Killingworth
Established Member
Taken from their Stakeholder letter today and 34 page attachment; Our Plan for the Future – A Prospectus
Class 185 trains refresh: this will include replacement of external vinyl bodyside wraps, replacement of seat covers and carpets, and a comprehensive interior deep clean.
The Class 185 units will also undergo an acetic flush (Mar-24) to remove waste residue from the inside of pipes and tanks in the foul water part of the toilet system to increase reliability and effectiveness of flushing, reduce pipe bursts and increase effective tank capacity.
Replacing seat covers with more durable and easier to clean fabrics: all our trains have ‘flat cloth’ seat covers with the exception of First Class in Class 185/397. Our experience has been of severe vulnerability to unsightly staining which, once formed, requires dry
cleaning or machine washing to remove and where such washing limits the life of the cover. We are now implementing fleet-wide replacement with conventional heavy duty moquette seat covers (Sep-23 to Oct-24), noting that Northern have completed a similar replacement programme on their fleets.