ScotRail Class 222 - refurbishment and future use

[Davester50]

To keep the Announcement page simple, (and I'm guilty of speculating in it...), I suppose there should be a speculation thread for them!

What we do know?
The colour scheme renders are in Saltire, rather than I7C

Here are the two images, shared directly on here for accessibility purposes and remain copyright of ScotRail:

They'll be 5-car and refurbished

Alstom just revealed it has the 10 year refurbishment and maintenance contract for 222s for Scotrail (option to extend to March 2042) so move to Scotland now official

Alstom secures long-term train services and refurbishment contracts for £330 million[1] (€380 million) with ScotRail and Beacon in the UK

10-year Technical Support and Spares Supply Agreement (TSSSA) to support Class 222 fleet

www.alstom.com

Entry in to service before end of 2027

ScotRail have also announced that the contract has been signed with Beacon for 22 Class 222s.



https://www.scotrail.co.uk/about-sc...EauYT_a8Wv5eA9NvYK_aem_f1j2hFpIo50bsv88Cit0qQ

Everything else is really speculation, like buffets, seat counts, maintenance, what happens after the Lumo deal is up.

 

[380101]

To keep the Announcement page simple, (and I'm guilty of speculating in it...), I suppose there should be a speculation thread for them!

What we do know?
The colour scheme renders are in Saltire, rather than I7C

They'll be 5-car and refurbished

Entry in to service before end of 2027


Everything else is really speculation, like buffets, seat counts, maintenance, what happens after the Lumo deal is up.

ScotRail will be doing the maintenance in-house with support from Alstom at Polmadie as per the £250m technical support part of the contract.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

There was mention in the announcement thread of three vehicles being left spare. Will these be driving coaches, non-driving coaches, or a mix (eg 2 drivers and one middle)?

 

[43096]

There was mention in the announcement thread of three vehicles being left spare. Will these be driving coaches, non-driving coaches, or a mix (eg 2 drivers and one middle)?

Non-driving coaches are those made spare.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Non-driving coaches are those made spare.

Thanks.
With these sets plus those with Lumo, are those three non-driving coaches the only 222 vehicles left homeless? Or are there others unaccounted for?

IIRC the HST sets are a mix of 2+4 and 2+5 sets, with some of the 5s being later extensions of 4s. If there's only 3 spare coaches available, extending some to 6-car would probably cause more problems than it would solve (in the event of higher demand)... but if there are additional coaches it could be worthwhile. Platform lengths shouldn't be an issue, as a 6-car 222 will be less than a carriage-length longer than a 2+4 HST.

 

[Highlander1]

Thanks.
With these sets plus those with Lumo, are those three non-driving coaches the only 222 vehicles left homeless? Or are there others unaccounted for?

IIRC the HST sets are a mix of 2+4 and 2+5 sets, with some of the 5s being later extensions of 4s. If there's only 3 spare coaches available, extending some to 6-car would probably cause more problems than it would solve (in the event of higher demand)... but if there are additional coaches it could be worthwhile. Platform lengths shouldn't be an issue, as a 6-car 222 will be less than a carriage-length longer than a 2+4 HST.

You would think that given a 5 car 222 will probably have a lower seating capacity than a 5 car HST there will be some capacity issues on certain journeys. In particular Edinburgh to Inverness during tourist season but also some peak journeys between Aberdeen and Edinburgh.

 

[stevieinselby]

You would think that given a 5 car 222 will probably have a lower seating capacity than a 5 car HST there will be some capacity issues on certain journeys. In particular Edinburgh to Inverness during tourist season but also some peak journeys between Aberdeen and Edinburgh.

The majority of journeys to/from Inverness, and a smaller but significant proportion of journeys to/from Aberdeen, currently use 4-car sets or smaller.

 

[Highlander1]

The majority of journeys to/from Inverness, and a smaller but significant proportion of journeys to/from Aberdeen, currently use 4-car sets or smaller.

Yes they do, and these trains are often full and standing

 

[HighlandStorm]

The majority of journeys to/from Inverness, and a smaller but significant proportion of journeys to/from Aberdeen, currently use 4-car sets or smaller.

Yes they do, and these trains are often full and standing

Indeed, the 1050 from Inverness to Edinburgh is scheduled to be 5 cars 158+170 and it’s rammed for a good chunk of the year despite some fairly aggressive advances being offers for earlier trains (specifically because of how busy this service is).

From earlier discussions on the other ScotRail 222 thread I’d make a 5 car 222 around 100 seats less than the current 1050 service south from Inverness?

Another LNER 9 car service in this path would be no bad thing for HML capacity. If not that then maybe a 6 car 158?

 

[Highlander1]

Indeed, the 1050 from Inverness to Edinburgh is scheduled to be 5 cars 158+170 and it’s rammed for a good chunk of the year despite some fairly aggressive advances being offers for earlier trains (specifically because of how busy this service is).

From earlier discussions on the other ScotRail 222 thread I’d make a 5 car 222 around 100 seats less than the current 1050 service south from Inverness?

Another LNER 9 car service in this path would be no bad thing for HML capacity. If not that then maybe a 6 car 158?

There's a decent demand for 1st on that 1050 so 6 car 158 wouldn't be ideal although the walk through helps. The earlier southbound Edinburgh at 9.42 is a 170. Perhaps a 222 on that journey and a 222 on the 1050 might help spread demand (along with plenty of advance ticket incentives on the earlier train to encourage people onto that service). There's also currently a lot of advance tickets sold for the 1056 Inverness Aberdeen and then connect to Edinburgh that way. Again if that were a 222 instead of a 170, more could be offered.