Two ‘nearly new’ train rides

Tuesday 3rd February 2026

Two very different ‘nearly new’ trains entered service last week, and ok, one isn’t exactly ‘nearly new’ in that it’s approaching its 50th anniversary, but I bet some passengers won’t realise.

The more modern of the pair is Chiltern Railways’ loco hauled Mark 5A coaches formerly with TransPennine Express where they saw very little service (if any at all, in some cases) since new in 2019, being withdrawn in 2023, while the more ‘mature’ of the pair is GWR’s former London Underground D78 Stock now reclassified and rebuilt as Class 230 and uniquely this example being battery powered with fast charging capability.

First up of the two was the launch last week of the newly branded ‘Chiltern Explorer’ trains sporting a smart new Chiltern Railways livery for both the (Class 68) locomotive and the five coaches.

These ‘nearly new’ coaches provide a much welcome step up in comfort and ambience compared to Chiltern’s almost fifty year-old Mark 3 carriages they’re replacing.

The company has taken new ten year leases on the 13 former TransPennine Express sets and although each five carriage rake has 90 fewer seats than the trains they’re replacing, overall capacity will improve following Chiltern’s intention to increase the number of trains in an expanded timetable between Marylebone and Birmingham Moor Street.

The aim is to get that in place by the end of this year when it’s hoped 10 of the 13 trains will be in daily service making for a consistent half-hourly frequency together with extra journeys to and from Banbury thereby providing an additional 10,000 seats per weekday to Chiltern’s network representing an impressive 10% increase in capacity.

This increase also comes from the ‘new’ trains enabling Chiltern to cascade older Class 165 and 168 trains to other routes with the former to be used on expanded commuter routes between Aylesbury/High Wycombe and London and the latter on more Oxford journeys to and from London. Chiltern reckon overall, the number of journeys will increase from 350 to 380 per day.

It’s one of those ‘just in the nick of time’ changes as Chiltern’s Mark 3 stock is coming off lease at the end of next month making it vital a suitable replacement was made available in time and thankfully the DfT approved the acquisition of the Mark 5As last August giving the company just enough time to get everything in place for a gradual roll out over the coming weeks. It’s hoped to have four in service by the time the Mark 3s are withdrawn but at the moment just one is in passenger service.

I took a ride on it from Marylebone to Birmingham and back yesterday and was very impressed with both the comfort and ambiance recalling my sample journey when the trains were first introduced by TransPennine Express over six years ago, since when they haven’t clocked up many more miles being stored out of use in sidings for the last few years. I believe a few units still had the bubble wrap protecting the interior, never having been in service.

In a change of policy for Chiltern, the company is keeping the First Class coach E in the Mark 5A set. Previously it tried a ‘Business Zone’ in the Mark 3s but this was dispensed with in Covid and never reinstated. Until all the sets are in service, passengers can pay for a £20 upgrade on the train rather like the erstwhile ‘Buisness Zone’ arrangement.

During this period, there’s no refreshment facility and I understand no arrangements are so far in hand to commence one. This will be a shame as all other long distance train companies provide, complimentary refreshments in first class and passengers will expect it.

Another oddity is TransPennine Express only specified two spaces for a wheelchair both in the First Class coach E whereas most five coach sets also have spaces in Standard Class Coach A. Chiltern is ensuring passengers using a wheelchair as well as one carer can use the space without paying the First Class £20 upgrade.

I was expecting to see the new livery incorporate the Chiltern Explorer branding that I understand the trains are being called…

… so was surprised not to see it, but very much like the new colour scheme – so much better than the glimpse we recently got of a proposed GBR livery.

Coach B has dedicated spaces either side of the gangway for cycles with three tip up seats too.

I very much enjoyed my day trip to Birmingham. Both Marylebone and Moor Street are so much more pleasant to use than Euston and New Street and these splendid ‘new’ trains really feel like proper trains with their locomotive hauled coaches, albeit the Class 68 only appears at one end of the train.

It’s nice to see Chiltern back on top offering a quality product. Chiltern’s passengers’ gain is TransPennine Express’s passengers’ loss.

The other ‘nearly new’ train is GWR’s Class 230 train. This truly is an innovative development with GWR setting out to see if battery powered trains can run cost effectively and efficiently on branch lines of which GWR has quite a few, both in the Thames Valley and the West Country which are all currently operated with ageing diesel trains.

This one train, 230001, has been refitted internally as per the original concept begun by Vivarail before it went into Administration in December 2022 and led to electric versions of the former District line trains in service with South Western Railway on the Isle of Wight and diesel versions running with Transport for Wales and previously with London Northwestern in Bedfordshire.

The seats and facilities in this refurbishment are excellent for the short journey lengths passengers typically make on branch lines not least the West Ealing to Greenford shuttle which is the subject of the current trial. It’s only two and a half miles long and a 12 minute journey from one end to the other.

The interior is bright and smart with an accessible toilet in the middle of the three coach train…

… and an adjacent area for a wheelchair user…

… as well as some tables, airline style seat pairs and some longitudinal seats, all with usb or power sockets…

… and with good leg room.

What’s revolutionary about the train is its fast charging batteries which have been placed in two banks under two of the three coaches on the train.

Every time the train arrives at West Ealing the shoes attached to the batteries under the train line up exactly with two strategically positioned fast charging rails in the centre of the track.

These have three rails in each unit – a positive one in the middle and two negative outer ones – so it doesn’t matter which way the train is pointing when it arrives into the station, the negative shoe will always come into contact with a rail.

At the side of the track is a bank of batteries linked to the grid and housed securely in two ‘shipping container’ style cabinets similar to back up power arrangements at many hospitals.

These are connected to the fast charging rails where there are sensors to pick up when a train has arrived so the process of charging can automatically begin, cutting out when the driver puts the power back on in the train to drive away. The train stands in West Ealing for three to four minutes between journeys, but this is long enough to keep the batteries on the train topped up. The track side batteries in the containers replenish from the grid in between times too.

Posters on board the train explain the process in six stages.

It’s a similar concept to the pantograph charging some bus companies have been using for some years to top up batteries on board buses when the bus is in a bus station.

After Vivarail folded GWR bought out many of that company’s assets including taking on staff who’d been working on the project and it was a pleasure to meet David Horton, now GWR’s Chief Mechanical Engineer for the Battery Train Fast Charge Project on the train on Saturday. David and colleagues have brought the scheme to fruition with last Saturday being the first time the train has been in public service on the Greenford branch following a couple of years of development trials in a whole variety of conditions.

To begin with the train is only in service on a Saturday with the normal diesel train running on Monday to Friday, but it’s hoped in due course to extend the trial to more days of the week.

David and the GWR team are to be congratulated for the extensive work they’ve pioneered during the last three years following Vivarail’s demise and it certainly looks as though it will pave the way for GWR and other train companies, needing to replace diesel powered trains on branch lines (where there’s no hope of ever justifying electrification), to look at battery power with fast charging as a realistic alternative especially when incorporated into new build trains.

Roger French

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