Porterbrook has announced that it has been successful in its big to acquire 30 Class 379 Electrostar trains.
The intention is to lease the 30 Electrostar trains to Govia Thameslink Railway and these will enter service with Great Northern.
Porterbrook's new acquisition previously operated with Greater Anglia before coming off lease.
Built in 2011, Porterbrook says that the trains are expected to be able to run for at least another 20 years. They will complement GTR and Porterbrook's Class 377 and Class 387 trains, the largest Electrostar fleet in the UK.
“We're pleased to take these vehicles under our wing. This is an excellent fleet of Electrostars with a long service life ahead of them, perfectly suited to GTR's requirements.”
Stefan Rose, Chief Investment Officer at Porterbrook
“Subject to acceptance, these additional trains will start the development of a design for the future growing demand across our network. These extra units provide an opportunity to support our business plan delivery in providing excellent service for our customers.”
GTR Engineering Director, Steve Lammin
Fair to say Govia need extra capacity on Southern; Gatex units currently used on local Brighton area services will soon be needed to strengthen the core Gatex trains out of Victoria if air travel forecasts are correct. The ex-GN 379 sets are also ideal to supplement the 377/2 & 377/7 units on the East Croydon-Watford service. Other gains will be restoration of 12 cars on some peak services previously reduced post-pandemic. Gains all round!
Northern could have had the Class 379s that would operate on Manchester Piccadilly-Stalybridge, Huddersfield, Leeds and York and on other routes that are already electrified. TfW might of inherited the Class 379s as part of the Southeast Wales electrification project to electrify from Cardiff Central to Chepstow and other electrification projects in South Wales as part of the South Wales Metro upgrade and electrification to Swansea.
It would be nice to see the Class 379 running between Newcastle and Liverpool when the TRU is completed.
Remember when trains used to have a forty year lifespan like the HST’s/CL20/37/47/57
The Class 379 Electrostar trains that were built in 2010-2011 and went for storage do have a 2nd chance in their lifespan. And I think that Porterbrook and GTR Great Northern should have inherited them from Greater Anglia in the first place. But it’s nice to see them in use again but with Great Northern.