The Future
The InterCity 125 is still in widespread use. First Great Western planned to supplement (but not replace) its InterCity 125s with 14 Class 180 Adelante trains, which can travel at the same speed. Because every carriage has an underfloor engine, they can accelerate approximately twice as quickly, which reduces journey times and allows for more frequent services. However, in-car noise levels are higher than in the InterCity 125 because of the underfloor engines, which, combined with less-comfortable seats and harsh interior lighting, has made them unpopular with passengers. They also proved to be unreliable, leading to a significant overhaul programme in 2004 to fix the major problems. These issues ultimately led to the units being withdrawn from First Great Western services and transferred to open access operators Grand Central Railway and First Hull Trains.
In 2004, First Great Western announced a major overhaul upgrade for its Class 43 locomotives (InterCity 125 power cars), including a new MTU engine. Two power cars with the new engine were successfully trialled. In 2005, it undertook a trial refurbishment of a pair of InterCity 125 coaches to bring them up to modern standards. Another coach has been refurbished with experimental aircraft-style seat-back screens. As part of its franchise commitments First Great Western announced that it will refurbish the entire fleet and re-engine all power cars with the MTU engine
In January 2006 the first batch of power cars were taken to Brush Traction to have MTU engines installed. This work has now been completed.
Twenty-six of First Great Western's InterCity 125 fleet have been refurbished into a high-density layout of mostly airline seats for services in the M4 corridor to Bristol and Cardiff. To improve acceleration on this route, where most stations are 20–25 minutes apart, the buffet cars will be removed. The remainder will be refurbished with new seating (leather in First Class) and at-seat power-points, and retain the buffet for the long-distance services to Swansea and the West Country.
Midland Mainline supplemented its fleet with Class 222 Meridian units (similar to Virgin Cross-Country's Class 220 and 221 Voyager trains), replacing the slower Class 170 Turbostar units. The franchise has since been reorganised and transferred to East Midlands Trains, which has begun to repaint the InterCity 125 sets.
National Express East Coast operate InterCity 125 sets between London King's Cross and the North of Scotland. The previous franchise holder, GNER gave the coaches an extensive interior refurbishment upon its taking over of the sets in 1996. GNER also began to have their InterCity 125 sets a further refit to bring them to the same Mallard standard as their recently refurbished InterCity 225 fleet, a programme that has been continued by National Express.
The Great Western power cars have had major modifications to their cooling system to prevent overheating on hot days. GNER's solution to the overheating problem was to haul sets under the wires using Class 91 electric Locomotives.
A full-scale replacement programme known as the Intercity Express Programme is currently in the planning stages. This is a development of earlier plans to replace them, known as HST2.
Read more about this topic: High Speed Trains Of The United Kingdom
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