First refurbished Avanti West Coast Pendolino enters service
Avanti West Coast’s first refurbished Pendolino has returned to service this week after being transformed as part of the UK’s biggest train upgrade. 55 trains will follow as part of the refurbishment, undertaken by Alstom.
Passengers on Monday’s 05:05 Manchester Piccadilly to London service were the first to travel on the upgraded Pendolino train on the West Coast Main Line. Part of refurbishment, the trains have new, more comfortable seats, a revamped shop, additional luggage space, power sockets at every seat and better on-board customer information.
In every train, one First Class carriage on each of the 35 eleven-carriage Pendolinos will be converted to Standard Class, providing more than 2,000 extra Standard Class seats. The Pendolinos have served towns and cities along the West Coast Main Line for almost to 20 years, clocking up more than 270 million miles. The tilting, electric powered trains were introduced nearly two decades ago in July 2002.
Refurbishment programme
The remaining 55 trains are to receive the same treatment, with the second set due back in service early next month. The upgrade programme will run until 2024. Train manufacturer Alstom is undertaking the work at their new depot in Widnes in the North West, and the refurbishment delivers around 100 jobs. The 117 million pound refurbishment programme is financed by Angel Trains, one of the UK’s leading train Asset Management companies.
“This investment has been one of the key promises to our customers and they will see a dramatic transformation of our well-loved fleet”, said Managing Director of Avanti West Coast, Phil Whittingham. “The refurbished Pendolinos look and feel like new trains with state of the art technology as well as brand new seats that promise best-in-class comfort.”
Additionally on the West Coast Main Line, a brand-new fleet of Hitachi trains will replace the diesel Voyagers from 2023.
Watch a summary of the changes to the refurbished Pendolino’s in the video below:
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