ARRIVA Group has announced an order with Hitachi Rail for nine five-car tri-mode electric-diesel-battery trains for British open-access operator Grand Central. The trains will be delivered in 2028 under a 10-year leasing agreement with Angel Trains, which is financing the approximately £300m deal.
Manufacturing of the new fleet will take place at Hitachi’s plant at Newton Aycliffe in northeast England. Hitachi says the battery element of the contract “unlocks a new advanced manufacturing opportunity for the factory and wider supply chain.” The order was also welcomed by both national and local politicians for safeguarding jobs at the plant.
The agreement follows the recent approval by regulator the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) for extending track access rights for Grand Central’s existing services until 2038. The open-access operator has also submitted applications to ORR to introduce two additional return services between London and Bradford and an extra early morning service from York to London.
In addition, Grand Central announced last month that it is planning to submit another application to introduce a direct service from London to Grimsby and Cleethorpes in northeast Lincolnshire. Arriva says it has an option to order more trains if these applications are approved.
“We look forward to announcing further rolling stock orders, providing jobs and wider economic benefits, as and when our network grows,” says Amanda Furlong, managing director of Arriva UK Trains.
New fleet
The new trains will replace Grand Central’s existing fleet of 10 five-car class 180 DMUs and two five-car class 221 Voyager DEMUs. They are expected to boost seating capacity by 20%, offering 400,000 additional seats per year on services from London to Yorkshire and the northeast of England.
When running on non-electrified lines, Grand Central plans to operate the new trains in battery mode when entering and exiting stations, helping to improve air quality and reduce noise, and reducing both emissions and noise by around 30% compared with the existing fleet.
Hitachi, Angel Trains and TransPennine Express (TPE) completed trials of a tri-mode class 802/2 train in 2024. One of the train’s three diesel generator sets was replaced with a battery module during the trial, which showed that the train was able to accelerate at up to 72km/h at the same rate as under diesel power. The train also achieved a range of 135km on battery power, according to Hitachi.
“Following the successful trial of this pioneering battery technology last year, Arriva and Angel Trains are transforming Hitachi’s £17m research and development investment into the first battery train order to be built in the UK,” says Jim Brewin, chief director of UK and Ireland at Hitachi Rail.
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