NINETEEN Class 769/9 ‘Flex’ tri-mode units ordered by Great Western Railway in 2018 will be returned to Porterbrook at the end of their lease in April this year having never entered revenue-earning service.
It was planned that the trains would be based at Reading and would operate on the Thames Valley as well as third-rail destinations served by GWR including Gatwick Airport and Reading. Crew familiarisation had begun, but a GWR spokesperson confirmed to RE that this will now end.
The spokesperson said that the decision was due to revised passenger growth. He said that when the trains were ordered in 2018 there was expected