Rolling stock company (ROSCO) Porterbrook Leasing has announced that it will purchase an additional 80 Class 387 vehicles from Bombardier.
This deal is in addition to the 256 vehicles in this class already on order. Delivery from Bombardier’s Derby factory will take place between October 2016 and June 2017.
While the earlier order is for four-car sets, 29 for Thameslink, 27 for Gatwick Express and eight for Great Western, Porterbrook have not yet released how the new cars will be used. So they could be 20 new four-car trains, or they could be used in longer consists or even to add cars to existing trains.
All the company would say was that a number of parties have already expressed an interest in leasing this new fleet, notably Rail for London but also established operators and prospective bidders of upcoming franchises. At the moment, it seems that Porterbrook is simply investing in new vehicles to satisfy increasing capacity requirements in the near and medium term.
Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin was predictably upbeat about the announcement.
“This deal is fantastic news, both for East Midlands’ booming rail industry, and for passengers, who will benefit from more British-built trains on the rail network in the future,” he said.
“Introducing more modern, high-quality trains is central to our commitment to give passengers better journeys and boost economic growth, with more than 3,700 extra carriages set to be introduced across the network by the end of 2019. It is great to see the industry leading the way.”
Bombardier are to finish off building the Class 387/2’s and Class 387/3’s Electrostars before continuing building the Class 345 Aventra for Crossrail and Class 710 Aventra for London Overground and even build more Class 379 Electrostars or build more Turbostars before building the Aventra trains for other train operators. In fact Bombardier loves build new trains for the UK and they are the best train manufacturing company based in Derby even though they are from Canada but they are such world class manufacturing company who build not just trains but also Airplanes and Jumbo Jet planes.
Not to mention the S7 Stocks that Bombardier are still building for the London Underground District Line which should be completed mid next year (mid 2016) as the District Line are getting all 80 S7 Stocks to replace the D78 Stocks to be converted into Class 230 DEMU D-Trains.
Wouldn’t care if I’m thinking that I faked it. Bombardier are still the world’s best company building & assembling new trains in 2-car, 3-car, 4-car and 5-car formation. But yes I rather see Bombardier finishing off building their Class 387/2/3 Electrostar and Class 345 Aventra trains before they plan to build more new trains in the near future.
Because Bombardier build their trains in different styles and character. And Bombardier have be making trains across the world including Europe, South Africa, North America and Asia for decades or even over 100 years. Plus they have also build trams & planes.