Rail Operations Group will supply ETCS drivers and operational support for Transport for Wales' new Class 197s over the Cambrian line.
The ETCS Integration Testing of V3.6.0 Onboard ETCS on the CAF Class 197s has already begun, with testing taking place between Aberystwyth and Shrewsbury.
Further testing is planned for June and July. ROG provided its own driver training course to convert drivers from Cambrian ETCS to the newer version of onboard ETCS which was supplied by CAF.
Over the next few months, Rail Operations Group will work with Network Rail, Transport for Wales, TXM, Hitachi, CAF and CAF Signalling on more testing which will take place overnight.
This testing is ready for the fleet of trains to be introduced sometime in 2023.
What do you think to the Class 197s? Let us know in the comments below.
The Class 196 and Class 197 Civity are lot similar to Northern’s Class 331 and Class 195 and Transpennine Express Class 397 Nova 2. With CAF to continue on manufacturing more Class 3xx and Class 7xx Civity with corridor gangway including to be used on Southern to replace the Class 455 and Class 171 and other train operators in the UK.
No matter what styling tricks are employed, I think it is impossible to make DMUs with end corridor connections look good! These Class 197s are probably as good as can be achieved (and certainly better than some of the old BR Southern Region’s efforts!) and I guess the corridor connections are valuable when you want to connect 2 or more units together.