LNER order 10 new tri-mode trains from CAF

CAF have been contacted to supply London North Eastern Railway a fleet of 10-car tri-mode trains for use on the East Coast Main Line. The trains are from the Spanish manufacturer CAF, from their “Civity” family of trains and are to be built in Newport, South Wales. The trains tri-mode capability means that they will be able to run on diesel, 50Kv AC electric and battery power. CAF, or Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles for long, have been recently gaining popularity in the UK with TransPennine Express, Northern and Transport for Wales all getting new CAF trains in the forms of the Classes 397s, 195s and 197s respectivley. Personally, I have only ever been on a CAF train once, a Northern 195 from Leeds to York and I found the 195s to be good and high quality trains but I don’t know about their reliability. These new trains will allow LNER to create more frequent serives on the East Coast Main Line as they will work alongside their already exstensive fleet of Class 801 “Azumas” built by Hitachi.