The first new West Coast Pendolino arrives in Britain for testing

The first of four new 11-car Pendolino trains to be delivered by Alstom arrived on 6 December 2010. It was brought by rail from Italy to the Liverpool Traincare Centre at Edge Hill, one of five maintenance depots where Alstom maintains the current Pendolino fleet and where a six-month programme of testing and commissioning of the train will now begin.

In line with the agreement signed between train lessor, Angel Trains Ltd, the Department for Transport and Alstom in 2008, the new 11-car high-speed tilting train is part of the Pendolino extension programme to deliver 106 new carriages to the current fleet operating on the West Coast Main Line, in order to increase its capacity . Around 28 million passengers use the West Coast Main Line every year. As well as building four new trains, Alstom will lengthen 31 of the 52 existing trains operating on the West Coast Main Line from nine to eleven cars by the end of 2012, providing over 7,000 extra seats in all. Each 11-car train is 265 metres long and can carry 589 passengers.

Manufacture of the four new vehicles and the additional carriages is carried out at Alstom’s factory in Savigliano (Italy) with the power modules, which provide a controlled power supply to the train’s motors, provided by Alstom’s site in Preston, specialist in traction engineering, parts and logistics.

The other three new 11-car trains are to be delivered for testing at the Liverpool site in January, August and December 2012. Integration of the additional carriages into the existing trains is due to begin in Liverpool in April 2012.

Paul Robinson, Managing Director of Alstom Transport UK and Ireland, said:” The delivery of this train, on schedule, is another important milestone for our West Coast operations and a significant step towards the creation of much needed additional capacity for passengers.”

Rail Minister Theresa Villiers said:

“The delivery of this new Pendolino demonstrates that the Government is already starting to deliver on the commitment we made last week: to introduce 2,100 new carriages on to the rail network by 2019.

“As soon as this train completes all its necessary testing and accreditation, it will be available for lease by any train operator who wants to increase the service they provide for their customers. From April 2012 it will form part of the rolling stock for the new West Coast Main Line franchise.”