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Rail — rolling stock & vehicles
Rail — rolling stock & vehiclesRefurbishment

British Rail Class 170 Turbostar Refurbishment

UK (e.g., East Midlands, CrossCountry routes) · Ongoing (e.g., EMR refurbishment 2025, CrossCountry by 2028) · £23m (EMR specific refurbishment, part of wider £60m programme)

The judgement call

Account-gated at launch

* Strategic investment to modernize and extend the life of a proven fleet. * Focus on improving passenger experience and environmental performance. * Implementation of remote engine monitoring for improved maintenance.

Key engineering challenges

* Integrating new interior features and digital systems into existing train designs. * Ensuring continued reliability and extending the operational life of the DMUs. * Minimizing service disruption during the refurbishment process. * Addressing emissions and fuel efficiency improvements.

Project facts

Client / owner
Various Train Operating Companies (e.g., East Midlands Railway, CrossCountry)
Lead contractor
Various (e.g., RailCare Limited for earlier refreshments)
Lead designers
Project type
Refurbishment
Scale
EMR Class 170 fleet; CrossCountry Class 170 fleet
Disciplines
Mechanical; Electrical; Systems; Interior Design
Standards & frameworks
RSSB; Network Rail standards

Sources: * East Midlands Railway news (news.eastmidlandsrailway.co.uk) * Rail Advent (railadvent.co.uk) * CrossCountry Trains website (crosscountrytrains.co.uk) * Modern Railways (modernrailways.com) * Railway Pro (railwaypro.com) * Rail Engineer (railengineer.co.uk) * British Rail Class 170 (Wikipedia)