter will see some Class 350s withdrawn as well as the 319s on the West Coast Main Line. The first Class 323 has already left WMR for Northern even though the new trains have yet to enter service in the West Midlands.
The 3-car 730/0s have 199 seats and 463 seats are in the 5-car 730/2s. The former have a top speed of 90mph and the latter 110 mph. LNWR reckon the 730/0s can take 345 standing passengers which is why it reckons the temporary use of 6-car trains offers greater capacity than the eight-car Class 350s and 319s being replaced, but I reckon that piece of arithmetic means fewer seats and more standing.
I took a ride on the new 730/0 on an afternoon peak journey out of Euston (15:54 to Tring) last week to see what it’s like for a passenger.
In a word, it’s good.
The seats are comfortable and perfectly suited to the type of journeys made across the West Midlands including ample leg room, especially for the priority seats.
They’re fully open, walk through, carriages and can be coupled together to provide a six carriage train – as is currently the case in service.
There are two or three mini type tables in each carriage which are bound to be popular for those arriving first on the train …
… as well as the usual plug and usb socket hidden centrally under the seat pairs…
… and what is very noticeable, is the wide open areas by each pair of doors per carriage, something becoming very common on many commuter trains (Greater Anglia please note – no fold down seats blocking the entrance/exit doors).
These areas include on each three carriage set, one area designated for three cycles…
… and another alongside the accessible toilet…
… for two wheelchairs. And another for the (open) litter bin.
One feature I’ve noticed on other trains manufactured by Alstom (formerly Bombardier) and also to be found on Greater Anglia’s Class 720s is the inclusion of fold down seats opposite the toilet door making it impossible for other passengers to walk past when in use.
The designers should follow the example set by Siemens on Thameslink’s Class 700s and leave a space at the narrowest point, although, as shown below I’d like to see at least one if not a couple more seats removed.
There’s only the one toilet on board each three carriage set but obviously that means two, if running as a six carriage train. The door locking mechanism is clearly marked with a button which lights up red when locked, rather than a switch…
… and as I’ve found on some other train designs (Hitachi Class 800s) the water doesn’t pour out in the centre of the bowl but rather too near the front edge meaning if you vigorously wash your hands as advised by hygiene experts, water inevitable drips down on to the floor or even more embarrassing, down your trousers/skirt.
The visual displays are informative showing where seats are available as well as the usual next stations and other stuff you get these days.
The trains come with underfloor heating and “intelligent air conditioning reacting to carriage environment” as well as WiFi, and each pair of doors has an opening button (but no close button) either side.
The doors for the accessible area…
… and cycles…
are both clearly shown on the outside.
Coming on the back of the new Class 196 diesel powered trains, these electric powered trains will bring Transport UK Group (formerly Abellio) owned West Midlands Trains’ total investment to ÂŁ690 million in new trains and infrastructure.
A much welcome improvement for passengers.
(Photo courtesy West Midlands Trains)
Roger French
Blogging timetable: 06:00 TThS with a New Bus Route bonus blog this Su.
Comments are welcome but please keep them relevant to the blog topic, avoid personal insults and add your name (or an identifier). Thank you.
BusAndTrainUser 
As one living in Norfolk I agree with you about the Greater Anglia units. What is even worse, with them, is the ramp leading up into each car. This has seats either side and people fall over as they are not expecting the change in floor level.
BTW, when I lived in Lichfield, the Cross City line was extended to Trent Valley. Not having been there for a few years (and not down to Trent Valley Station this Millennium) I am surprised that the service, to there, has been curtailed.
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Current reason as to curtailment of CrossCity service at Lichfield City instead of Trent Valley is due to the fact platform 3 at LTV is having to be replaced owing to poor structural condition which result in a lump breaking off hence the current curtailment with services a planned to resume next year
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Gosh, I didn’t know that. From memory it was a 1950’s concrete platform probably built when the bridge was replaced. There were platform lines and running lines at the lower level so the WCML upgrade would not have meant replacement of the bridge to accommodate four lines. They were there already.
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The Cross City services terminating at Lichfield City, rather than Lichfield Trent Valley is only a temporary measure, until early next year (hopefully) due to repairs being carried out to the high level platform overbridge at Trent Valley.
