Extract from Govia
For the first time in 40 years, passengers are riding on new trains in the tunnels to London Moorgate, as Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) begins to replace mainland Britain’s oldest electric rail fleet.
In a £240 million investment, 150 new carriages are being introduced between now and late summer, to replace trains that first entered service in 1976.
Which are the Class 313’s.
The 25 new six-carriage Siemens Class 717 trains will run on the Great Northern routes between Moorgate and Hertfordshire, to and from Stevenage, Hertford North and Welwyn Garden City.
Here’s the video footage of the Class 717 in service by City Transport Info
New Enviro400H City buses for route 20
Recently, CT Plus has taken over the London Bus Route 20 contract with the new iconic Enviro400H City buses which are manufactured by Alexander Dennis.
You can ride the Enviro400H City buses on London Bus daytime Routes 20, 26, 78, 133, 333 and 388 and on night routes N26, N133, N550 and N551.
The next route to receive Enviro400 City buses is the 43 which runs from Friern Barnet to London Bridge. They will be zero emission electric buses as the components are manufactured by BYD. They are expected to enter service in May 2019.
The image of the Enviro400EV City reveals Metroline has chosen to use their own interior colours instead of the LT style which takes its design cues from the New Routemaster interior.
Here are the London Bus tender awards:
LBSL intends to enter into new contracts for the following routes with the operators listed below:
| Route | Current Operator | New Operator | PVR | Vehicles |
| 24 | Metroline | Abellio London | 17 | 2013 Euro V New Routemaster |
| 27* | London United | Abellio London | 22 | 2014 Euro V New Routemaster |
| 266/N266 | Metroline | London United | 23 | Existing double deck (details TBC) |
| 267 | London United | Abellio West London | 17 | 2017 Euro VI New Routemaster |
| 661 | London Central | Stagecoach | 1 | 2009 Euro IV diesel double deck |
| 669 | London Central | Stagecoach | 2 | 2011 Euro V diesel double deck |
| 672** | Stagecoach | Stagecoach | 0 | 2012 Euro V diesel double deck |
* 24 hour route.
** Uses two buses crosslinked from another route.
All Euro IV and Euro V vehicles will be upgraded to Euro VI emissions standards.
The above contracts will commence on the following dates:
7th September 2019: Route 672.
5th October 2019: Routes 661 & 669.
9th November 2019: Routes 24, 27 & 267.
7th December 2019: Route 266/N266.
This shows that Abellio has won the contract to operate the first and last production New Routemaster routes which are 24 and 267.
On 30th March 2019, the New Routemasters on route 88 will be moved to route 87, swapping with the Enviro400 hybrid buses due to changes on route 88 which enabled the withdrawal of route C2.
The New Routemaster manufacturer Wrightbus still have the New Routemaster product hosted on their website. The three-door and two-staircase spec is ideal for Bus Rapid Transit schemes and they could be used for the Belfast Glider BRT system in Northern Ireland as an alternative to the bendy bus which they are currently using.
I’m still surprised Wrightbus haven’t added the SRM product to their website. Not one bus operator in London, Britain or elsewhere has shown interest in the two-door, one-staircase SRM product. Alexander Dennis is still leading with their Enviro400 City product.
Last Year TfL responded to a Freedom of Information request about the Alexander Dennis Enviro400 City and Wright SRM. TfL has said:
“We have interpreted SRM as being ‘son of routemaster’. In other words, the spin-off vehicles being produced by Wrightbus and Alexander Dennis. These vehicles are bought or leased by bus operators, not TfL, and we do not determine that these models should be used for routes. It is their choice and therefore if the operators choose to buy or lease them, this will increase this type of bus in the fleet. We don't hold details such as vehicle costs as our private operators buy or lease, and we weren't involved in a project to develop them.”
Therefore it’s down to the bus operating companies to purchase the Enviro400 City and SRM’s for their fleet. Instead most of the London Bus operators have chosen to buy the new Enviro400H MMC and Wright Gemini 3/Streetdeck for their new route contracts. The bus operators in Britain have shown a lot of interest in the Enviro400 City, hence the reason there are loads in various towns and cities throughout Britain.
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