Vivarail News
230005 on its way to Bletchley
Unit 230005 today left Long Marston to start its new life on the Marston Vale line. As with 003 and 004 it travelled via Oxford where we got a few nice images - and looking forward to getting some good ones of all 3 of them at Bletchley depot shortly.
230004 arrives at Bletchley
So delighted to announce that unit 230004, the second of the trains for the Marston Vale line, arrived at Bletchley today. The train travelled from Long Marston to Bletchley on the mainline and no doubt some excellent photos will appear online shortly. But for now...
Vivarail spearheads development of green fuel technologies
Our latest press release with new images of the forthcoming Class 230 hydrogen train... British company spearheads development of green fuel technologies for rail UK train designers and manufacturers Vivarail today revealed new visuals for their hydrogen train showing...
Future Rail – upcycling in the rail industry
Interesting report by Future Rail on green initiatives in the rail industry - including us of course! "If recycling leather seats has turned out to be a laborious work, imagine the struggle of giving a whole fleet a new lease of life"
Merry Christmas
A very happy Christmas from all at Vivarail. Our offices open again on Monday 7th January and we look forward to another successful year!
Vivarail and Hoppecke announce long-term supply of batteries for Class 230s
Vivarail and Hoppecke today confirmed that they will be working together to design and integrate batteries for Vivarail’s Class 230 trains. The deal cements the relationship between the two companies for a long-term future in developing battery trains for the UK rail...
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...