UK: Great Western Railway has awarded Alstom a £75m eight-year Technical Support & Spares Supply Agreement for the 26 Class 175 diesel multiple-units it is to put into service in southwest England from later this year.
Alstom will provide ongoing maintenance support from GWR’s Plymouth Laira depot. This will make use of Alstom’s HealthHub digital condition-based and predictive maintenance system, with the DMUs sending data on more than 200 parameters every 30 sec.
‘With our extensive expertise as the original manufacturer and long-standing maintainer of these trains, we are well placed to ensure their smooth reintroduction and continued reliability’, said Peter Broadley, Business Development Director at Alstom, on August 22.
The 10 two-car and 16 three-car Class 175 DMUs are owned by Angel Trains and were used by Transport for Wales until 2023. They are expected to start entering service with GWR later this year, operating on regional routes including services between Exeter St Davids, Penzance, Barnstaple and Okehampton.
GWR said the deployment of the Class 175s would lead to the removal of some of its oldest and least efficient diesel trains, improving reliability, efficiency and passenger comfort.
