Isle of Wight set for brand new train set for Island railway
The first photos of the brand new Island Line trains, which are currently being built by Vivarail in the Midlands, have been released today (Thursday). The Class 484 trains will operate between Ryde Pier Head and Shanklin and will replace the ageing 1938 former underground stock. South Western Railway has shared these 2 photographs of the build process ahead of the first train arriving on the Isle of Wight later this year – date to be confirmed. Calling the trains ‘new’ may be a bit of a stretch as they are, technically, 42-years-old. The 1978 former London District Line stock has been completely overhauled by Vivarail and run on bogies from the 2000s. This is a stark contrast to the current trains being used on the Isle of Wight which are older than some of the trains running on the heritage steam railway. The new trains will provide more capacity, better accessibility, USB charging, passenger information systems and onboard wifi. They will also allow the guard to easily pass between carriages to collect fares. As photographed above, the new trains have been fitted with a snow plough to clear debris from the tracks. A total of 5x 2-car trains have been ordered with each train able to accommodate up to around 188 people – a mix of 106 people standing and 86 seated. During peak times, a total of 4 carriages can be run as a single train giving a capacity of around 376 people. Previously, it was said that the new trains would be running to a new Island Line timetable from May 2021 onwards, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, this is likely to be pushed back.
