Battery future for ex-LNR Class 230s?
GWR takes delivery of former Marston Vale Vivarail units after purchasing them at scrap value.
By Graeme Pickering
THE three Vivarail-produced Class 230s formerly operated by London Northwestern Railway (LNR) were delivered by road for storage at Great Western Railway’s Reading depot in mid- July, raising the prospect that one or more could ultimately be converted from diesel to batteryelectric multiple units.
Nos. 230003-5 were withdrawn by LNR in December 2022, just three-and-a-half years after their introduction on the Marston Vale Line between Bedford and Bletchley, following the collapse of Vivarail, which also employed the technicians who maintained them.