The first new regional trains being built for Greater Anglia by Stadler are now taking shape at their Swiss factory.
The new “bimode” trains – which can be powered by electric or by a diesel generator – will be used on cross-country and rural services from next year.
They will operate on the lines from Ipswich to Peterborough, Cambridge and Felixstowe – and on a new service from Sudbury to Colchester Town. They will allow through trains to run between Lowestoft and London, through Ipswich, again.
These completed body shells, being painted in Greater Anglia livery, are the first off the production line.
The shells were manufactured by Stadler at their factory in Hungary and have been transported to its Bussnang factory in Switzerland where they will now be fitted with seats, lighting and other electrical equipment, air conditioning systems, wifi, plug and USB sockets and large picture windows.
As other carriages are completed, they will gradually be grouped together to form entire trains together with the bogies.
Stadler will build 58 trains in total which will operate on Greater Anglia’s Intercity, Stansted Express and Regional services. The rest – for suburban services from London to Essex, Ipswich, and Cambridge, are being built by Bombardier in Derby.
Greater Anglia is spending £1.4 billion on 169 new trains – a total of 1,043 new carriages – which will start to come into service from 2019.
All of the new trains will have air conditioning, USB and plug points and free fast wi-fi.
Greater Anglia Managing Director Jamie Burles said: “We’re very excited about our new trains. When you see photos like this it’s possible to imagine what an amazing change to our customers’ journeys these brand-new trains will make.
“There will be more seats. Everyone will be able to plug in their mobile phones or laptops, and with fast free wifi on every train, people will even be able to Facetime their friends and family while they travel, making the most of every minute.
“This is part of the transformation of the railway in East Anglia. By introducing high quality new trains, offering more convenient journeys, we hope to make train travel better and our customers’ lives a little easier.”
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