ScotRail unveils first of new train fleet to ease overcrowding

The first of ScotRail's new Class 385 electric trains at its Shields Road depot in Glasgow today. Picture: SNS

The Japanese-designed Hitachi Class 385 trains will start being tested in Scotland before Christmas prior to carrying passengers from next September on the main Edinburgh-Glasgow line.

The introduction of the 70-strong fleet over the following two years will free up existing trains to provide more seats on other routes.

Features include more comfortable seats, larger tables and power sockets.

ScotRail has also promised more luggage space, improved toilets and “enhanced” wi-fi.

The trains can accelerate faster than the current diesel ones, but the fastest journeys on the main route between the two cities won’t be cut by ten minutes to 42 minutes until December 2018.

They will operate as three and four carriage sets compared to present three and six carriage trains.

These will be lengthened to seven carriages in December 2017 and eight carriages in December 2018 after platforms at Queen Street Station in Glasgow have been extended to accommodate them.

The first train will be tested at ScotRail’s Shields Road depot on the southside of Glasgow before being tested overnight on the Glasgow-Gourock line within two weeks.

The driver’s cab has been fitted but the rest of the interior, including seats, have yet to be installed.

The trains will also eventually operate on the Edinburgh and Glasgow to Dunblane lines, Glasgow-Alloa, Edinburgh to North Berwick/Dunbar, Glasgow-Cathcart Circle/Newton/Neilston, Glasgow-Falkirk Grahamston and Glasgow-Edinburgh via Shotts.

However, they will not be the first electric trains on the main Edinburgh-Glasgow route once its electrification is completed next July, seven months late.

That honour will go to similar-looking but Siemens-built Class 380 trains, which have been running on other lines for six years.

The first batch of the Class 385s have been shipped from Japan, but most will be built by Hitachi at its new factory in County Durham.

The company said they had been inspired by its Shinkansen “bullet” train by using the same technology to mould a thin and light but strong aluminium body shell.

Transport minister Humza Yousaf, who viewed the train today at the Glasgow depot, said: “The arrival of the first new class 385 train for testing in Scotland is a great milestone in this government’s commitment to our railway and a tangible sign to passengers of the very real efforts we are making to improve capacity and comfort.

“The quality of the work being undertaken to build these new trains is second to none.

“I have no doubt that once these carriages go into service the extra space and seats will transform the experience of users and help to continue to build upon the success of ScotRail services across the country.”

Dominic Booth, managing director of Abellio UK, which runs the ScotRail franchise, said: “We are confident that when they become operational, Scottish passengers will see their experience of travelling with ScotRail transformed for the better.”