The refurbishment is underway at Alstom’s Widnes modernisation facility in partnership with Beacon Rail, the rolling stock owner. Alongside exterior changes, the interiors have been updated, including refreshed seating and the installation of new grey and silver seats in part of the fleet.
The trains were presented during the opening of Lumo’s new operating base in Preston, where around 100 jobs are being created ahead of service introduction. The facility will support operations on the West Coast Main Line.
The new service links London Euston with Stirling, calling at Milton Keynes, Nuneaton, Crewe, Preston, Carlisle, Lockerbie, Motherwell, Whifflet, Greenfaulds and Larbert. Tickets are on sale from GBP 29.90 for the London–Stirling flow.
Class 222 diesel multiple units were previously deployed on long-distance services elsewhere in the UK network. The refurbishment programme returns the fleet to traffic under open access operation on the West Coast corridor.
Lumo is not the only operator taking over the Class 222 handed back to Beacon Rail after EMR starts the deployment of new Hitachi trainset. Similarly, ScotRail plans to deploy these modernizes trains in Scotland, marking the end of InterCity 125 units on British rails.
