TRANSPENNINE MK5 CONSTRUCTION COMMENCES
Published at 08:40 on Monday 7th November 2016
Tags: Mk5, loco-hauled, TPE, carriages
An artist's impression of how the new Standard Class Mk5 loco-hauled coaches will look. TransPennine Express
Construction of the first of the new loco-hauled carriage bodyshells for TransPennine Express has commenced by CAF in Spain.
Work on the first of 66 body shells for the new Mark 5A coaches, which will be formed into 13-five carriage trains, is underway, with the first vehicles to be delivered in 2018.
Each train will contain 287 seats and will operate on the company’s North route which runs from Liverpool to Scarborough and Newcastle, being introduced on Middlesbrough services from the following year. The new vehicles will include free Wi-Fi, plug sockets at every pair of seats, real-time travel information and an on-board media server, streaming TV shows and films. An electronic seat reservation system will also be used.
Maintenance of the coaches, along with the Class 68s locomotives will be undertaken by Alstom at both Manchester Longsight and Liverpool Edge Hill Depots.
In other TPE news, one of the Class 185 units that gained the new blue, silver and grey livery, No. 185123, has been further adorned with poppies on a dark blue background as part of the operator’s support of the Royal British Legion 2016 campaign.
BELOW: Here, the set is pictured at Garforth, near Leeds, on a Middlesbrough-bound working. Ron Cover
