British Rail Class 196


The Class 196 Civity is a class of diesel multiple unit being constructed for West Midlands Trains by Spanish rolling stock manufacturer CAF. A total of 26 units are to be built, twelve two-car units and fourteen four-car units.
The trains will enter service in 2020. They will be 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.
The first completed unit started testing at the Velim railway test circuit in December 2019.
The first vehicle from 196101 arrived at Tyseley TMD in Birmingham on Friday 17 April 2020, having travelled by ship from Cuxhaven to Hull.

Operators

West Midlands Trains

West Midlands Trains plan to replace their fleet of 23 Class 170/5 & 170/6 Turbostar and the 8 Class 153 units, which operate on West Midlands Railway services, with 26 Class 196 units. The Class 153 units will either be off-leased or transfer to Transport for Wales to cover for delays with their new rolling stock, whilst the Class 170s will move to East Midlands Railway so as to replace the, and in its regional services with the exception of centre cars of the Class 170/6 units are to be transferred to CrossCountry to lengthen their Class 170/5s. These units will be run on Birmingham to Shrewsbury via Telford services, Birmingham to Hereford services, with appearances on the Snow Hill Lines on occasion.

Fleet details