Refurbishment of Class 170 Turbostar trains begins

The warm black front ends, red doors and bold logo branding will make the trains easily recognisable to customers at stations on the routes between Cardiff and Nottingham and Birmingham New Street and Stansted Airport. Exterior repainting, due as part of scheduled overhaul, is being carried out at the EWS Toton Depot, near Nottingham and Marcroft Depot, Stoke-on-Trent, and will be completed by December this year.

Interior refurbishment to provide bright and fresh accommodation with more seats and luggage space will begin in April at Transys Projects Ltd's depot in Clacton-on-Sea, Essex. Seats will be retrimmed, new carpets fitted and at-seat power points installed in the two-plus-one seating of the First Class accommodation on every train.

To avoid train shortages while they are being refurbished the work is being phased to coincide with scheduled maintenance, so some coaches will be in service temporarily with reworked exteriors or interiors only until the programme is completed.

CrossCountry Managing Director Andy Cooper said: "Our Class 170 trains, which serve some of our busiest routes through Birmingham, are being refurbished to a standard of the highest quality. They will make a significant contribution to our commitment to provide up to 35 percent more seating and additional luggage space across our network."

For more information feel free to contact us on 0121 6547010.

Notes to editors

Class 170 Turbostar trains provide CrossCountry services between Cardiff Central, Gloucester, Birmingham New Street, Derby and Nottingham and between Birmingham New Street, Leicester, Peterborough, Cambridge and Stansted Airport.

EWS is the dedicated rail freight operator in Britain and mainland Europe and provider of intermodal and logistics services to the rail industry. Through its subsidiary Axiom Rail it provides maintenance and refurbishment services for rail rolling stock.

Transys Projects Ltd is an independent engineering consultancy and turnkey solution provider. One of its specialist services is rail vehicle enhancement and improvement.

CrossCountry started operating on 11 November 2007. The franchise, which is the most extensive in the UK, will run until 31 March 2016. For further information on CrossCountry services and future franchise plans log on to www.crosscountrytrains.co.uk

CrossCountry facts and figures

STATIONS SERVED: 124
ROUTE MILES: 1,654
WEEKDAY SERVICES: 279
PASSENGERS CARRIED: Over 30 million passenger journeys a year anticipated
ANNUAL TRAIN MILEAGE: Approximately 16 million
EMPLOYEES: Approximately 1,800
LONGEST TRAIN SERVICE: Penzance to Dundee (701 miles)

CrossCountry is part of the Arriva group which operates transport services in nine European countries, employs more than 37,000 people and provides more than one billion passenger journeys every year. For more information about the Arriva group visit www.arriva.co.uk

Select this link to view the Press Release PDF

If your browser does not recognise the file type PDF a free Adobe Acrobat Reader can be downloaded from the Adobe website.

Contact Information

CrossCountry Press Office: [email protected]

About CrossCountry

CrossCountry is a long-distance passenger train operator, with a network stretching from Aberdeen to Penzance and from Stansted to Cardiff and calling at over 100 stations. Based in Birmingham, CrossCountry connects seven of Britain’s 10 largest cities and delivers 240 services every weekday, equating to over 42 million passenger journeys each year.

For further information on CrossCountry services, visit crosscountrytrains.co.uk or visit one of our social media platforms via X @crosscountryuk or Facebook at facebook.com/crosscountrytrains