West Midlands Railway has announced that the first test run of a Class 172/0 has been successfully completed between Leamington Spa and Nuneaton.
The four carriage train took to the tracks on Sunday 28 April. The train was made up of two units cascaded from London Overground.
From Monday 20 May, a new hourly through service will operate on the line from Monday to Saturday.
From Sunday 19 May, passengers will also have a new Sunday service, operating as two services connecting at Coventry.
Rolling stock improvements from the start of the new timetable this Spring will see two Class 172/0s introduced on the line.
The trains will replace the 31 year old Class 153s, which currently operate as single carriages to and from Coventry.
What did the officials say?
Jane Fisher, transition and projects director for West Midlands Railway, said:
“These Class 172/0 trains will significantly improve the experience for our passengers, with more carriages, more seats and a newer train to cater for the growing popularity of the route. As well as the two units being used for our Leamington Spa to Nuneaton services, we will also have another six of these trains in our fleet by the end of May, to bring further benefits elsewhere on the network.”
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The livery is very similar to the packaging on some Easter eggs I gave my grandchildren….
London Overground could of retained at least 2 Class 172/0s and to use them on the West Ealing-Greenford service. And TfL to operate the Greenford branch line as part of the London Overground network.
Will some of the Class 172/0s will also be used on other services such as Shrewsbury, Stratford-Upon-Avon and Hereford and to work alongside the Class 172/ & 172/3 and Class 170 Turbostar units that West Midlands Railway are to keep except West Midlands Railway Class 170s are to be replaced by the Class 196 Civity DMUs and to be cascaded to TfW Rail, Crosscountry or Northern.
Or Class 170s to ScotRail.