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Countdown to 321 demonstrator entering passenger service

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Eversholt Rail unveiled its class 321 demonstrator to the press at Wabtec’s Doncaster plant on October 30.

The train leasing company has installed 2 different passenger interiors, metro or suburban along with a new look first class with new leather seats and power sockets, to 321448 so that passengers on the Greater Anglia network will be able to evaluate and offer feedback on the design and their prefere321suburbanCreditJonathanWebbnces for future refurbishment of the fleet.

Eversholt hope to demonstrate that a high specification refurbishment of older rolling stock is not only significantly cheaper than purchasing new trains, but can offer passengers a ‘new train’ feel that will enhance their travelling experience.

The project cost for the demonstrator class 321 is £4-5 million and it will go from Doncaster to Ilford depot in November before entering passenger service, for a 12 month period, in December.

In addition the fleet will also receive new a new traction package including a new transformer, individual inverter drives and new AC traction motors. The demonstrator 321 will have this fitted next year and undergo a series of tests before entering passenger service in December 2015.

Work on refurbishing the entire fleet of 94 sets will commence in 2015 with an envisaged completion date of 2019.

Report by Jonathan Webb

8 COMMENTS

  1. Finally the Class 321448 has now got new interiors, new windows, new seats and Air-Conditioning. Thank god. Now Greater Anglia will see more Class 321’s to be refurbished with new windows & air-conditioning on all Essex routes to/from London Liverpool Street.

    Lines and stations includes-Braintree, Witham, Ipswich, Clacton-on-Sea, Walton, Colchester, Southend Victoria, Southminster, Upminster, Romford, Chelmsford & even Norwich will see these Class 321’s remodilised. Its about time to introduce new features for the Class 321’s.

  2. Also First Capital Connect and Northern who do have the Class 321’s will also see their Class 321 trains also being refurbished with Air-Conditioning and new Windows as Greater Anglia will have all of the Class 321’s to be having Air-Conditioning.

    • It’s a demonstrator – so I presume the multiple colours are there to give people a choice and at some point GA will be asking for feedback from passengers on what they like/dislike.

      I would hope there will be posters on the train to point this out to passengers, and expect there will be.

      That said, it might have made more sense to split the colours up into different sections of the carriage so you could better picture what each trim would look like.

  3. The seats are too low, a major failing of the existing 321 fleet and something that must be addressed in this refurb design. Also, the middle seat of the three needs to be pushed back of brought forward of the outside two in order to create enough shoulder room, again this must be addressed in this design. Regards, James.

  4. don’t care about the colours they look like the same back breaking seats found on Southern 3+2 arrangement – appallingly uncomfortable for outer suburban/long-distance servies let alone cramped – hardly progress

  5. Well Like I said recently. Its about time to improve the Class 321’s that Greater Anglia has all 94 of them with new Air-Conditioning and this demonstration train shows how passengers can benefit a more reliable Air-Conditioned Commuter trains that East Anglia and Essex needs. They are 33 years old which they are still as reliable which their top speed is 100mph (161km/h) and 0-60mph in 11.7 seconds as they accelerate. Its crucial for Greater Anglia to have refurbished more improved reliable Class 321’s with Air-Conditioning which the windows will be double glazed without no opening flip up windows for fresh air because fresh air will be blown via the vents above. Other operators which also has the Class 321’s will also see their trains refurbished with air-conditioning vents in the future.

    Its about time for the Class 321’s to get new Air-Conditioning. Greater Anglia is the first operator to get the new refurbished Air-Conditioned Class 321’s for a long time.

  6. So Class 321 demonstrators are supposedly taking place to make the journeys a lot cheaper and reliably safe enough.

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