Transport for Wales (TfW) announced the completion of work to refurbish its fleet of Class 153 railcars, providing better facilities for customers throughout the Wales and Borders network.
The last two units rolled out of Chrysalis Rail’s Landore works in June with a fully refurbished interior, including accessible toilet facilities, recovered seats and renewed fittings, as well as being rebranded into TfW’s grey and red livery.
TfW’s Class 153 fleet has grown from eight units in 2018 to 26 units today, as it has sought to acquire additional rolling stock to increase capacity across the network for its customers.
TfW have now refurbished the 26 Class 153 railcars, which currently operate on the Heart of Wales Line, routes in North and West Wales, and the Core Valley Lines to Rhymney, Coryton, the City Line and Cardiff Bay. A further four units have been purchased outright by TfW and are awaiting work to reconfigure them to provide enhanced cycle storage on the Heart of Wales Line.
In February 2022, TfW has also completed the refurbishment of 24 Class 158 long-distance trains at Arriva TrainCare’s facility in Crewe which now operate on routes throughout the Wales and Borders.
The refurbishment of Class 153 fleet is part of a GBP 40 million (EUR 47.28 million) programme which also included the modernisation of Class 175, 150 and 158 trains. “We’re also investing over GBP 800 million [EUR 945.6 million] on a fleet of brand new trains, which will begin to enter service across the Wales and Borders network later this year,” Jerry Howells, TfW’s Head of Asset Management said.
Recently, Transport for Wales unveiled the first Class 197 trains manufactured by CAF and assembled at the factory in Newport. TfW and CAF signed a contract for the supply of 77 trains which will be delivered in two variants including 51 two-car and 26 three-car units.
The new trains will enter service across the Wales and Borders network later in 2022.
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