Wyrleybart
Established Member
It is worth considering though that while Northern and TPE and perhaps GA and TfW have all battled with huge backlogs of traction training because of introduction of new trains, GWR simply had the doors modified and many of the crews already signed HSTs anyway.The GTi sets had nothing to do with the franchise bidding process.
They were suggested by the GWR senior management team to the DfT as a way of getting out of the mess that the delays in electrification had caused to the “as bid” DMU cascade. That also involved the then looming Pacer replacement issue.
Worth noting that Avanti are going to feel the pain after the 805s and 807s are signed off and ready for crew training. AWC haven't had a new train to become competent on since the Pendolinos nearly 20 years ago.