Northern puts out tender for refurbishment of its class 323s from West Midlands Railway

Northern Trains has put out a tender to refurbish its recently inherited fleet of 17 class 323s, making a total of 34 sets operated by Northern, from West Midlands Railway.

The 51 vehicles will be “brought into line with Northern's branding”. In addition to the 17 class 323s, the tender will provide an option for two additional class 323  which Northern Trans is looking at bringing onto lease to cover timetable requirements whilst various other fleets are being taken out of service for repair works outside of the scope of the tender.

The work will be carried out Northern's Manchester International Depot (MID) and is expected to commence in September – the final train being completed in April next year. The first class 323 will enter works and, subject to winning bidders project plans, will likely go through initial strip stage ahead of a second unit being released into the project scope. From that point until project completion, the refresh programme will operate on a two unit holding – so as to reduce the overall project timescales.

The end date of April 2026 is a key consideration for this project, as various roads at MID are required for Northern Train's ETCS upgrade plans.

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