WEST MIDLANDS Railway launched the first of its 48-strong Alstom Class 730/0 Aventra three-coach electric multiple units into service between Wolverhampton and Walsall on February 13.
The operator is preparing for the new trains to replace Class 350s and 323 EMU fleets currently in use on the WMR network, and West Midlands Mayor Andy Street described them as ‘beautiful’ at a preview event a few days ahead of their public launch.
The first Class 730/0 to carry passengers in the region was the 22.41 departure from Birmingham New Street to Wolverhampton on February 12, with 730018 being utilised as a positioning move to get the Aventra into place for its use on the Wolverhampton, Birmingham and Walsall route the following morning. Initially, one train will be in use on a full day’s diagram on the route, with more Class 730s expected to enter service over the coming weeks.
WMR Class 730/0s previously entered service with sister company London Northwestern Railway out of London Euston in November last year, in order to allow the remaining LNR Class 319s to be withdrawn. However, the WMR trains will be replaced next winter, when LNR’s fleet of 36 five-coach Class 730/2s enter traffic between Liverpool, the West Midlands, and London.
The operator will eventually have 48 of the three-coach trains in service, which are set to replace the Class 350/2s currently in use on the Walsall to Wolverhampton route, while the Class 323 fleet currently in use on the Cross City line, connecting Lichfield, Birmingham, Redditch and Bromsgrove, are also due to be replaced in the spring. The majority of the displaced WMR Class 323s are to be cascaded to Northern, with 323208/212/220 having already moved across to their new operator. The movement of these three trains has created a temporary shortage of trains for the Cross City route, with one of the daily diagrams reduced to the operation of a single Class 323 and the remainder of the diagrams worked
