Network Rail, Euston Station has recently taken delivery of 12 four-seater passenger assistance vehicles from leading electric manufacturer Bradshaw EV.
The historic station, which is managed by Network Rail, has purchased Bradshaw’s Club Car Villager’s, which have been expertly designed to transport passengers around a wide range of sites or locations such as train stations, university campuses and warehouses.
As one of their busiest stations, serving over 71 million people each year, Euston Station acts as a gateway from London to many of the UK’s other major cities such as Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Network Rail has purchased these vehicles in order to replace the existing fleet. The buggies will be used to transport passengers with limited mobility such as the elderly, or anyone who requires assistance boarding or disembarking from trains.
Network Rail has enjoyed a fruitful relationship with Peterborough-based Bradshaw over the course of their partnership, which now spans well over 15 years. During this time, Network Rail has purchased over 60 vehicles from Bradshaw, tailored to a variety of different specifications.
With speeds of up to 24kph, the zero-emission, the all-electric seater passenger assistance vehicles come with 48-volt battery packs and feature smart onboard chargers and their reel retractors mean that they can be charged at any typical 240-volt socket – making charging the vehicles is entirely seamless and easy.
As a part of Bradshaw’s bespoke offering their Club Car Villagers have been specifically tailored to the direct requirements of Network Rail.
Accommodating a driver and three forward facing passengers, the vehicles also come with a rear aluminium cargo box 300mm high with a drop-down rear tailgate, a slide out step with interlock for seamless access and slidable safety bars adjacent to both middle seats.
Abdelouahab Aitguermit, Passenger Assistance Manager at London Euston Station commented: “With Network Rail Euston’s assisted travel department being the busiest across the UK, the need for a brand new fleet was paramount in order to not only improve reliability, but to meet the expectations of our customers at Euston Station.
“Therefore, to continue to provide a best-in-class service to customers we consulted with Bradshaw, with which we already have a long-standing relationship, to provide a reliable vehicle that also has all the appropriate safety features in place.
“It is for this reason we selected the Facelift Villager, as it offered industry-exclusive daytime running lamps, LED headlights, brake lights, a four-wheel braking system, and a horn – all of which ensure that our passengers remain safe.
“With customer safety an upmost priority, Bradshaw understood our needs and tailored the vehicles to our specific requirements. This offering was vitally important to Network Rail – Euston and we’re grateful to Bradshaw for conducting all of the adaptations we specified, despite the fact they were given within a very short notice period.
“We were really impressed with the entire crew, and will definitely be ordering more vehicles from Bradshaw in the near future as and when the requirements arise.”
Photo credit: Bradshaw EV / Network Rail
