Rail company to boost fleet with 26 trains

GWR said the Class 175 trains would replace older diesel models, helping reduce costs and pollution

A train company is to boost its fleet with 26 trains, it has said.

Great Western Railway (GWR) said the Class 175 trains would replace older diesel trains and would reduce costs and pollution.

The company said the trains entered service in 2000, when they were used by Transport for Wales, but were a "fantastic addition" to the GWR fleet.

GWR managing director Mark Hopwood said the trains would allow the company to increase resilience where needed and were a step towards decarbonisation.

The company said 10 two-car trains and 16 three-car trains would enter service in Devon and Cornwall later this year.

It said the new rolling stock meant it could remove "some of its oldest and least efficient diesel trains, which had become more expensive to maintain as spare parts become more difficult to find on the open market".

Mark Hopwood, managing director of GWR, said: "The benefits of these trains will be felt by customers across the whole of the GWR network.

"With more trains we will have more scope to increase resilience where it is needed most, delivering the reliability our communities deserve and need."