British Rail Class 196

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.^[11]

British Rail Class 196 Civity
A Class 196 at Shrewsbury in October 2024
Interior of a Class 196 unit
In service	17 October 2022 – present
Manufacturer	CAF
Built at	Newport, Wales (final assembly)
Family name	Civity
Replaced	Class 170/5
Constructed	2019–2022
Number built	26 (12 x 196/0, 14 × 196/1)
Formation	2 cars per 196/0 unit:[1] DMSL-DMS 4 cars per 196/1 unit: DMSL-MS-MSL-DMS
Fleet numbers	196001–196012 196101–196114[2]
Capacity	196/0: 141 seats 196/1: 311 seats[3]
Owners	Corelink Rail[4]
Operators	West Midlands Railway Chiltern Railways (from end of 2025)
Depots	Current: Tyseley (Birmingham)[5] Future: Bletchley (Milton Keynes)[6]
Lines served	Current: Birmingham New Street to Shrewsbury Birmingham New Street to Hereford Nuneaton-Leamington Spa[7] [8]
Specifications
Doors	Double-leaf sliding plug (2 per side per car)
Maximum speed	100 mph (160 km/h)
Prime mover(s)	2 or 4 × MTU 6H 1800 R85L (one per car)[9]
Engine type	Inline-6 turbo-diesel[10]
Displacement	12.8 L (780 cu in) per engine[10]
Power output	196/0: 780 kW (1,050 hp) 196/1: 1,560 kW (2,090 hp) (390 kW (520 hp) per engine)[10]
Safety system(s)	AWS TPWS
Coupling system	Dellner[9]
Multiple working	Within class (max. 8 cars)[note 1]
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge

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.^[12]

The first completed unit started testing at the Velim railway test circuit in December 2019.^[13]

The first vehicle arrived at Tyseley TMD in Birmingham on 17 April 2020, having travelled by ship from Cuxhaven to Hull.^[14] Revenue services using the new fleet began on 17 October 2022, on services between Shrewsbury and Birmingham.^[15]

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,^[16] with occasional appearances on the Snow Hill Lines (Dorridge & Stratford-upon-Avon to Worcester).^[17]

Chiltern Railways

Six 2-car units will be allocated to the initial services operated on the East West Rail route between Oxford and Milton Keynes in 2025.^[18]

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:

• 196001: Graiseley Wolves^[19]
• 196002: Jess Carter^[20]
• 196004: Sir Edward Elgar^[21]
• 196101: Charles Darwin^[6]
• 196102: The Shropshire Flyer^[22]

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 built for Northern.
• British Rail Class 397 - An electric multiple unit variant of the CAF Civity UK platform built for TransPennine Express.
• British Rail Class 897 - A tri-mode multiple unit variant of the CAF Civity UK platform to be built for London North Eastern Railway.

Notes

1. In passenger service, up to four units may work together so long as the train contains no more than eight vehicles. When out of service, the maximum number of units remains four but the maximum permissible length increases to ten vehicles.^[1]