A £117 million upgrade of the West Coast Mainline Pendolino trains has begun.
The first Pendolino train was taken out of service this week for the UK’s biggest ever train fleet upgrade.
The programme will transform all 56 of Avanti West Coast’s iconic Pendolinos.
The trains are widely regarded as the UK’s hardest working train fleet, clocking up more than 270 million miles since they were launched – enough to go to the moon and back more than 500 times.
The Pendolinos have served routes between London, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow, and Edinburgh for close to 20 years and the upgrade will return the whole Pendolino fleet to an ‘as new’ condition.
Improvements include:
- Replacing 25,000 Standard Class seats;
- Conversion of one First Class carriage on each of the 35 11-carriage Pendolinos to provide more than 2,000 extra Standard class seats;
- The introduction of a new Café Bar
- Improved lighting and new interior carpets;
- Greater use of technology with customer-friendly passenger information screens;
- Additional luggage space;
- Power points at every seat;
- Refurbished toilets.
Phil Whittingham, managing director of Avanti West Coast, said: “The Pendolino is a real workhorse which has helped to transform services on the West Coast Main Line.
“This investment will take them to the next level and they’ll feel like new trains with state of the art technology and brand new seats. I can’t wait to see the reaction from our customers and people.”
Rail manufacturer Alstom will oversee the refurbishment at their new depot in Widnes.
The first train, set number 390125, is due to re-enter service in late 2021. The upgrade programme will run until February 2024.
