Six additional carriages, no longer used by West Midlands Trains, are being refurbished to bring them into CrossCountry’s specification by Arriva Traincare. The improvement work includes new seat covers, new carpets, upgraded Wi-Fi and a full external repaint. The project will convert six existing two-carriage Turbostar trains into three-carriage trains – an increase of 80 seats per train.

Richard Morris, CrossCountry’s Regional Director, East Midlands & East Anglia said: “We currently run a mixture of two-carriage and three-carriage trains on our regional services linking the East Midlands and East Anglia with the West Midlands, so we are delighted to be able to add some extra peak time capacity”.

“As we welcome people back to rail after COVID-19, being able to plan more three-carriage trains for the busiest times of travel on our Leicester, Nottingham, Cambridge and Stansted Airport routes will mean many more of our customers can get a seat for their whole journey and travel in comfort”, Richard added.

The first of the higher-capacity Turbostars went into public service in mid-January, with the second due to enter service by the end of the month. All six additional carriages should be carrying passengers by the spring.