First Adelantes find new homes

摘要

The future deployment of the 14-strong fleet of Class 180 Ade-lante DMUs is becoming clearer, reports Tony Miles. It has been confirmed that Hull Trains has secured four of the now much sought-after sets on a 10-year lease, with an option for three more should it be successful in its application to run an open-access service between Harrogate and King's Cross. These three would transfer from First Great Western where they are on short-term lease to cover for the refurbishment of the IC125 fleet. The company says it will need another set if Network Rail moves to a regular-interval timetable on the ECML. According to a senior insider 'a prescribed interval timetable introduces significant resource inefficiencies, and therefore costs, a point we are currently making to NR and ORR'.