The first of our new electric train fleet en route to the Czech Republic for testing!
We are excited to share a picture of one of our new electric trains, on its way to be tested at Velim in the Czech Republic. Here it is at Cuxhaven port in Germany, moving onto the next leg of its journey.
This train unit was built at the Bombardier factory in Derby earlier this year. We are so pleased that despite the pandemic, sterling progress to this stage has been made. The project has completed some initial testing in the UK, now it is ready for the next phase.
The new train now needs to be tested to make sure it works, is safe and meets all necessary standards. The UK test tracks are all very busy, so this new train is being tested abroad. 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 2020. When it gets back there will be lots more testing and a host of modifications to get it ready for our staff and customers.
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.
So, watch this space for more exciting developments, as this programme makes strides towards helping bring more electric trains to our network.