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Good to see that WMT have learned from the mistake at Anglia and have ditched the 3+2 seating, which is totally inappropriate on narrow carriages like this.
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Shame the seats are narrow and lack any sort of spacers between them. Less 2+2, more ‘3-1+2’ style with parts of bodies overhanging into the aisle.
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So much space is now given over to prams and bikes etc there is far less room for seats and luggage. I think there should be a charge for taking non folding bikes on trains they take up a lot of valuable space. Maybe even a ban on them during peak hours
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So much space is now given over to prams and bikes etc there is far less room for seats and luggage. I think there should be a charge for taking non folding bikes on trains they take up a lot of valuable space. Maybe even a ban on them during peak hours
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Am I the only one to be confused by the Occupancy display sign?
In principle it ought to be a very useful indicator, but I cannot understand the difference between the upper and lower images. Are we travelling in the front 3 carriages, or the back 3 ? The two diagrams don’t tally.
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One bugbear of mine (even though it’s not well publicised) is people using LNWR to describe this TOC.
London Northwestern Railway = LNR, the “w” is small 🙂 – as per the brand guidance that came out from Day One of the existence of WMT.
Not that I’ll let that hold back this excellent post!
-Dan
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In response to Dan, my bugbear is the company deciding to ignore the convention adopted by other TOCs (LNER, SWR) and their predecessor LNWR. For me it’s the brand guidance that’s wrong.
…and don’t get me started on the whole West Midlands Trains/West Midlands Railway mess!
Andrew S
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Not knowing about this I looked it up. Apparently West Midlands Trains is the TOC, but it operates under the name and branding of “West Midlands Railway”. I wonder who came up with that situation? Personally, I don’t think any TOC should call itself a railway if they don’t manage the infrastructure.
Peter Brown
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nothing unusual with that. the trading name can frequently differ from the company which is the legal entity. bus companies frequently do that
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‘London Northwestern Railway’ is also a brand of West Midlands Trains.
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Peter,
Like so much else on today’s railway which makes no sense, TOCs being named “railway” seems to be an idea coming from the DfT.
I assume that it’s so that the gullible will believe that the TOCs are more than just the DfT’s chosen train operating contractors and keep blaming the TOCs for things which are actually the responsibility of the DfT.
A. Nony Mouse
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I still see a gap between the floor and the platform – yet we have much higher platforms than those on the Continent. When are we going to get a level entrance to trains?
Malcolm Chase
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We’re not. That would involve (a) joined-up thinking and (b) all stations actually having consistent platform heights, which in this country they don’t.
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Interesting that new trains are still providing USB A sockets and wonder when they will switch to USB C type or at least provide one of each?
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It should be a simple change that could be done overnight at a cost of a few hundred pound a train but this is the railways so several month and several thousand pounds
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Have Transport UK (Abellio) really invested ÂŁ690 million in trains and infrastructure? In general, investment in rolling stock is the preserve of rolling stock companies, with the operator paying to lease it. I do hope they aren’t being misleading about the amount they themselves have spent.
Paul B
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Paul,
Short answer: no they haven’t, and yes they are.
A. Nony Mouse
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C2C has 3+2 seating in their new 720 fleet. This is a bit odd given their unpopularity and the fact that the population is increasing in girth. As for USB type A sockets they were probably the norm when the trains were ordered. I dread to think what we will end up with on SWRs 701s if they ever enter service. No doubt Roger will do a full review.
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When, roughly, will we see these new trains on the Cross City Line in Birmingham? (Lichfield – Bromsgrove/Redditch)
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Those wide open entrance areas look inviting and should help reduce dwell times. However my concern is that they could lead to cold air circulating through the carriage rather quickly, requiring more output from the underfloor heating. Happy to be proved wrong though as I’m sure this will have been considered.
Gareth Cheeseman
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I enjoy travelling on the LNWR service from Liverpool to Birmingham, but can’t understand why they can’t schedule their train to arrive at Crewe in time to get the Euston service instead of 5 minutes after it departs. LNWR are much cheaper than Avanti , so a missed opportunity to get extra revenue as most people won’t stomach a 55 minute wait for a slower train .
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Reference comments about seating. Am I right in thinking the original intention was to provide metro-style/arrangement of seating? If so, why was it changed to side-by-side? Colin Page
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