ScotRail has confirmed the withdrawal of Class 365s from its fleet now more brand new Class 385s are in service.
ScotRail introduced a fleet of 10 Class 365 ‘happy train' electrical multiple units last summer as a stopgap whilst preparing for the introduction of the brand new Class 385 EMUs made by Hitachi.
The Class 365s provided 17,200 extra seats per day on the Glasgow Queen Street to Edinburgh via Falkirk High, as well as the recently electrified Stirling, Dunblane, and Alloa lines.
By introducing the Class 385s along the Central Belt, ScotRail says they will be able to deliver faster journeys on more reliable and modern trains.
The Class 365s were introduced as a temporary measure whilst various problems on the new Class 385s were ironed out. One of the faults were a result of the Driver's windscreen being smaller and of a tighter curvature – resulting in reports of Drivers being able to see ‘two or three signals' where only one existed. Other faults included software issues, as well as a critical fault which resulted in the brakes being isolated.
Tuesday the 12th March 2019 saw the first of the Class 365s being withdrawn, with the remainder to be phased out over the coming week.
What did the officials say?
Head of Customer Operations for ScotRail, Phil Campbell, said:
“The Class 365 happy trains were a welcome addition to the ScotRail family, but it's now time for them to be replaced. Over the next week, we'll withdraw the happy trains from service and replace them with more of our brand-new Class 385s, which will deliver faster journeys and a more reliable service for our customers.”
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Suppose Great Northern will not want them back and are likely to be transferred to be stored. Probably also cascade the Class 365s on Great Northern and to use them on the London St. Pancras-Kettering & Corby service (hence why the electrification is taking place on the Midland Main Line north of Bedford). Or cascade the Class 365s to be operated in South Wales and the Cardiff area including electrification on the GWML (Cardiff-Swansea).
including operating between Cardiff Central & Swansea of electrification on the GWML (Cardiff-Swansea) is to be given approval to be electrified.