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TransPennine Express (TPE), the intercity rail operator for the North and Scotland is delighted to today announce the purchase of a further 126 brand new carriages.

TPE will deliver an investment of more than ^230m in 25 brand new five-carriage trains which will be in service across the network by 2019.

These sort of announcements really annoy me. They give the impression to the general public that it is the train operator who is stumping up the money and making the investment in rolling stock.

No UK manufacturer took part in the competitive tender process.

BNM: Release states: Today^s agreement will see the introduction of two new fleets, which are 12 five-carriage Civity UK InterCity electric trains financed by Eversholt Rail and 13 sets of five-car InterCity carriages financed by Beacon Rail Leasing.

TransPennine Express (TPE), the intercity rail operator for the North and Scotland is delighted to today announce the purchase of a further 126 brand new carriages.

TPE will deliver an investment of more than ^230m in 25 brand new five-carriage trains which will be in service across the network by 2019.

I disagree

Beacon Rail Leasing ("Beacon"), a leading Pan-European rolling stock lessor, is pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement to purchase 13 sets of five-car intercity carriages which will be leased to TransPennine Express Limited ("TPE"), a FirstGroup plc company. 

The carriages will be manufactured by Spanish manufacturer, Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles ("CAF") and are currently scheduled to be placed into service in 2018. Beacon's Class 68 diesel locomotives, which are leased to Direct Rail Services ("DRS"), will initially haul the carriages between Liverpool and Newcastle and will be sub-leased from DRS to TPE. 

Beacon owns a diverse portfolio of freight and passenger train rolling stock and leases these assets to operating companies in the UK and Continental Europe.  It owns and manages a modern fleet of 190 locomotives, 944 freight wagons and 20 passenger train units.  Beacon's customers include many of the top freight operators in the UK and leading locomotive and rolling stock operators throughout Europe and Scandinavia.

Commenting on the transaction, Ted Gaffney, Chief Executive Officer of Beacon, said: "Beacon is very pleased to provide a locomotive hauled coach solution to TransPennine Express.  This transaction is in line with our strategy, growth ambitions, and our commitment to providing state of the art rolling stock to the UK market." 

TPE's Managing Director, Leo Goodwin said: "This is great news for our customers and we are delighted to have concluded the deals that will bring much needed and much wanted extra carriages across our network.

"This will enable us to transform the customer experience over the life of our franchise and our three new train fleets will form a key part of this improvement."

"Whether travelling to work, for business or leisure, our services are going to offer more seats, improved connectivity and a higher standard of comfort. The on-board experience will be second to none and we will provide customers with a real alternative to the car and congested road network."

About Beacon Rail Leasing 

Beacon Rail Leasing is a rolling stock leasing company focused on serving the UK and continental European markets. Beacon Rail Leasing has an industry leading management team with rail asset management expertise and capital markets experience, enabling it to meet the equipment needs of its Pan European customer base. 

Earlier this month, Beacon signed a definitive agreement to acquire Ascendos Rail Leasing S.^ r.l. ("Ascendos"), a European locomotive and rolling stock leasing company which is headquartered in Luxembourg, and has additional offices in London and Munich. Ascendos' current portfolio includes 35 locomotives and 100 freight wagons on lease in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, 35 passenger train units on lease in Germany, and 67 double decker coaches on lease in Denmark.

Please visit http://www.beaconrail.com for more information. Beacon Rail is a portfolio company of Pamplona Capital Management, a London and New York based specialist investment manager established in 2005 that provides an alternative investment platform across private equity, fund of hedge funds and single manager hedge fund investments. Please visit http://www.pamplonafunds.com for more information.

Well, to be fair, I think it highly unlikely you'd agree with me that First Group are being disingenuous. You are employed by them after all.

TransPennine Express buys 126 new carriages

TransPennine Express (TPE), which links Huddersfield with major cities including Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool and Hull, is spending ^230m on 25 brand new five-carriage trains which will be in service across the network by 2019.

RAIL company TransPennineExpresss is investing ^230m in 25 new five-carriage trains to enter service during 2018 and 2019.

Loco hauled new trains ? I thought that these were considered old fashioned and unsuitable (or perhaps too good) for todays railway.

I honestly don't think it matters much.

To obtain sufficient power, AND to facilitate driving from each end, perhaps some new design could be produced with a locomotive at each end. As the locomotives would only be coupled to the train one way round, they would need only a single cab, which could have a sloping front end to reduce air resistance.
In between could be 8 or more coaches, including perhaps a kitchen and buffet situated between first and standard class.
A loco each end would also provide "get you home redundancy" in case of mechanical failures.

