All 56 of Avanti West Coast‘s Class 390 Pendolinos have now been refurbished at Alstom‘s Widnes facility.
The last train to go through the programme, 390020, entered service yesterday, working the 08:43 Liverpool Lime Street to London Euston service.
The project has seen 574 carriages refurbished in just over two years, with one train being completed every two weeks.
UK suppliers benefitted from 80% of the £117m investment, which was financed by Angel Trains.
Want to see what goes on at the Widnes Facility? RailAdvent has been invited twice to the facility to see the work taking place. We visited in October 2023 as the project had really ramped up, whilst we also visited at the start of the project to see what their plans were.
“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.”
Andy Mellors, Managing Director at Avanti West Coast
Responses
Very nice work from Avanti West Coast and Alstom. The Class 390 Pendolino EMUs are still the best tilting trains on the West Coast Main Line.
Are those the horrible dark cramped trains with the tiny windows that are too small for the passenger to see anything?
Bet the Wi-Fi is still TOTALLY CRAP!!!!!
Appear to be the only one complaining about the lamentible punctuality / reliability of avanti West Coast Glasgow Central to Euston service, (2 in 5 running in accordance with timetable would be accurate, in my experience) I would’ve thought spending the money on the locomotives should be the priority. How avanti manage to run at profit, with the regular delay / repay they must be doling out on a daily basis, is a mystery, as is their ability to keep their operators’ licence
I hate, hate, hate the tilting pendolinos. I never get off at the end of a journey on one without feeling horribly sick.
USB sockets have deteriorated and need updating and checking as many are not working
The headrests are not comfortable and do not support a healthy relaxing posture
The windows are filthy, we have beautiful countryside and can’t even see clearly !
When the service is under pressure there are no seats available, I pay for seats for my family and have to sit on the floor by the main carriage exit doorway. If I take a seat in first class I will be charged even more! All because of your planned cancellation.
There are no friendly staff available on the train
There is no friendly fun atmosphere
They need to sort out the new seat armrests in standard, very inferior quality to the old style. Most worn already.
The Pendolino does seem to be a technically good train and was wearing well even before the refit. I just wish, as with most modern trains, that during the design process the windows are positioned AFTER the seating arrangements have been decided upon rather than the other way round. Before the refit there were several seats with not only no window to look out of, but with a bulkhead directly in front, giving every impression of a prison cell!
OK., so none of the train seats now function! New changes have resulted in the following.
Pull down trays with NO drink indent, to keep your coffee or beer in place. NOW when train breaks at 125mph your drink lands in your lap.
No waste holder, so waste now litters the floor.
Power could simply have been installed under seats.
What complete incompetence!
Well done Avanti!
Shame they are so full I never get a seat
Oh my. Those windows need bigger don’t they. It’s like Fake Taxi on them London to Glasgow service. Nice tea and eggs from the café though. That’s a plus. I enjoy the tilt. A bit like the ones in Bangladesh
Oh my. Those windows need bigger don’t they. It’s like Fake Taxi on them London to Glasgow service. Nice tea and eggs from the café though. That’s a plus. I enjoy the tilt. A bit like the ones in Bangladesh
The wireless signals were made worse as part of the refurbishment. They replaced the plywood panels with metal ones.
Some of the materials used are poor quality and short-lasting. Some wear is already starting to show – not good.
I would be grateful if they would just run on time with no problems.!
Well…let us hope they can get to the same service levels and performance Virgin Trains achieve but I can’t see it happening until the stupid and harmful ASLEF dispute is settled in industry generally!
The Aslef dispute is absolutely justified. Stupid and harmful is the monumental wastage of taxpayers money on flawed foreign policy
I have a feeling if thing’s don’t improve, Avanti will have the franchise stripped from them, and maybe Virgin Trains would make a comeback, But without the Aslef stuff being sorted out, our railways will remain patchy and unreliable sadly.
I get why the Train drivers are Striking though, they want to do away with guards/conductors and make trains driver only,
That’s a very stupid, dangerous idea.
We always need trains to have both a driver and a guard/Conductor.
It’s very annoying our trains being patchy, But I wholeheartedly support the rail Staff for not backing down and putting customers first by fighting to keep guards/conductors on our trains.
I wish whoever is in charge would just sort it out and also give the rail staff a fair wage too, and restore our trains to being as reliable as they used to be.
The rail companies want to do away with guards/conductors and make our trains driver only*
What, so you can travel for nothing?
I have a feeling that if Avanti’s reliability doesn’t get better soon, the next Govt will strip them of the franchise, maybe Virgin Trains could return in that case? Although regardless of who operates our rail services, our trains will remain patchy and unreliable until all the aslef stuff is sorted. The Reason that drivers are striking is because the rail companies want to do away with guards/conductors and make our trains driver only, that’s a very stupid, dangerous idea.
Whilst it’s annoying that trains are currently patchy and unreliable, I wholeheartedly support the rail staff striking,
At the end of the day, it’s passenger safety they’re trying to protect, and rightly so too.
I wish whoever is in charge would just sort it out and also give the rail staff the wage rise they deserve.
It’s not stupid if you’re an ASLEF member.
The new seats are great – the extendable and flat tray table makes using a laptop much more enjoyable.
I hope the next thing they improve is the iffy WiFi!
Thank you that’s what I’ve been saying they should’ve retrofitted the Evros with tilt mechanism
A shame the Evero doesn’t have tilt, so is slower than the Pendolino. That’s not progress.
The Everos are replacing the Voyagers, not replacing the Pendolinos.
As I understand it, the Voyagers that are being replaced, still have tilt.
The super voyagers that the evero are replacing do have tilt, but it’s not needed on the journey to either Holyhead or Blackpool… it was mostly for the route through the Lakes and southern Scotland for the Virgin Cross Country service from Birmingham to Glasgow in the original 1996 franchise.