By Tony Miles
ScotRail operated its first refurbished HST set in passenger service on October 15 as the 2+4 formation worked the 09.07 Aberdeen-Edinburgh.
The provisional first diagram is 09.07 Aberdeen-Edinburgh, 13.30 Edinburgh-Aberdeen,16.39 Dyce-Edinburgh and 21.43 Edinburgh-Aberdeen.
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Ahead of the service debut ScotRail presented the refurbished HST to the press on October 10
with a special run between Aberdeen and Edinburgh.
![](https://b1944490.smushcdn.com/1944490/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2018/11/RM-Nov-PR-p7.jpg?lossy=2&strip=1&webp=1)
Local media and stakeholders were extremely impressed with the quality of the refurbishment work, but the run was marred by technical problems with the leading power car – 43183 – which saw the train halted for more than 40 minutes south of Leuchars while the faults were rectified after a horn valve stuck open.
The refurbished trains will carry the ‘Inter7City’ branding as the sets will be used on services connecting Scotland’s seven cities: Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, Perth and Stirling.
In addition to freeing up DMUs for use elsewhere, the HST sets will offer increased seating and luggage space on these flagship services, together with better on-board hospitality, ‘providing a boost for commuters, tourists, and business travellers’.
Read more and view more images in the November issue of The RM – on sale now!