Industry needs 35 miles of sidings to store redundant rolling stock

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A ROLLING stock storage crisis is looming that could get worse towards the end of the decade as more than 30 miles of sidings will be needed for surplus stock.

Class 442 No. 2415 and Class 508 No. 508301 at Eastleigh Works during their period in warm store in April 2009. The 442 unit had been stood down by SWT, the 508 by Silverlink. CHRIS MILNER
Class 442 No. 2415 and Class 508 No. 508301 at Eastleigh Works during their period in warm store in April 2009. The 442 unit had been stood down by SWT, the 508 by Silverlink. CHRIS MILNER

Orders for many new trains of various types are now under construction, or soon to begin, and by the end of Network Rail’s CP5 in 2019, some 2,500 vehicles will have been withdrawn. It is the storage of these carriages which will give the industry problems.

Being withdrawn are Mk3 carriages with Abellio Greater Anglia, Mk4s with Virgin Trains East Coast (VTEC), HSTs and trailers with GWR and VTEC, Caledonian Mk3 sleeping cars, Class 313/507/508 EMUs, and Class 14x ‘Pacers’. Only recently, Class 442s have begun to go into warm store with the hope they may find a new user.

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