What modern rolling stock is the cheapest?

[renegademaster]

By modern let's say post 2010.
I was thinking maybe the new stock one of those mainline metro systems like TW Metro or Merseyrail but I have no idea where I'd start to research this kinda thing

 

[Bletchleyite]

CAF is known to be cheap. I suspect your answer is going to be (if we're considering real terms, as there's been a fair bit of inflation over that time) a 2-car CAF Class 195, provided we aren't able to consider something like a single Mk5a coach as that can't do anything on its own.

If we are able to consider a single Mk5a coach or a single freight wagon, then probably one of those.

 

[BurtonM]

My immediate thought was also anything made by CAF.

 

[tfw756rider]

CAF is known to be cheap. I suspect your answer is going to be (if we're considering real terms, as there's been a fair bit of inflation over that time) a 2-car CAF Class 195, provided we aren't able to consider something like a single Mk5a coach as that can't do anything on its own.

If we are able to consider a single Mk5a coach or a single freight wagon, then probably one of those.

My immediate thought was also anything made by CAF.

Is CAF actually "cheap" though?

I'll only attach it on request (and even then, only if I can find "my" copy of it), but there is that table of the prices paid for the 2018 Transport for Wales 148 new trains order, and I recall that a 3-car (CAF) 197 (not sure which of the two variants) was not that much less expensive than a 3-coach (Stadler) 756.

 

[renegademaster]

Per coach, would something long like the 700s actually be cheaper?

 

[WestCountry]

a 3-car (CAF) 197 (not sure which of the two variants) was not that much less expensive than a 3-coach (Stadler) 756.

The Stadler units have very short carriages though. A 3-car 197 has more seats than a 4-car 756, even counting the folding ones. A 2-car 197 is roughly equivalent to a 3-car 756.

Unit	Fixed seats	Tip-up seats	Total seats
197 (2-car)	116	5	121
756 (3-car)	118	24	142
756 (4-car)	158	32	190
197 (3-car)	188	8	196

 

[RUK]

I guess you could go to the rolling stock manufacturers’ web-sites and look at their press releases announcing the awarding of contracts, and divide the total cost of the contract by the number of vehicles, if you want it on a per-vehicle basis. Though it’s not uncommon for maintenance to be part of the contract too, which might be difficult to separate out. Cabs are expensive, with all the equipment in them, so longer units splits that cost across more vehicles and fewer trains.