New Trains for Northern Rail as Successful Franchise Bidder Arriva Takes Over on 1st April, 2016

As one of the main requirements for the letting of the next 9-year Northern Rail franchise to run rail services in the north of England, the successful bidder Arriva has placed an order for 98 new train sets. These are to replace the unloved and inadequate Pacer trains currently operating across much of the network. The £490 million deal is being financed by Eversholt Rail.

Arriva and Eversholt have selected CAF to produce a UK-compatible variant of their popular Civity suite of modular designs.

CAF has its origins in the mid-nineteenth century when it produced of iron. It later extended its activities to machinery and railway rolling stock and established a factory in Beasain in the Spanish Basque Country. A merger with a similar company based in Zaragosa - but also with production capacity in the Basque Country - took place in 1958 and the company, now known as CAF, continued to expand around its Beasain base and established a strong R&D division. The have developed expertise in tailoring trains from their Civity designs to meet the requirements of customer's differing power and size limitations, climate conditions and gauges.

Because of gaps in electricity supplies in the north of England rail network, the largest one being 40 miles, a mix of electric and diesel powered train sets are having to be supplied.

The order comprises 25 2-car and 30 3-car Class 195 Diesel Multiple Units and 31 3-car and 12 4-car electrically powered Class 331 sets.

The vehicles will be assembled in Spain with final delivery expected by the end of 2019.