Latest News | 27 August 2020
Tests and Czechs
Testing has started overseas on the first of a fleet of new trains built by Bondholder Bombardier in Derby.
Bombardier was awarded the contract to supply and maintain 333 electric carriages by West Midlands Trains towards the end of 2017. The deal was worth over £500 million.
The Derby factory is supplying 36 90mph three-carriage trains for metro services and 45 110mph five-carriage trains for outer suburban and long-distance configurations.
The first train has been reported to have completed some initial testing in the UK, now being shipped out to the Velim, Czech Republic for for the next phase of testing, following to return to the UK for more tests and modifications to make it ready for staff and customers.
A recent blog post on the West Midlands Railway website, speaks about the decision of conducting further tests abroad, as well as providing a timeline: “This will help speed up the testing programme and the sooner the tests are complete the closer we get to having these new trains in service. This train will return to Britain later this year, hopefully during October.
“Once everything is finished from a testing point of view, and after all our driver training is completed, then we will be launching this fleet into passenger service along our Cross-City lines in the West Midlands.”
