Vivarail News
Wow – an edible 230
The hugely talented Lisa Walters, wife of Ian Walters at SLC Rail, made this amazing cake to raise money for The Railway Children charity. Lisa chose to base the cake on the classic design of the Class 230 which seems to suit a delicious treat as much as it does the...
Vivarail official statement – Marston Vale line
Vivarail Class 230 trains delayed Vivarail has today informed London Northwestern Railway that there will be a delay in delivering the Class 230 units for the Marston Vale line. Both partners have worked tirelessly to bring the trains into service for the December...
A new era of the railway has begun
A new era of the railway has begun for the people of Wales & Borders. Transport for Wales has successfully taken over the operation of Wales and Borders from Arriva Trains Wales. Branded as Transport for Wales Rail Services, the 15 year contract will be delivered...
230003 arriving at the Bletchley depot this evening
The first of our trains for the Marston Vale line was delivered today to the depot at Bletchley. 230003 will come into service (along with 230004 and 230005) in December this year.
Our sister company, Vintage Trains Ltd, is now an approved TOC …
Rail Passenger Charter Licence issued by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) Vintage Trains Limited formed to operate express steam trains on the UK rail network First ever Train Operating Company to be owned by the public and charitably controlled Public share issue...
New Marston Vale livery revealed as contract for new trains is signed
A special livery for London Northwestern Railway services between Bedford and Bletchley has been revealed. This comes as the contract for the supply of the Class 230 units from Vivarail is officially signed. The units will start running on the line in December 2018,...
Great footage of the battery train
Thanks to Trevor Stone we have this new footage of the battery train running demonstrations at Rail Live 2018 last week.
Vivarail announce new order for Wales and Borders
Vivarail is delighted to announce that it has been chosen as preferred bidder to supply a fleet of Class 230 D-Trains to KeolisAmey for the Wales and Borders franchise. The trains will be the first to come into service as part of the new franchise and will...
It’s the Electric Vehicle & Renewable Energy event of the year – yes it’s Fully Charged Live!
Our friends at Fully Charged Show can be seen at Fully Charged Live on 9th and 10th of June at Silverstone ... and so can we! Do come along to join in what promises to be an educational - and thoroughly enjoyable - couple of days. Fully Charged Live
Busy times …
It's never been exactly quiet in our workshops but this summer is the most exciting yet. Right now we are: building trains for the Marston Vale line working through the approvals for 230002 - the UK's first modern production battery train carrying out mainline...
New image of 230001 at Evesham
230001 has been busy running on the Cotswold line for continued testing and accumulating mileage. This great shot of the train coming back from Evesham was taken by Peter Tandy and you can check out his other images here
Cath Bellamy joins our sister company Vintage Trains Ltd
Vintage Trains Ltd is delighted to announce that Cath Bellamy will be taking up the role of Managing Director. Cath has been a senior figure in the UK Rail Industry for the last 25 years during which she has been Managing Director of Chiltern Railways and Hull Trains...
Vivarail D-Train projects make progress …
VIVARAIL, which is offering modern low-cost regional trains to the British and international markets using trains built with former London Underground aluminium coach bodies and bogies has completed its first entirely battery powered train and is making progress with...
230001 at Evesham station
230001 is back out on the Cotswold line for testing and mileage accumulation ...
230001 in the sunshine
Lovely photo from Fraser Pithie of 230001 on the Cotswold line for testing ...
D-Trains to the US? Railway Gazette talk to Henry Posner III
‘We believe that there are a lot of areas with potential for rail transit applications ... having a demonstrator available would enable us to test the validity of a proposed transit project in the market’. Read the full account of what RDC Chairman Henry Posner III...
D-Train ‘to be tested in US cities’
Great article from IRJ following an interview with Henry Posner III, chairman of Railroad Development Corporation and investor in Vivarail. Henry talks about how the D-Trains could provide “pop-up rail transit or commuter rail services” in urban areas. Fascinating to...
Vivarail to supply new trains for the Marston Vale Line
Vivarail, the designers and manufacturers of the Class 230 D-Train, has entered into an agreement with West Midlands Trains to build three new D-Trains for use on the Marston Vale line between Bedford and Bletchley. These will be the first trains to be introduced...