Every year we are seeing more new trains for Britain’s Railways – and
now the following news from First Great
Western Railway has just caught my eye:
From Network Rail
Passengers travelling from Hayes
& Harlington are enjoying a new improved service to mark the start of the
new year, with an extra 6,550 seats available following Network Rail’s biggest
ever festive upgrade.
Following huge investment by
Network Rail, commuters at Hayes & Harlington are now benefitting from new
platforms which allow electric trains, called Electrostars, to run to London
Paddington every half an hour.
The new eight carriage Electrostar trains, being run by GWR, have 262
more seats per service than the two carriage trains they are replacing,
providing 6,550 more seats a day in each direction.
The move is part of the biggest
fleet upgrade in a generation on the Great Western network, helping to improve
journey times, increase capacity and provide greater comfort for passengers.
Passengers will also benefit from at-seat power sockets, air conditioning,
extra luggage space and free WiFi.
The first four of 45 Class 387, or GWR Electrostar, four-carriage
trains were introduced in September and provided an additional 1,400 seats
between Hayes & Harlington and London Paddington at the busiest times every
day for commuters. That figure has, from 3 January, grown by an extra 6,550
seats in each direction.
Maidenhead will be the next area
to benefit from the new electric trains with the 387s expected to start running between their and London Paddington
from May. The new fleet of trains is part of GWR’s plan to introduce faster
more frequent services for commuters in what will be the biggest train fleet
upgrade in a generation on the Great Western network.
Mark Langman, Network Rail’s
route managing director, said: “It is fantastic to see the new service
benefitting so many passengers already. The new electric trains are fantastic
and to have thousands of extra seats, more frequent trains and a more reliable
service is just the start of an exciting time for the railway in our region.
These trains will be rolled out further west as our Railway Upgrade Plan
continues and more and more passengers will enjoy the result of all the hard
work and investment we have put in.”
GWR managing director Mark
Hopwood said: “The Thames Valley is one of the most popular rail corridors in
the UK. We have promised the current fleet would be upgraded to provide much
needed additional capacity and more comfortable, quieter journeys.
“We started to run our first new
electric trains in September and with this Christmas work completed, on time, I
am delighted to say that we can now deliver even more of those improvements –
with our half hourly services between London Paddington and Hayes &
Harlington.”
Once the new electric trains
replace the existing diesel turbo trains
will be cascaded to other parts of the GWR network, providing additional
capacity where it is needed most.
First GWR has also issued a
press release which you can read here.
Last year I reported that National
Express C2C were adding more trains to their service which you can read
about here.
As always, I invite you to follow me on Twitter and Google Plus
which is @CLondoner92
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