Rail group completes £25m train fleet upgrade at key Cheshire facility

Class 458 train

Rail group, Alstom, has completed a £25m upgrade of the Class 458 electric multiple unit (EMU) fleet for South Western Railway (SWR) at its site in Widnes.

The refurbishment has been financed by Porterbrook, a UK rolling stock financier and asset management company, which owns the Class 458 fleet.

Twenty-eight four-car units have been refurbished at the Alstom Transport Technology Centre in Widnes, taking two weeks to complete each set.

Each unit has 234 seats in a two-by-two formation – all with seat back tables and charging points – as well as space for two wheelchair users.

All carriages also have two tables fitted with wireless charging points, while their exteriors carry the updated SWR livery.

Work by Alstom at its train modernisation facility in Widnes has also seen the reconfiguration of the vehicles to enable faster acceleration and new carpets laid throughout.

Meanwhile, additional work at Alstom’s historic Crewe Works has seen the Class 458’s powered wheelsets overhauled. This has enabled the trains to operate at a top speed of 100mph – up from 75mph.

Peter Broadley, Services Managing Director UK and Ireland at Alsom, said: “This refurbishment demonstrates Alstom’s commitment to delivering smarter, more sustainable and passenger-focused mobility solutions.

“The work completed at Widnes and Crewe not only enhances the passenger experience on the Class 458 fleet, but also showcases the value of British engineering and our investment in local expertise.”

The final unit – 458414 – departed Widnes after an event at the facility earlier this month to mark the successful completion of the project.

Neil Drury, Engineering and Infrastructure Director at South Western Railway, said: “We’re excited to welcome our newly refurbished Class 458 fleet back to the network.

“These upgraded trains provide a significantly enhanced customer experience, with improved seating and tables, new charging points, as well as space for two wheelchair users.”

The 28, four-car Class 458 trains will be designated as Class 458/4. The eight remaining five-car units will be designated as Class 458/5.

Andy Bagguley, Fleet Services Director at Porterbrook, said: “Our Class 458s have proudly served South Western Railway’s routes for the last 25 years. We know that the needs of passengers evolve over time, so it’s important that our trains do the same, and that’s why we continually invest in our fleets to ensure they continue to meet expectations.”

Opened in 2017, Alstom’s Widnes facility is the UK’s largest and most sophisticated centre for train modernisation, while its Crewe site is home to Alstom’s UK Centre of Excellence for Bogie and Traction Motor Overhaul. Bogies house the train’s wheelsets.

The Crewe facility has overhauled more than 20,000 bogies during the past 10 years for the UK rail market. In the future, all the bogies for the 225mph trains for High Speed Two (HS2) will be assembled and maintained in Crewe by Alstom.

The work on the Class 458 trains has supported almost 70 jobs at Widnes and Crewe, while UK suppliers have also benefitted from more than 80% of the £25m investment.

The Class 458 Juniper (5-JUP) EMUs were originally built by Alstom at Washwood Heath in Birmingham between 1998 and 2002 for South West Trains.

The first refurbished Class 458 units – 458415, 458420 and 458422 – entered service in June, in the same week that Avanti West Coast’s final Class 390 Pendolino also left Widnes following the completion of the UK’s biggest fleet upgrade.

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