It has been announced on Direct Gov that the new trains required for Crossrail will be financed by the Government rather than by a ROSCO. Crossrail is a new line and it is essential that stock is available when the line opens in 2018.
Possibly the continuing farce with the Thameslink new stock has influenced the DfT in this matter. This is a one off and there are no further plans for Central Government to finance rolling stock.
German train-builder Siemens has backed out of the competition to win a £1 billion order for Crossrail rolling stock.
Probably the two year delay in the Thameslink contract means that there is no space at Krefeld to build Crossrail stock in the required timescale.
Bombardier is today reported as the winning bidder for the Crossrail contract. 65 trains to be built for the 2018 opening of the line.
Should see Bombardier happy for a bit of time . What is going to be the length of these crossrail units ?
The new Crossrail units will be Class 345 and will have six digit carriage numbers.
It is good news that these trains for Crossrail are being built by Bombardier. As I am going to Romford in March, this might just be the last time I see class 315s in service in the area.
The TfL Rail Class 315 refresh programme is nearing its end with only 315830 noted in service on Friday and Saturday 13-14/11/15 still with red doors. There are still one or two 315s in TfL Rail colours to receive the new seat trim, of which 315848 is one.
Losing the pink from the vestibules has made these units look a lot more pleasant internally.
The order for the Aventra stock has been increased to 66 units
When Crossrail opens in 2018 it will be known as The Elizabeth Line.