Vivarail has announced that its first two D-Trains have come off the production line and are ready for sale.
The firm has scaled up its production capacity meaning the aluminium-bodied Class 230s can be delivered in early 2018, ahead of schedule.
The D-Trains can be supplied as either two or three-car units powered by either diesel and electric (DEMU), battery – with a range of up to 50 miles – or diesel/battery hybrid engines.
Vivarail is converting retired London Underground D78 Stock trains to make the D-Trains, which are viewed as affordable options for regional train services for urban and rural areas.
The trains are being prepared for construction at the Quinton Rail Technology Centre near Stratford-upon-Avon.
The announcement follows an incident on December 30 when a D-Train caught fire on a test run – there were no passengers onboard at the time and Vivarail staff were able to leave the train safely. An incident report by Vivarail found the fire was caused by a fuel leak.
Prior to the fire, a trial service of the D-Train had been planned with operator London Midland but was later cancelled.
