A concerned local reported the tree lying across the tracks before a train drove into it.
(Permalink) Broughty Ferry HST Inter7City Intercity 125 ScotRail Storm Gerrit Tree on line

A train driver should have been alerted to a fallen tree and campaigners call for funding to prevent floods.
(Permalink) Broughty Ferry HST Inter7City Intercity 125 ScotRail Storm Gerrit Tree on line

The train drivers' union Aslef said the type of train involved in the incident during Storm Gerrit was 'outdated'.
(Permalink) ASLEF HST Inter7City Intercity 125 ScotRail Storm Gerrit

The Intercity 125 trains still used by ScotRail are more than 40 years old and have been called museum pieces.
(Permalink) HST Inter7City Intercity 125 ScotRail

The crash occurred at Broughty Ferry on Wednesday as Storm Gerrit swept across the country.
(Permalink) Broughty Ferry HST HST Inter7City Intercity 125 Storm Gerrit Tree on line

Ruislip Lido Railway Society Ltd will use a £75,000 grant from HS2s Community & Environment Fund (CEF) to convert diesel locomotive 'Graham Alexander' to low-carbon battery power, removing its reliance on diesel. The new diesel-free alternative will improve local air quality and reduce noise pollution on the UKs longest 12-gauge railway line.
(Permalink) HST Ruislip Lido Railway

The removal of HSTs from CrossCountry saves cash now, but will it throttle passenger growth?
(Permalink) CrossCountry HST

I read Alastair Dalton's article (12 March) with interest and would agree that the short formed ScotRail High Speed Train (HST) sets have not been a good inter-city solution for the ScotRail diesel network. True, the HST design was a great success for British Rail and the travelling public, but that was over two decades ago and rail privatisation in the UK has caused new passenger train fleets to be introduced.
(Permalink) HST

It is no excuse for Transport Scotland to state that the current ScotRail fleet was inherited from the private operator Abellio upon re-nationalisation in April 2022 as if it itself was not to blame ('LibDems urge end to 1970s-style railways', The Herald, January 4). [The letter is 4th down from top of page. Note particularly paragraph 3. -RS]
(Permalink) Class 156 Class 170 Class 318 Class 380 HST Reliability

Concerns have been raised after it emerged Scottish rail passengers are still relying on trains and carriages manufactured as far back as the mid-seventies. Freedom of information requests by the Scottish Liberal Democrats found the oldest carriages in use as part of the fleet were manufactured between 1976 and 1984. The trains with the longest continuous use are Class 318s, used on the Glasgow suburban line, which were manufactured in 1986 and entered service the same year.
(Permalink) Class 156 Class 318 HST

Trade union Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA) has called on ScotRail to ditch its high-speed rail train fleet two years on from the fatal Stonehaven crash. The organisation says the trains are a risk to passengers being able to survive derailments.
(Permalink) Carmont HST Stonehaven Derailment TSSA

A former rail company director has raised concerns over the continued use of the model of train involved in the Stonehaven crash, calling for speed limits to be introduced for the trains until they are removed from service.
(Permalink) HST Stonehaven derailment

The National Railway Museum in York is proud of its InterCity 125 train. And it should be, for the Sir Kenneth Grange, named after its designer, was built in 1975, making it as old as the museum itself. 'As well as being the first InterCity 125 produced, Sir Kenneth Grange was the last 125 to operate a passenger service before this type of locomotive was retired from the railways', its website says.
(Permalink) HST Inter7City InterCity 125 NRM Stonehaven derailment

HST125 returned into service on a trial run for tours.
(Permalink) 43150 43163 HST InterCity 125 Strathspey Railway

The type of ScotRail train involved in the fatal Stonehaven derailment should be withdrawn from service because of their lack of crashworthiness, a rail engineer has urged.
(Permalink) Carron Water Bridge [West Carmont] Derailment HST Landslide Stonehaven derailment

A rail engineer has called for the type of train involved in the tragic Stonehaven derailment to be scrapped amid safety concerns.
(Permalink) Carron Water Bridge [West Carmont] Derailment HST Landslide Stonehaven derailment

With around 7,000 new rail vehicles on order to replace more than half of the passenger rolling stock fleet, Britains trains are about to change as never before. Scotland is no exception. In 2018, Hitachis Class 385 electric multiple units (EMUs) will replace the Class 170 diesel multiple units (DMUs) on the Edinburgh to Glasgow main line. Once further electrification is completed, more Class 385s will displace DMUs on services to Dunblane and through Shotts.

This year will also see some of the iconic British Rail High Speed Trains (HSTs) get a new lease of life as specially refurbished four and five-car sets operating on Scottish Inter-City services.
(Permalink) Alloa Class 170 Class 385 Dunblane Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway Electrification HST Hitachi Shotts Stirling

The first two Angel Trains High Speed Train Class 43 power cars transferring from Great Western Railway to ScotRail have arrived north of the border.

Former GWR 43021 and 43132 took four Mk 3s from Doncaster to Craigentinny on September 1. They will be used for training purposes. The power cars will be retained by SR. They left four Mk 3s at Wabtec Rail, Doncaster, for refurbishment.
(Permalink) Angel Trains Class 43 GWR HST ScotRail

In 2012, Transport Scotland published the results of its rail passenger service consultation. This considered how the railway should develop and the types of passenger services required. Its results were incorporated into the specification for the ScotRail franchise which was renewed in 2014.

One conclusion from this consultation exercise was that passengers traveling from central Scotland to Aberdeen and Inverness much preferred to travel in Virgin Trains East Coast High Speed Trains (HSTs) from London than ScotRails Class 170 diesel multiple units (DMUs).

For this reason, the invitation to tender (ITT) document for the ScotRail franchise included a specification for improved rolling stock for Scotlands internal inter-city services that could have been based on the HSTs mark 3 coach. In its franchise bid, Abellios response to this requirement was that it would provide refurbished HSTs on the routes that serve Scotlands seven cities (Glasgow, Edinburgh, Stirling, Perth, Dundee, Aberdeen and Inverness).

ScotRails 26 HSTs

The HSTs will be phased into service from summer 2018, with the full fleet operational for the May 2019 timetable change. This aligns with the completion of Network Rails Highland main line journey time improvements project. 54 power cars and 121 coaches will be leased from Angel Trains. These will make up 17 five-coach trains and 9 four- coach trains with two power cars spare. The 2019 timetable will require 23 trains in service each day with five coach sets operating Central Belt to Aberdeen services and the four coach trains generally running to Inverness. The number of through services from Inverness to the Central Belt via Aberdeen will also be increased.
(Permalink) Class 170 HST

A world first will take place in Yorkshire next month to celebrate the heritage and future of one of the country's most iconic railway lines.

Four trains spanning four generations will travel side by side, in the same direction, along the East Coast Main Line on April 23 2017.

Yorkshires DNA of speed and style through the ages binds together an event that fittingly comes just days before the now legendary Tour de Yorkshire begins.

This will be a once in a lifetime opportunity to see the world famous Flying Scotsman travel alongside two trains from Virgin Trains revitalised fleet - an HST (Class 43), an InterCity225 (Class 91) - and the rail operators brand new train, the Virgin Azuma (Class 800) which is being built by Hitachi in the North East, and will come into service in 2018.

The four trains will travel together for several miles north of York to showcase the past, present and future of rail travel.
(Permalink) Class 43 Class 800 Class 91 Flying Scotsman HST