Thursday 8th January 2026 I took a ride on East Midlands Railway’s new Aurora branded Hitachi Class 810 bi-mode trains yesterday. They're obviously a major step up from the Meridians they're replacing but I was particularly interested to see how they compare to similar Hitachi trains operated by GWR/LNER/Avanti/Hull Trains. The first thing to note... Continue Reading →
Thursday 9th October 2025 The two words "at last" have become all too familiar in a heading when it comes to blogging about new trains entering service in Britain, and these latest CAF built trains for London's DLR network are no different. The first of the 54 trains was unveiled to the media by Mayor... Continue Reading →
Thursday 13th March 2025 The long awaited smart new Class 555 trains for the Tyne & Wear Metro are slowly entering service and I was fortunate to have a guided tour of one of the new fleet on a visit kindly hosted by Nexus as part of the Young Bus Professionals conference held recently in... Continue Reading →
Thursday 12th December 2024 1. Another connecting bus that doesn't connect Residents in the village of Downe just inside the Greater London boundary with Kent have had their usual seamless bus journey into Bromley disrupted these past few weeks due to Southern Gas Networks closing Rockery Road; the main access road from Keston, used by... Continue Reading →
Thursday 9th May 2024 Rail companies which bought into the Vivarail idea of refurbished London Underground D78 stock becoming diesel/battery Class 230 and electric Class 484 trains in their new guise haven’t had a lot of luck with their purchases. The idea sounded good when first mooted by the late Adrian Shooter who founded Vivarail... Continue Reading →
Thursday 25th January 2024 I know I’m late to the “let’s finally welcome SWR’s new Arterio trains into service” party with lots of online coverage already available following SWR's 'soft launch' a fortnight ago of one train running a limited service, but 14 days is nothing compared to the four year wait to see these... Continue Reading →
Thursday 18th January 2024 Sneaking into service just before Christmas with no first journey fanfare, ribbon cutting ceremony or any prior notice at all was the first of Glasgow Subway’s new Stadler built four coach trains. The 17 trains were ordered by SPT way back in 2016 with the first being delivered in 2019 but... Continue Reading →
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... Continue Reading →
Saturday 11th March 2023 Whenever anyone mentions Luton Airport readers of a certain age will almost certainly be imaging the iconic TV advert from the late 1970s for Campari shot in an exotic location featuring suave, elegantly dressed, sophisticated, smooth talking Jeremy Clyde asking Lorraine Chase “were you truly wafted here from Paradise?" to which... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 7th February 2023 The transformation of Transport for Wales' train fleet continues with new Stadler built diesel powered Class 231 trains now running on the Rhmney to Penarth line in the Cardiff Valleys. It follows November's launch of the first CAF built Class 197s in North Wales. The 11 trains which make up this... Continue Reading →
Thursday 26th January 2023 The first of Merseyrail's new fleet of 53 trains finally entered service on Monday morning. Ordered back in 2016 to replace the ageing Class 507/508, the new Class 777 trains were originally due into service in 2019/20, but as is the way with these things manufacturing delays, delivery delays, handover delays... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 29th November 2022 Having enjoyed a recent ride on the new CAF built Class 196 trains with West Midlands Railway I headed off to North Wales last week to see if the new sister Class 197 units being introduced by Transport for Wales would be any different. Actually I was on my way over... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 15th November 2022 Aside from two new trains for Southend Pier it’s been three years since I’ve written a blog about new trains entering service. That’s because it’s been three years since any new trains entered service. Abellio owned West Midlands Trains' West Midlands Railway (WMR) division has recently broken that famine with the... Continue Reading →
Sunday 14th August 2022 I wrote about the lovely two new trains for Southend Pier after my visit back in May when unfortunately teething problems meant they weren’t out on the tracks so was pleased to be able to fit in time to take a ride on my recent trip to Foulness Island when one... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 17th May 2022 Southend-on-Sea’s famous pier has recently seen the arrival of two new eco-friendly trains for its iconic three-foot narrow gauge railway so I popped over yesterday to take a look. Sadly, neither were in service. One train has yet to be made ready for service and the second had some ‘teething troubles’... Continue Reading →
