Virgin Pendolino Class 390 passenger train at speed. Oxenholme, Cumbria, England, United Kingdom, Europe.
In 2002, Virgin Trains in the UK began operating custom-designed Pendolino trains known as the Class 390 on its West Coast Main Line (WCML) franchise. The 53 9-car trains were constructed by Alstom and are leased by Virgin Trains from Angel Trains. Due to the failure of the WCML upgrade to provide in-cab signalling, these units are limited in service to 125 mph (200 km/h) operation rather than their 140 mph (225 km/h) design speed. In 2006, Virgin Trains announced that, over the next three years, they will be examining the possibility of running the trains at 135 mph (215 km/h) through the Trent Valley as part of their new WCML Franchise Proposal. The DfT has announced that 31 of the existing 9-car sets will be lengthened to 11 cars to increase capacity. Four new 11-car sets are also to be built. Angel Trains ordered the vehicles from Alstom in September 2008. Virgin Rail Projects has been selected to introduce the new trains. The longer units will require major infrastructure changes to allow stations and depots to accommodate the 11-car units. With the closure of the Washwood Heath works, any additional vehicles were manufactured in Alstom's Savigliano factory in Italy.[15] The first new sets were built with 11 cars and delivered via Dollands Moor to Edge Hill.[16][17] On 14 July 2011, the Virgin Trains Media Room on their website announced that Chief Operating Officer, Chris Gibb, accepted the train (as a 9 coach set) from Alstom Transport UK Managing Director Paul Robinson and Malcolm Brown, Angel Trains’ Chief Executive, at Alstom’s Edge Hill Traincare Centre in Liverpool on 12 July. With the franchise process in place, and Virgin Trains franchise extended to December 2012, the first 11-car set (390 156) entered service on 5 April 2012. The remaining new sets were brought into service, and 31 sets increased to 11 carriages over the next eight months.
Size: 7183px × 4648px
Location: Oxenholme Rail Station, West Coast Main Line, Cumbria, England United Kingdom, Europe.
Photo credit: © Stan Pritchard / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 390, class, passenger, pendolino, rail, train, virgin
