Reading this morning that Avanti will refurbish the existing fleet of 56 Class 390s and replace the 30 Class 221s with a new fleet of 10 electric and 13 bi-modes - Coughs, Class 80x... not unexpected, and of course there would be new stock down the line for HS2 classic services
Begs the question, what’s to do with the Class 22x fleet, as CrossCountry certainly won’t (commercially) want all of the 22x fleet, so who else will ? TPE for Hope Valley, Northern for further capacity on its Connect services, Scottish services to replace the recently introduced HSTs ? All seems bleak for the 22x units, because I wouldn’t at all be surprised to see the next CrossCountry franchise ordering a fleet of bi-modes to replace in part or perhaps even completely its 22x fleet.
Begs the question, what’s to do with the Class 22x fleet, as CrossCountry certainly won’t (commercially) want all of the 22x fleet, so who else will ? TPE for Hope Valley, Northern for further capacity on its Connect services, Scottish services to replace the recently introduced HSTs ? All seems bleak for the 22x units, because I wouldn’t at all be surprised to see the next CrossCountry franchise ordering a fleet of bi-modes to replace in part or perhaps even completely its 22x fleet.