Photo Credit: Nick Rice, FGW 43009, Flickr (CC 2.0)

The Inter-City 125, a marvel of British Rail engineering. Widely regarded as one of the best trains ever made, it is now on it’s last few years of service.

The Inter-City Express Programme (IEP) promises bi-modal trains capable of running on electricity and diesel where the lines are not yet electrified. These trains are to replace the much-loved diesel Inter-City 125 and the electric Inter-City 225, which use large powerful locomotives at one or two ends of the train. On the other hand, the Inter-City Express Programme’s Class 800 and Class 801 trains do it differently, instead having the engines and motors underneath the passengers, which results in slightly increased acceleration. This is called a ‘multiple unit’. With this comes a disadvantage, the ‘underfloor engines’ as they are known cause large vibrations which can be very uncomfortable on long journeys. The Class 220 ‘Voyager’ and Class 221 ‘Super Voyager’ trains, operated by DB Arriva Cross Country, suffer from this problem immensely and are commonly despised among rail users for their massive vibrations.

First Great Western have proposed to replace the Devon and Cornwall fleet of Inter-City 125 trains with a unit very similar to Class 800s, with an uprated engine for tackling the West-Country hills, which will result in extra shaking for passengers. The trains are also being made to cram as many people on at once, meaning a much lower quality service for rail users going beyond Reading. Ironically, the Inter-City 125 train is much more able to handle higher capacities due to the locomotive and carriages approach. With a multiple unit, adding extra coaches is time consuming, and expensive if you don’t already own some (thanks to the new engines, electrical systems, etc.), however with a loco, carriages are cheap and easy to insert because of the flexibility. Currently, there is not one carriage free for this expansion, but due to the displacement of Inter-City 125 trains on the more suitable, electric routes (no underfloor engines used, so no vibrations) many will soon be available, and the Inter-City 125 trains can be possibly increased from just 8 passenger coaches to a solid 11!

There are also many concerns over the long-station-dwell times that these trains have, this is because of the doors, which are currently opened and closed manually just as a door in a house or office would be. Thankfully, critically-acclaimed Train Operator, Chiltern Railways, own a few carriages that also have these ‘slam – doors’. They applied plug doors for a low cost and these automatic doors mean that if somebody forgets to close a door, it doesn’t matter because the train will automatically shut these doors without anyone physically closing it. The second issue with the train is the toilet. The toilets do not have retention tanks, so all sewage is pumped straight onto the track. This can be fixed quite easily as well, and would also be a very low-cost solution to a high-quality train. The entire fleet of Inter-City 125s that run on this route could get the above refurbishments for a fraction of the cost of building new, less comfy, loud and, to be quite honest, uninspiring Class 80x units.

Will you let the sun set on the Inter-City 125?

(there was a photo of the ic125 here, and the sun was setting, it was quite cool, but no photo today)