Great Western Railway (GWR) and Eversholt Rail have extended their maintenance partnership with Hitachi Rail to further improve the reliability of GWR trains.
The contract extension is worth over 300 million GBP and will see Hitachi Rail continue to maintain the GWR West of England fleet of 36 Class 802 Intercity Express Trains until 2028.
This award is based on Hitachi Rail’s ongoing provision of successful maintenance services, which have increased the fleet’s reliability performance by over 94%.
As part of the contract extension, Hitachi Rail will continue to invest in digital maintenance capabilities to further enhance GWR’s performance. This will include investment in solutions such as onboard digital monitoring, which can reduce bogie and wheelset maintenance downtime by 50%.
The majority of the Class 802 maintenance will take place at Laira depot in Plymouth, ensuring the trains are maintained close to key stations such as Penzance, Exeter and Plymouth to improve train availability and fleet optimisation.
“This major contract extension demonstrates our partners' confidence in Hitachi Rail's UK maintenance operations and rolling stock technology, which was 2.7 times more reliable than the industry average in 2022.
“As intercity travel continues to recover strongly following the pandemic, we are proud to enhance our maintenance services for GWR and Eversholt Rail. This includes the incorporation of industry-leading digital tools and expanding Hitachi’s presence at Plymouth's Laira depot.”
