Avanti West Coast has completed the second phase of a £117 million programme to refurbish its fleet of Pendolino trains.
The operator inherited the 20-year-old trains from previous West Coast mainline operator Virgin Trains, and announced plans to renovate the fleet in July 2021.
Last September Avanti announced it had completed refurbishment works on 35 of its 11-carriage trains, including replacing one first class carriage on each train with standard class seating in order to increase the seat count.
Avanti West Coast completes first phase of Pendolino upgrades
And now work has also finished on the firm’s fleet of 21 nine-carriage trains, with refurbished trainset 390020 entering service this week.
In total 574 carriages have been upgraded in just over two years, with the introduction of 25,000 new standard class seats, refurbished first and Standard Premium class seating, new onboard shops, improved lighting, refurbished toilets, new carpets, additional luggage space in standard class and power points at every seat.
The news follows the recent introduction of new Hitachi-built Evero trainsets which will initially operate on Avanti’s London to North Wales route.
Commenting on the news Andy Mellors, managing director at Avanti West Coast, said:
“The refurbished Pendolinos, together with our new Evero fleet, are a key part of our mission to transform rail travel for our customers on the west coast route.
“The Pendolino is an iconic train, and now even better than before, offering customers a much-improved travel experience, with innovation and sustainability at its heart.”