Saturday 4th December 2021 When I heard the news First Group and MTR Corporation had won the South Western Railway (SWR) franchise back in March 2017 I did a double take on hearing the deal included scrapping the fleet of thirty brand new five car Siemens Class 707 trains Stagecoach had only ordered a couple... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 8th December 2020 Greater Anglia’s fleet of 33 five-car Bombardier Class 720 ‘Aventra’ trains have finally entered service after many months of delays caused by software issues and more recently due to Covid. The original train order, placed with Bombardier in September 2016 (you have to be patient in the world of new train... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 3rd March 2020 Hull Trains introduced its first Hitachi built Class 802 train three months ago and as four of the five seat sets on order are now with the Company, it seemed a good time to take a ride and see how they differ, if at all, from similar trains run by GWR,... Continue Reading →
Monday 2nd March 2020 Stagecoach rolled out its high profile £16.5 million investment in 32 BYD ADL Enviro400EV double deckers yesterday so I popped up to Manchester today to take a look. They're zero emission electric buses and in a nice piece of purchase symmetry the Government's Ultra-Low Emission Bus Scheme contributed a handy £6.9... Continue Reading →
Wednesday 8th January 2020 Abellio run Greater Anglia committed to introducing a completely new train fleet of 1,043 carriages across its network in its successful nine year franchise bid which began in 2016. First of these into service came Stadler built FLIRT Class 755 bi-mode trains introduced on the Wherry Lines last July. These were... Continue Reading →
Saturday 12th October 2019 GWR opted for a modest launch at Paddington and Bristol of their Hitachi Class 800 trains they call IET (Inter-city Express Train) two years ago; characteristically LNER went for the high profile with dry ice, Mallard, Flying Scotsman, bagpipes and more approach as they launched their Azuma branded version this spring... Continue Reading →
Monday 23rd September 2019 It's not often we get to travel on a brand new loco hauled inter-city train in the UK, but that's what's quietly being rolled out across the Pennines right now as First Group's Trans Pennine Express franchise soft launches its fleet of thirteen smart new Spanish built Nova 3 trains. Originally... Continue Reading →
Thursday 1st August 2019 LNER know all about high profile launches. I guess it helps being in the public sector with a generous marketing budget rather than being a cash strapped TOC with unattainable winning franchise pledges submitted to the DfT in misplaced optimism a few years back. Following LNER's all singing, all dancing Kings... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 30th July 2019 Seven months into the year and I'm reviewing the seventh new class of train to be introduced in 2019 - that's not bad going; a brand new different fleet into service on average once a month (I know the Class 230, formerly known as 'D Train' is not a brand new... Continue Reading →
Wednesday 10th July 2019 It was a pleasure to travel on Northern Rail's new CAF Civity trains yesterday afternoon and this morning. They come in two flavours - a diesel version known as Class 195 and an electric version known as Class 331 - but otherwise they're exactly the same train with only a pantograph... Continue Reading →
Thursday 2nd May 2019 The long awaited Caledonian Sleeper CAF built Mark 5 coaches began running on the Lowland route last Sunday night. I booked myself a ticket and travelled from Euston to Glasgow last night/this morning to see whether the salivating I'd been reading on social media from high profile commentators blessed with their... Continue Reading →
Wednesday 24th April 2019 It's been a long wait with some well over a year late, but finally an avalanche of new trains is entering service; well one train has. First off the blocks is the much anticipated Class 230 train which began running on the Marston Vale line between Bedford and Bletchley yesterday. Not... Continue Reading →
Monday 21st January 2019 It was way back on Friday 28th September 2018 when commuters in Hertfordshire and north London had their travel appetites whetted when Great Northern rolled out one of their sparkly new Siemens Class 717s for a grand launch trip from Moorgate to Gordon Hill. The media and public were invited to... Continue Reading →
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