Hull Trains has announced that one of Great Western Railway's High-Speed Trains has arrived into Hull Paragon this week to help provide an additional train to the timetable.
The arrival of the HST is a boost for the train operator and the leadership team have been working throughout the days to tackle the reliability challenges head-on.
There is a currently a lack of spare rolling stock in the UK, which has meant that an additional train was very difficult to secure. GWR was only able to provide the rolling stock following the introduction of a brand-new fleet of trains in the south-west, which resulted in the HST becoming available for loan.
The HST will enter service ahead of the delivery of a fleet of new state-of-the-art Class 802 trains in December.
Hull Trains operates 92 services a week and needs three of its four trains to fulfil its timetable, with one train always being a scheduled rolling maintenance programme. This meant that a fault on one service could sometimes result in a change to its operating schedule
Announcements on the first service for the HST will be made in the next few weeks.
What did the officials say?
Louise Cheeseman, Managing Director for Hull Trains, said:
“The introduction of the HST is an important milestone for Hull Trains and demonstrates Hull Trains' and FirstGroup's commitment to addressing our recent challenges so that we can get back to delivering the great service we are renowned for. I hope that it will help to reassure our customers that we are committed to providing a strong service that they can rely upon.
“We've shared our customers' frustrations over the last year following prolonged periods of disruption and this, alongside the £60m investment of the new trains ready for later this year, further establishes our dedication to the region to provide a direct link to London with excellent customer service. We would also like to thank our industry partners who have helped us with alternate arrangements for customers during that time.
“Finally, I would like to say a big thank you to colleagues at GWR and FirstGroup for their contribution to the solution, as well as weeks of ongoing invaluable advice and support to help bring this train into service. Our focus is now to finalise staff training and complete any remaining work to bring it into service in the next few weeks.”
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Class 43 HST Mk3 on hire to Hull Trains as a stopgap to work alongside the Class 180 Adelante DMUs. To help boost the capacity and improve journey times between London Kings Cross and Hull. Before the Class 802 IET Bi-mode will arrive later this year. Not a bad idea.