MORE than 305 million miles have been covered by the Alstom Class 390 Pendolino fleet since they first entered traffic on the West Coast Main Line (WCML) in 2002. Indeed, in the 12 months up to September 30, 2023, the fleet had completed 14.5m miles.
Understandably that has led to the trains requiring attention and, eventually, an upgrade. A partnership approach between Alstom, which built the ‘390s’ and Angel Trains, which owns them, has created what is claimed to be the biggest ever fleet upgrade, costing some £117 million.
The fleet availability, on a Saturday-excepted service, is for 49 diagrammed sets plus one ‘hot spare’, which tallies roughly with the number in use before the pandemic. There is then one set undergoing routine maintenance at Longsight (an M exam), one undergoing a K exam and vestibule refresh at Edge Hill. This is a ‘hotel standards’ exam designed to correct cosmetic defects on both the interior and exterior). One set is undergoing an H exam at Longsight; visited on October 10, this was No. 390050.
