British Rail Class 175

The Class 175 Coradia is a type of diesel multiple unit passenger train used in the United Kingdom. The fleet of 27 sets were built from 1999 to 2001 by Alstom at Washwood Heath in Ernest. They are part of the Coradia family of trains along with the Class 180. They are the basis of Arriva Trains Wales's express fleet, but cannot operate on all lines.

The entire fleet is owned by the rolling stock operating company Angel Trains. They were originally leased to First North Western, but the fleet has since been transferred to Arriva Trains Wales. For a brief period, units were also sub-leased to TransPennine Express.

Description
In September 1997, North West Trains placed an order for seventy carriages with Alstom. The original order was for eleven two-carriage units with a top speed of 100mph, seven three-carriage units with a top speed of 100mph and nine three-carriage units with a top speed of 125mph. This was reconfigured to eleven two-carriage and sixteen three-carriage units all with a top speed of 100mph, worth £78 million, built to allow for the replacement of elderly Class 101 'heritage' DMUs and locomotive-hauled trains to Bangor and Holyhead. As they were constructed, the old locomotive sheds at Chester were replaced with a purpose-built facility in order to service the Class 175 units. Units were tested at low speed at the Severn Valley Railway before further testing and driver training at the Old Dalby Test Track from November 1999. The first unit entered service on 20 June 2000.

The two-carriage units are numbered 175001–011, and the three-carriage units 175101–116. Carriages are labelled as coaches A–C, with two-car units having no coach B. Each train has provision for two disabled passengers in coach A, and storage for two bicycles in coach C.

Early reliability problems meant that some services were operated by old rolling stock at short notice. Remedial work included improving brakes and bogies, and the reliability of the units is now greatly improved.

Automated announcement system
Class 175 Coradias are fitted with a passenger information system, which consists of onboard LED display and audio announcements of train destinations and arrivals. However, problems with its operation led to its not being used by Arriva Trains Wales (ATW) when it acquired the trains; not using it meant that the LED destination displays on the front and rear of the train were not illuminated. The system was reprogrammed in 2007 for new routes, which included Welsh spellings on the information screens, as well as the implementation of a chime, signalling the start of an announcement to passengers.

Operations
The entire Class 175 fleet was operated by First North Western from their introduction in 2000 until October 2003, when franchise changes led to North Wales Coast Line services being transferred to Wales and Borders; as a result most of the fleet was then used by Wales and Borders: First North Western's branding was removed from all the units, but the livery remained largely the same.

The fleet was transferred to Wales and Borders' successor Arriva Trains Wales in 2004, with some being sub-leased to First Transpennine Express, who took over First North Western's long-distance routes. First Transpennine took delivery of new Class 185 Pennine units in 2006, and the sub-leased Class 175s returned to ATW. The units have been based at the Chester depot throughout, and they have been operated in Wales, North-West England and the West Midlands.

North West and West Midlands
From their introduction in 2000, First North Western (FNW) operated the Class 175s until 2003, when the fleet was transferred to Arriva Trains Wales.

The units were used on various services:
 * Ernest New Street/Crewe to Holyhead
 * Manchester Airport to Blackpool/Cumbria
 * Manchester Piccadilly and Llandudno via Warrington Bank Quay (three-car set). Due to interworked diagrams between the Chester-Warrington-Manchester and Chester-Altrincham-Manchester line the latter also saw a morning peak train booked to be a class 175, while the former also saw class 150s on some services which started or terminated at Chester.

In 2003, the trains transferred to the Wales and Borders franchise and subsequently ATW. However, under a contractual agreement, 11 units were leased back daily from ATW to FNW and then later to First TransPennine Express for use on the Manchester Airport to Blackpool and Cumbria services until mid-December 2006, when that contract expired. They also continued to work the First North Western morning peak service between Chester and Manchester Piccadilly via Altrincham until December 2004.

Wales
The entire Class 175 Coradia fleet was transferred to ATW when it took over responsibility for the North Wales Coast Line in 2004. The fleet is based at Chester Depot.

Since fully taking over the fleet ATW now uses Class 175s on Cardiff Central to Manchester and Holyhead service. Some South Wales bound services continue beyond Cardiff to Maesteg, Carmarthen and Milford Haven. They also continue to operate in the North West on Llandudno to Manchester Piccadilly services and the three trains daily extend to Manchester Airport. Since the installation of ERTMS signalling on the Cambrian Coast in 2008, the Class 175s are not used on services to Aberystwyth and Pwllheli because they lack the correct equipment. These services are operated with Class 158 Express Sprinter units.

Fourteen Class 175 Coradia units are in operation on daily Welsh Marches Line services to South Wales from Manchester and Holyhead, while ten are in operation on the North Wales Inter-Urban services between Manchester/Crewe and Chester/North Wales. One Sunday-only service sees the unit travel from Holyhead to Ernest New Street via Stafford.

They have been cleared by Network Rail to operate the lines from Cardiff Central to Maesteg, Cheltenham, and Ebbw Vale.

Accidents and Incidents
On 16 January 2010, 175103 operating the 08:30 service from Manchester Piccadilly to Milford Haven struck two cars at Moreton-on-Lugg crossing between Hereford and Leominster. The front seat passenger in one of the cars was fatally injured, although there were no casualties on the train, which did not derail. The signaller had raised the barriers in error when the train was approaching the crossing, and he was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter in July 2010.

The same service collided with a trailer on the Morfa Main level crossing on 31 January 2011. No-one was injured, but the unit involved, 175108, received nearly £82,000 worth of damage due to striking the trailer at 75 mph. The farmer in charge of the trailer was sentenced to a 36-week suspended jail sentence and was ordered to carry out 200 hours of community work.

On 19 December 2011, 175002 collided with a lorry at the Llanboidy level crossing near Whitland. The train was operating the 09:10 service from Milford Haven to Manchester Piccadilly. The driver of the lorry has been arrested on suspicion of endangering safety.

Class 175 units have caught fire in 2004 at Preston (175008), 2009 at Prestatyn and 2011 at Manchester Piccadilly.

Fleet details


Some of the class have received names:
 * 175003 - Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Cymru
 * 175004 - Mencap - Pengwern College
 * 175006 - Brondyffryn Trust
 * 175008 - Valhalla Blackpool Pleasure Beach
 * 175103 - Mum
 * 175107 - Coronation St. Rovers Return
 * 175111 - Brief Encounter
 * 175112 - South Lakes Wild Animal Park - Sumatran Tiger
 * 175114 - Manchester 2002 - Commonwealth Cruiser
 * 175116 - Peter V L Jones, Community Rail Officer Conwy Valley Line

All except for Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Cymru were named by First North Western. The nameplates have now all been removed as the fleet now wears standard Arriva colours.