[UK] West Midlands Trains: CAF Civity debuts on national rail network

Railcolor News has covered new CAF Civity UK class 196 units for West Midland Trains franchise from the very beginning, through tests – and now to real operation. The debuting train departed from Birmingham (Tyseley) to Hereford.

We thank Ramiro Ordobas Faro for his recent pictures Class 196s in Spain. You can follow his Youtube channel for more of his work here.

196103 – 4-car CAF Civity UK for WMT

British railway operator West Midlands Trains is a consortium of Abellio, JR East, and Mitsui. For their West Midlands Railway franchise, they have purchased 26 new DMUs built on a CAF Civity UK platform. We have been following their development and tests in the testing center in Velim as well as on a high-speed line in Spain, where the first units have been made.

196002 – 2-car CAF Civity UK for WMT

On 23.7.2020, the first train has also made its appearance on British rails. It has been seen in Birmingham Moor Street station, as well as operating on Tyseley – Hereford line, which is around 90 km route south-west of Birmingham.

196002 vs 196102 – 2-car vs 4-car CAF Civity UK for WMT