Class 317/5 refurbishment

[387star]

Abellio Greater Anglia are refurbishing their 317/5s following on from their 317/6 refurbishment. Wouldn't surprise me if the 317/8s follow as they basically have the same interior. Seems to go above and beyond what was expected in this franchise and the refurbishment looks great!

AGA website:

Rail passengers travelling between London and Broxbourne, Hertford East, Harlow, Bishops Stortford and Cambridge are benefiting from upgraded train interiors as Abellio Greater Anglia’s first five refurbished Class 317/5 trains enter service.

Abellio Greater Anglia’s fleet of 15 Class 317/5 electric trains are receiving a £1 million interior refresh and upgrade to improve passenger comfort.

All 60 carriages will receive new standard seat covers and vinyl flooring, new First Class seat covers, trim and carpets, interiors re-sprayed and new signage applied.

The work to improve the Class 317/5 trains is being undertaken by Abellio Greater Anglia’s fleet maintenance team at the company’s Clacton-on-Sea Depot.

Andrew Goodrum, Customer Service Director, Abellio Greater Anglia said: “The upgrade of our 15 Class 317/5 trains will provide improved comfort and a better on-train environment for our customers. This work is part of a wider £3.5m investment in a range of service upgrades - including initiatives to improve train reliability, additional resources for train presentation and cleaning, station presentation and painting schemes and upgrades to station and on-train information.

“We will continue to do all we can to provide our customers with improving services.”

This project follows on from a similar upgrade programme for the company's 24 Class 317/6 trains and is due for completion in the autumn.

Ends

 

[urpert]

Still not as good as WAGN's efforts in the late 90s... :-/

 

[Bishopstone]

I used West Anglia services for the first time in several years, a fortnight ago. I was pleasantly surprised by the condition of the units I rode, which I presume were refurbished 317/6s. The seating material in first class was a rather luxurious looking faux leather: not what I had expected, at all.

I spent some time at Ely, and thought the waiting room (with small cafe attached) on the Up platform was nicely done, too, and a good place to watch the passing traffic in comfort.

 

[samuelmorris]

I must admit, while this is all that's strictly necessary to make the units acceptable to travel on, it's not much of a refurbishment, just looks like a deep clean & tidy, repainted grabrails and replaced seat covers. For 317/5 and 317/8, hopefully the cushions get replaced too, I was unaware until riding an LO 317/8 this week that the seats have no cushion under the cover, only springs, all nearby seats were the same so obviously not a one off. When you think about it, £1m for 15 trains means £16000 per carriage which isn't a huge amount to allow much major work to take place. I'm happy that the work is taking place, but I'd still consider it closer to routine maintenance than a full refurbishment. The trains are basically just back in the condition they were when they were new in 1981, not being modernised to bring them closer in line with their contemporaries.

 

[jopsuk]

They're going to need either far more work (including the /6s) or replacement before 2020... clock is ticking!