Scotland Transport Minister Derek Mackay has unveiled a life-size model of the interior of ScotRail’s new fleet of Hitachi Class 385 EMU at Edinburgh Waverley.
Open for public visits until 4 March, the new train showcases a standard and first class saloon of the upcoming fleet, with some of the actual seating and tables that will be used in the carriages once they are introduced from late next year.
The Class 385 EMU is part of a £370m order for 70 new trains for the upcoming ScotRail franchise.
The deal also gives the Scottish Government the option to buy the full fleet for £1 after 25 years.
Last March, Hitachi Rail Europe signed a contract with Dutch rail firm Abellio for the provision and maintenance of the new trains.
“Once fully in service, there will be more ScotRail trains on the network than ever before.”
The new trains are part of a £475m train improvement programme that will see 90% of Scotland’s fleet either new or refurbished.
The order comprises 46 three-car and 24 four-car trains based on Hitachi’s AT200 platform and they will enter service in central Scotland between next year and 2019.
The trains will be operated along the routes between Edinburgh and Glasgow, and between Stirling and Dunblane via Alloa, Edinburgh to North Berwick, Glasgow Central to Neilston/Newton/Cathcart Circle, and Edinburgh to Glasgow Central via Shotts.
Currently under construction by Hitachi Rail, the new electric vehicles will offer thousands of extra seats, faster journeys, improved accessibility, at-seat power points and better Wi-Fi.
Mackay said: “These brand new 100mph electric trains are being custom-made for Scotland’s railways. They will be larger, faster and greener and will allow passengers to travel in greater comfort than ever before when they are rolled out across central belt routes later next year. Once fully in service, there will be more ScotRail trains on the network than ever before.”
Of the 70 trains, the first seven trains are scheduled to be built in Hitachi’s Kasado factory in Japan, while the remaining 63 will be built at its new Newton Aycliffe train manufacturing facility in the UK.
Abellio UK managing director Dominic Booth said: “We commenced the official procurement process for this new fleet of trains in August 2013, which was 19 months before we took over the ScotRail franchise.”
ScotRail’s new train fleet is one element of the wider £742m Edinburgh Glasgow Rail Improvement Programme (EGIP), which will allow for the electric trains to operate on the Edinburgh-Falkirk
High-Glasgow Queen Street route and other links across the central belt from late 2017.