To obtain sufficient power, AND to facilitate driving from each end, perhaps some new design could be produced with a locomotive at each end. As the locomotives would only be coupled to the train one way round, they would need only a single cab, which could have a sloping front end to reduce air resistance.
In between could be 8 or more coaches, including perhaps a kitchen and buffet situated between first and standard class.
A loco each end would also provide "get you home redundancy" in case of mechanical failures.

The 13 sets of five-car hauled coaches will be financed by Beacon Rail Leasing, and will work in push-pull mode with Class 68 diesel locomotives owned by Beacon Rail which will be subleased from Direct Rail Services. TPE said ^most of the required Class 68 engines are already built and by buying state-of-the-art carriages to be pulled by these engines, much-needed additional capacity can be introduced quickly^.

The coaches will initially operate at up to 160 km/h, with the capability to run at 200 km/h as routes are electrified. They will enter service from spring 2018, initially operating between Liverpool and Newcastle. Later in 2018 some will begin running to and from Scarborough. Once TPE's Hitachi AT300 fleet arrives in December 2019, the coaches will then be transferred to routes from Liverpool and Manchester Airport to Middlesbrough and Scarborough.

BNM I think you are being far too pedantic in an attempt to find criticism.  And if you want to be pedantic then I think your argument falls downs on both counts. 

As has been noted, the opening line does not state that TPE is purchasing the rolling stock.  Just announcing that the purchase is happening.  So no inaccuracy there. The second statement refers to delivery of an investment, not the making of an investment.  Parcelforce delivers a package to me, it doesn't make the contents. But it enables me to benefit from the contents, in the same way that TPE enables the public to benefit from the investment in new rolling stock. So delivery* is fine.

There is absolutely no doubt that TPE is the glue between many parties which has enabled this investment in rolling stock to take place. Instead of trying to find a reason to have a cheap jibe at them, I would have hoped that you would have welcomed this significant investment in the rail industry. From my perspective the best thing about this deal is the surprise and welcome return of hauled rolling stock, offering a flexibility and ability to scale up easily if passenger numbers exceed expectations that units don't have. 

* delivery  - to hand over  (Chambers English Dictionary):  thus TPE are handing over the investment, which seems reasonable.   

To obtain sufficient power, AND to facilitate driving from each end, perhaps some new design could be produced with a locomotive at each end. As the locomotives would only be coupled to the train one way round, they would need only a single cab, which could have a sloping front end to reduce air resistance. In between could be 8 or more coaches, including perhaps a kitchen and buffet situated between first and standard class.
A loco each end would also provide "get you home redundancy" in case of mechanical failures.

That sounds really strange.  Better to go for some sort of tilting DMU.   I suppose if that didn't work, you could come up with a temporary stopgap along the lines you're suggesting.

I wonder whether these coaches will be known as Mark VI coaching stock?

To obtain sufficient power, AND to facilitate driving from each end, perhaps some new design could be produced with a locomotive at each end. As the locomotives would only be coupled to the train one way round, they would need only a single cab, which could have a sloping front end to reduce air resistance. In between could be 8 or more coaches, including perhaps a kitchen and buffet situated between first and standard class.
A loco each end would also provide "get you home redundancy" in case of mechanical failures.

We already have those. Unfortunately, FirstGroup decided to replace them with DMUs for reasons unknown, but rumored to be at least partly due to the fact the desision was made before ScotRail came up with a way of reducing the cost of fitting them with modern power-doors compliant with future accessibility regulations.

I quess it will depend on how closely the design matches the sleeper stock being built as Mark V's.  If they share the same bodyshell and bogie design (my guess is that they will) they'll probably also be described as Mark V's rather than Mark VI's.

Assuming only one 68 per set, they'll either need DVTs or a coach in each set with remote driving capabilities at the non-68 end. Can't see any detail of that anywhere?

Seems you're quite keen to dole out the criticism but less so to receive it. I'll leave others to decide whether it was a cheap jibe or a robust response to your criticism of First Group.

I'm quite happy to see my point of view countered. Less enamoured to see it done with personal attacks accusing me of pedantry and of making cheap jibes.

That's what I was getting at in referring to the remote control of the 68s - it does need a DVT cab end for their carriage; designed, tested and built in under two years. That does sound a bit of a challenge.