British Rail Class 196 Explained

British Rail Class 196 Civity
Interiorimage:	196008 Interior.jpg
Interiorimagealt:	Interior of a Class 196 unit
Interiorcaption:	Interior of a Class 196 unit
Service:	17 October 2022 – present
Manufacturer:	CAF
Factory:	Newport, Wales (final assembly)
Family:	Civity
Replaced:	Class 170/5
Yearconstruction:	2019–2022
Owner:	Corelink Rail^[1]
Operator:	West Midlands Railway
Maxspeed:	100 mph (160 km/h)
Enginetype:	Inline-6 turbo-diesel^[2]
Displacement:	per engine
Coupling:	Dellner
Multipleworking:	Within class (max. 8 cars)

The British Rail Class 196 Civity is a class of diesel multiple unit built for West Midlands Trains by Spanish rolling stock manufacturer CAF. A total of 26 units have been built; 12 two-car units and 14 four-car units.^[3]

They are the first train of the Civity family to feature end gangways.

History

Shortly after the announcement that a consortium of Abellio, Mitsui and JR East had been awarded the West Midlands franchise, West Midlands Trains confirmed they had placed an order for 26 diesel multiple units based on CAF's Civity platform.^[4]

The first completed unit started testing at the Velim railway test circuit in December 2019.^[5]

The first vehicle arrived at Tyseley TMD in Birmingham on 17 April 2020, having travelled by ship from Cuxhaven to Hull.^[6] Revenue services using the new fleet began on 17 October 2022, on services between Shrewsbury and Birmingham.^[7]

Operators

West Midlands Trains

West Midlands Trains use the Class 196 fleet to replace their 23 Class 170/5 Turbostar units on services between Birmingham and Shrewsbury via Telford. They also run on Birmingham to Hereford services from 2023,^[8] with occasional appearances on the Snow Hill Lines (Dorridge & Stratford-upon-Avon to Worcester).^[9] Six 2-car units will be allocated to the initial services operated on the East West Rail route between Oxford and Milton Keynes.

Fleet details

Class	Operator	Qty.	Year built	Cars per unit	Unit nos.
196/0	West Midlands Trains	12	2019 - 2022	2	196001 - 196012
196/1		14		4	196101 - 196114

Named units

Some units have received names:

• 196101: Charles Darwin
• 196001: Graiseley Wolves^[10]
• 196004: Sir Edward Elgar^[11]
• 196102: The Shropshire Flyer^[12]

See also

• British Rail Class 195 - A diesel multiple unit variant of the CAF Civity UK platform built for Northern.
• British Rail Class 197 - A diesel multiple unit variant of the CAF Civity UK platform built for Transport for Wales Rail.
• British Rail Class 331 - An electric multiple unit variant of the CAF Civity UK platform also built for Northern.

Notes and References

1. Autumn start for Class 730/0s on London Euston diagrams . . 327 . August 2023 . 10.
2. Book: Powerpacks with 6H 1800 for Railcar Applications . 20 April 2020 . MTU Friedrichshafen GmbH . 01/20 . 30 November 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210421061441/https://www.mtu-solutions.com/content/dam/mtu/products/rail/3235271_MTU_spec_Rail_PowerPack1800.pdf/_jcr_content/renditions/original./3235271_MTU_spec_Rail_PowerPack1800.pdf . 21 April 2021 . PDF.
3. Fender . Keith . Sheratt . Philip . June 2018 . West Midlands prepares for new fleets . Modern Railways . Key Publishing . Stamford . 75 . 837 . 78 .
4. News: Briginshaw . David . New West Midlands franchise orders 107 trains . International Railway Journal . 12 December 2017 . Simmons-Boardman Publishing . Falmouth . 27 May 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20171219153334/http://www.railjournal.com/index.php/europe/new-british-west-midlands-franchise-orders-107-trains.html . 19 December 2017.
5. News: 18 December 2019 . West Midlands Trains reveals first Class 196 DMU . dead . 30 November 2022 . Rail Business UK . DVV Media International . Sutton . https://web.archive.org/web/20191218144417/https://www.railwaygazette.com/uk/west-midlands-trains-reveals-first-class-196-dmu/55395.article . 2019-12-18 .
6. News: Clinnick . Richard . First brand new CAF train delivered to West Midlands Trains . 19 May 2020 . 11 July 2020 . Rail Magazine . Bauer Consumer Media . Peterborough . https://web.archive.org/web/20210926060023/https://www.railmagazine.com/news/fleet/first-brand-new-caf-train-delivered-to-west-midlands-trains . 26 September 2021 . live.
7. News: New West Midlands Railway fleet enters passenger service . 17 October 2022 . West Midlands Trains . 17 October 2022 . Birmingham . https://web.archive.org/web/20221021014239/https://www.mynewsdesk.com/uk/westmidlandstrains/pressreleases/new-west-midlands-railway-fleet-enters-passenger-service-3211511 . 21 October 2022 . live.
8. West Midland Railways launches Class 196 fleet . Rail Magazine . Bauer Consumer Media . Peterborough . 969 . 2 November 2022 . 12–13.
9. Web site: New Trains - Class 196 . West Midlands Trains . Birmingham . 19 September 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200926140253/https://www.westmidlandsrailway.co.uk/travel-information/whats-new/new-trains/class-196-fleet . 26 September 2020 . dead .
10. Naming Update . Railways Illustrated . 243. May 2023 . 23.
11. West Midlands Railway Class 196s named . Today's Railways UK. 255 . May 2023 . 58.
12. Shed Talk . Units. . 332. January 2024. 24.