Frankly, they’ll deserve everything they get from having two fleets of steaming manure.
These new CAF trains might not be that yet.
The Hitachi fleet has certainly proven itself somewhat troublesome, but we can't yet know that a fleet announced today will be horrendous.
Taken from LNER website, link below from announcement that 10 x 10 car CAF trains will be introduced from 2027, to replace the intercity 225 and provide some extra trains.
London North Eastern Railway (LNER) is pleased to confirm that CAF has been named as the successful bidder to deliver a fleet of 10 new tri-mode trains for LNER. Porterbrook has been chosen as the financier of the new fleet. The trains will be able to operate in electric, battery or diesel mode.
www.lner.co.uk
I think they look very unique and quite cool - I'm glad we're going to have a change at long last from the same 80x taking over the country - but I would love to see the yellow fronts replaced by red on both these and the existing Hitachi fleet.
I wonder if they'll retain Fainsa Sophia seating to keep a consistent product across their network on every service?
The Intercity 225s have always been my favourite locomotive-hauled stock in the UK, and I always much preferred travelling on a 225 to a HST, and similarly I always prefer travelling on a 225 to an Azuma, but sad as I will be to see them go, I must remind myself 2027 is still a massive seven year extension on the original plan to sack them off in 2020. They will also be forty years old when introduced (1988 introduction, no rolling stock introduction is on time so 2028 is probably a safe bet) and you really don't want high speed trains going longer than that. Mind you, I'll be sure to get some final rides in over the next three years or so.
I doubt it. They will be pushing 40 years old by the time these new trains come into service.
I'm sure Ian Yeowart will always have a solution