THE first two coaches converted to add 80 more standard class seats to 16 of First Great Western ’s High Speed Train (HST) fleet have been delivered to the train operator.
One is a modified former first-class coach, while the other is the first of 15 former buffet cars to be turned into passenger coaches.
The work is being carried out by Wabtec Rail at its workshop in Kilmarnock as part of a programme to ease overcrowding on FGW services in the Thames Valley.
Wabtec is also completing overhaul work on the last of five Class 180 Adelante trains which are returning to service with FGW after a three-year absence as part of the same programme. The Adelantes are being phased into service on trains between the Cotswolds, Oxford and London, with all five due in traffic a week on Monday, just in time for the Olympic Games.
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