British Rail Class 220 - Formation and Passenger Facilities

Formation and Passenger Facilities

Class 220s operate in four carriage sets. They are air-conditioned throughout, with powered doors. The coaches are fitted with power sockets for laptop computers and mobile phone charging, toilet facilities for disabled people and storage facilities for bicycles are provided.

They provide 26 seats in 2+1 formation in first class and 174 seats in 2+2 formation in standard class.

The formation of a four-car Class 220 is as follows:

• Coach A - 26 seats - First Class with disabled area and driving cab
• Coach C - 66 seats - Standard Class
• Coach D - 66 seats - Standard Class with large luggage area and reservable space for three bikes
• Coach F - 42 seats - Standard Class (Quiet Zone) with disabled area, catering base and driving cab.

CrossCountry Trains have finished updating the interior layout of all its 220 and 221 sets; their aim is to increase seating capacity, in line with their commitments to the franchise agreements, as well as provide an at-seat trolley service for refreshments instead of a shop. Their research had shown that the shop was not making as good a turnover as hoped due to the fact a lot of people prefer not to leave their seats to get refreshments; they feared either losing their seat or having their belongings stolen when away. It is worth pointing out that in Virgin Trains unsuccessful franchise bid they also cited removal of the shop from 220s and 221s as a way of trying to improve seating capacity.

The interior renovation involved the removal of the shop from coach D and the conversion of the stowage area in coach F to a catering storage area where there is now a fridge, food storage and a space for an on-board trolley to be stored. Bicycle storage has been moved to coach D where the shop was. It can now store three bicycles instead of four.

The Class 220s have been criticised for a number of shortcomings:

• Increased noise and vibration when compared to the non-powered Mark 2 and Mark 3 coaching stock they replaced due to the underfloor diesel engines.
• As the profile of the bodyshells is designed to allow clearance for tilting (although the Class 220s do not tilt, they use the same shell as the Class 221), the interior space is reduced when compared with conventional carriages.
• The four car sets are typically shorter than the trains they replaced (usually a locomotive with 7 coaches or a 7 car HST)- despite more frequent running, overcrowding is still a problem especially with the increase in passenger numbers. A feasibility study into adding an additional coach to each Voyager is being looked at by the Department For Transport jointly with Crosscountry and Bombardier (September 2011). This coach would have a pantograph and conversion equipment instead of a diesel engine, providing the Voyager units (Classes 220 and 221) with dual traction capability (diesel/electric and electric 25 kV).
• There is little to no space to store large luggage items or bikes. More luggage space has been provided in the converted CrossCountry units with the removal of the shop. The conversion has however resulted in only three bicycle spaces instead of the original four.
• Most seating is in 'airline' configuration, with pull-down trays which are too small to use a large laptop on, but are fine for smaller laptops and netbooks.