British Rail Class 801
Electric multiple unit for East Coast Main Line services.
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The British Rail Class 801 Azuma is an electric multiple unit built by Hitachi Rail for London North Eastern Railway. It has been used on East Coast Main Line services since 16 September 2019. The units are part of the Hitachi AT300 product family and are branded as Azuma.
Background and design
The Class 801 units were ordered under the Intercity Express Programme to replace InterCity 125 and InterCity 225 sets on the Great Western Main Line and East Coast Main Line. Unlike the Class 800 units built alongside them, the Class 801 units were designed as purely electric multiple units, though each unit has one diesel engine fitted to a single coach for emergency use. Originally intended for both Great Western Railway and London North Eastern Railway, 21 nine-car sets destined for GWR were instead converted to bi-modal operation due to delays in GWML electrification, reclassified as Class 800/3 units. Consequently, Class 801 units operate only on the East Coast Main Line. GWR retains the option to convert its Class 800 units to electric-only operation, which would reclassify them as Class 801 units.
Operations
The first Class 801 service ran on 16 September 2019, with a pair of 801/1 five-car units operating between Leeds and London King's Cross and one return trip to Newark Northgate. Three further pairs of five-car units entered service later that month. Nine-car Class 801/2 units were introduced on 18 November 2019 between King's Cross and Edinburgh, allowing Class 800/1 units to be cascaded to Aberdeen services and enabling withdrawal of InterCity 125 sets from that route.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: British Rail Class 801 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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