A NEW fleet of trains commissioned to replace the creaking carriages which rattle along the Furness and west Cumbria line are taking shape.

Last year, Northern, the UK’s largest train operator outside of London, announced it was investing £580million in 98 new electric and diesel trains.

A new engineering director and head of new trains have been recruited to oversee the project.

The design of the new trains has been finalised and construction of the 281 carriages is now under way.

The first of the new fleet are set to be in service by the end of 2018.

Northern’s new recruits recently visited train manufacturer CAF’s sites in Irun and Zaragoza, Spain with representatives from train owner Eversholt Rail to inspect the first carriages coming off the production line.

Engineering director Ben Ackroyd, said: “It was great to get out to Spain to take a look at the first unit in production. The engineering team at Northern has been working hard for the last year or so to finalise the designs and get all the paperwork signed off.

<iframe width="640" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Pvb0G1IBXVM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

"Since I joined in March it’s been really rewarding to see the final designs come together, but it all really came to life for me when we stood inside one of the first bodyshells in Spain."

The team will build, test and launch 43 electric and 55 diesel trains into service by December 2019. They will all have free Wifi, power sockets and digital information screens.

A series of empty body shells are in various states of finish. The first new train will be completed by autumn and will go for testing in Vellim in the Czech Republic next year.

The first new trains will enter service in December 2018 and all 98 will be carrying Northern’s customers around the network by 2020.

<iframe width="640" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Mx2sDaCe1Fg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Andy Course, Chief Operating Officer, Eversholt Rail said “As the owner of the Class 331 and Class 195 new trains, we are delighted to be working in partnership with Northern and CAF on this exciting programme.

We have invested £492m in these new trains, which are a fantastic addition to our growing portfolio. We are working hard with Northern to help get them into service as quickly as possible to offer a much improved service to their passengers.”

The new and refurbished trains form just part of Northern’s modernisation plans, which also include more services, faster connections, better stations and improved customer service.