Ahead of a comprehensive fleet overhaul, Eversholt Rail has unveiled a Class 321 train with two different interiors – metro and suburban.
Staff at Wabtec’s Doncaster plant have also installed a new look first class compartment with leather seats and power sockets on unit 321448, the spruced up show-train. Passengers on the Greater Anglia network, where the 321 will go into service, will be able to evaluate and offer feedback on the new design.
Eversholt hopes 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 comfortable, smart, new-look train that will meet their approval. The project cost for the demonstrator class 321 is put at over £4 million. 321448 will go from Doncaster to
Ilford depot in November before entering passenger service for a 12 month period in December. Work on refurbishing the entire fleet of 94 sets will commence in 2015 and should be completed by 2019. Eversholt Rail recently completed its upgrade of the Class 320 fleet used by ScotRail.
So the New Air-Conditioned Demonstration Class 321448 train will be heading back to Ilford Depot ready to do its usual service to/from London Liverpool Street and heading to/from Southend Victoria, Braintree, Clacton-on-Sea, Colchester, Norwich, Ipswich & Colchester Town service aswell on the Colchester-Walton-on-the-Naze, Colchester-Colchester Town, Wickford-Southminster, Romford-Upminster and Manningtree/Ipswich-Harwich Town services to benefit passengers about what this Demonstration train would see to improve and other Class 321’s that Greater Anglia has 94x of them to be refurbished with what this Class 321448 has to offer.