London, Great Britain – Angel Trains is investing nearly £34 million on upgrading the High Speed Trains operated by the East coast train operator, GNER. The work will include replacing the 30-year old Paxman Valenta engines in 20 of the Angel Trains owned HST power cars operated by GNER with new MTU 16V4000R41 engines. The upgrade work will also include an interior refurbishment and other reliability modifications.

This latest investment in HSTs by Angel Trains follows its announcement in February 2006 of a £10 million investment in MTU 16V4000R41 new engines for 26 HST power cars operated by First Great Western, part of a £40 million investment package, all financed by Angel Trains. This year, Angel Trains is making a total investment of nearly £74 million in High Speed Trains.

The decision to invest in the refitting of the new MTU engines to both the FGW and GNER HST fleets follows a highly successful trial installation of the engines on two First Great Western HST power cars, which have been in operational service since June 2005. The two vehicles performed extremely well, each clocking up in excess of 3000 operating hours during the formal trial which ran until December 2005. The vehicles continue to operate as part of First Great Western’s fleet.

The two fleets will have their first refitted power cars, 46 in total, delivered in July and August 2006.

Haydn Abbott, Managing Director of Angel Trains said:

“Angel Trains has now invested an additional £74 million in the future of the HST fleet including the fitting of new engines which are more environmentally-friendly and deliver a more cost effective solution for our customer. The new engines together with an interior refurbishment will ensure that the existing HST fleet can continue to operate reliably and cost-effectively until their successor is introduced”.

Already, in the trial carried out last year, the new engines helped to deliver the best train performance since the HSTs were introduced thirty years ago. They are also quieter with significantly fewer exhaust emissions, no visible smoke, and less noise and vibration to comply with new European legislation.

The new engines are being installed in Britain by Brush Traction of Loughborough.