Great Western Railway (GWR) has marked the 175th anniversary of the opening of the main line by unveiling one a new Class 800 train in its green livery.
GWR ran a special service between Bristol and London Paddington station to celebrate the line’s birthday.
At Reading, guests disembarked a HST before boarding one of the new bi-mode Intercity Express (IEP) trains, which are being built by Hitachi, for the remainder of the journey.
It’s the first public appearance for a Class 800 in GWR livery – it will be a common site from the middle of next year when the first new trains go into passenger service.
At the end of May, Network Rail announced that the majority of the overhead line system had been installed between Reading and Didcot – the section which will be used to test the new fleet.
GWR managing director Mark Hopwood, said ahead of the event: “On this special anniversary we are looking not just back at our rich heritage but forward at a transformational investment programme.
“The new trains will result in more frequent and faster journeys and an increase in the number of seats.
“These, and a range of further passenger benefits, will enable communities and businesses across the Great Western network to prosper and we are delighted to invite observers to witness first-hand the step change electrification and our new fleet will bring.”
So the Class 800 and Class 801 are Bi-Mode trains and Class 802 are Electric only trains or is Class 801 to be built as both Electric trains and Bi-Mode trains. Hitachi have got a lot of mass-production and manufacturing these brand new Japanese built British style trains. No wonder both Japan loves our railways and we Brits love their railways.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intercity_Express_Programme
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitachi_A-train
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_800
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_801
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_802