HITACHI Rail Europe rolled out the first UK-built Class 385 EMUs for ScotRail on October 12.
Sixty of the 70 sets on order will be completed at HRE’s Newton Aycliffe assembly plant, with the other 10 coming from Hitachi’s Kasado facility in Japan.
Initially, a mix of three-car Class 385/0s and four-car Class 385/1s, the latter with First Class accommodation, is being built at ScotRail’s request to allow an initial introduction of seven-car sets on the Edinburgh Waverley-Glasgow Queen Street route from December.
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Until platform extensions are completed, seven cars is the current maximum at Queen Street.
As well as 11 units under construction or testing at Network Aycliffe (T7-18), two Japanese-built three-car and three four-car sets are currently in the UK for finishing.
Two other sets are currently in Scotland for testing, with two more undergoing dynamic testing with DB Systemtechnik in Germany.
Read more in the November issue of The RM – on sale now!
