Hull Trains: New trains for UK's smallest rail firm

Five of the new Class 802s will enter service at the end of the year

The boss of Britain's smallest rail company believes its £60m investment in new trains will improve reliability.

Hull Trains, which operates services to London, has seen repeated disruption to its timetables due to mechanical problems with its fleet.

It has the worst record for reliability and punctuality, according to figures from the Office of Rail and Road (ORR).

Managing director Louise Cheeseman said the Japanese-built trains would "revolutionise" the service.

She apologised for the problems which had seen repeated cancellations and even a fire onboard one of the trains.

"That's the past and this is the future," she said.

"These new trains are what the people of Hull are going to be having at the start of November.

"We've got five and they're going to bring a reliability. They're going to bring a direct link to London that people can really rely on and be confident in and actually be very proud of."

The new train was unveiled at Hull Station

Hull Trains runs seven services a day between Hull and the capital.

The latest ORR figures for the last quarter of 2018 showed that 68.8% of journeys arrived on time, the lowest figure of any train operator.

The new Hitachi Class 802 was unveiled at Hull Station and five trains are expected to enter service by the end of the year.