Work has progressed on the construction of the new trains for Transport for Wales for use on the Wales and Borders route and South Wales Metro, despite the challenges caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
£800m is being invested in new trains and tram-trains to transform the passenger experience.
Work has progressed with CAF and Stadler to design and build the new trains, with significant progress being made on the Class 398 tram-trains and work has begun on the Class 231 trains – both being built by Stadler for the South Wales Metro.
Alongside these, Class 197 Civity trains are being built for use on other Wales and Borders route and are currently being assembled by CAF at their factory in Llanwern.
James Price, Transport for Wales CEO, said:“It's great to see progress on our brand-new trains. I'm delighted our partners at CAF and Stadler have been able to progress with assembly despite the challenging situation we find ourselves in.
“COVID-19 will continue to present challenges but we've been able to move forward and this month and we've now seen huge progress on our trains, at our Taff's Well Depot as well as successful delivery of track transformation work on the Aberdare line.
“TfW is continuing to deliver on our transformational plans and these faster, more efficient trains are fundamental to improving journey times, service frequency and our sustainability goals.”
Transport for Wales is currently completing testing of the Class 769 trains on the Cardiff to Rhymney line.
Frank Renault, TfW Transformation Programme Director, “The manufacturing of our new fleets and testing of the Class 769 trains are big steps forward on our transformation journey, in difficult times.
“I'd like to thank our dedicated project managers and engineering colleagues for their tireless efforts in delivering this project and our delivery partners, for their professionalism and resolve in continuing this progress and most importantly our passengers for their understanding and support.”
Sandro Muster, Stadler project manager, commented: “With the production of car bodies for the 35 FLIRTs now well underway, next week will mark the beginning of another highly significant stage in the manufacturing process, known as final assembly. This is when the main components that make up the train are fitted, including the bogies, equipment cases, piping, wiring, flooring, windows, seats and other internal fixtures. This point, when trains really start to look like trains, brings them one step closer to passenger introduction in a few years' time.”
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A new era of Wales’s new trains coming. Shame about the electrification to Swansea is still not happening.
The Class 231 Flirt are Diesel-Electric and Class 756 Flirt are Tri-Mode. With the Class 197 Civity as Diesel MU, Class 230 as Hybrid and Class 769 also Hybrid. If the electrification did continue to Swansea then TfW could of inherited the Class 379 Electrostar or Class 350/2 Desiro to be used on the Cardiff Central-Swansea commuter service.