The Bombardier Voyager is a family of high-speed 125 mph diesel-electric multiple-units built in Belgium by Bombardier Transportation, for service on the railway network of the United Kingdom. Construction of the Voyager family took place between 2000 and 2005, consisting of three classes - the Voyager, Super Voyager and Meridian. These three classes are currently operated byCrossCountry, Avanti West Coast and CrossCountry, and East Midlands Railway. Bombardier Voyagers are used on various intercity services throughout Great Britain, including the longest direct rail service in the United Kingdom, which is a CrossCountry service from Aberdeen to Penzance which takes over 13 hours to complete.
The Class 221 Super Voyager was built as a tilting version of the Class 220. Although visually similar, they were fitted with a tilting mechanism and heavier bogies. Virgin CrossCountry received 40 five-car and four four-car sets. All passed with the CrossCountry franchise to Arriva CrossCountry in November 2007. With the removal of West Coast Main Line services from the CrossCountry franchise in December 2007, 16 were transferred to Virgin Trains West Coast for use on InterCity West Coast services. A further five moved from CrossCountry to Virgin Trains West Coast in December 2008. CrossCountry removed the tilting equipment from its Class 221s to improve reliability and lower cost of maintenance. On 8 December 2019, all of the West Coast sets passed to Avanti West Coast, the new operator of the West Coast Partnership franchise.
Class 222
The Class 222 Meridian DEMUs are broadly similar to the original Voyager units, but feature a number of reliability improvements and different internal layout. The Class 222 was built in the light of experience gained with the 220 and 221 units; in particular, many more components were installed under the floor so as to increase space for passengers. Twenty-seven sets were built:
Midland Mainline ordered 23 Meridians, to replace 17 Class 170Turbostars and provide stock for a later cancelled London St Pancras to Leeds service. Originally configured as 16 four-car seven and nine-car sets, they were later re-formed into a combination of four, five and eight-car units. All were transferred to the new franchise holder East Midlands Trains in November 2007. When EMT took over the franchise, it removed a car from six of its eight-car sets, to lengthen previously four-car units. The last remaining eight-car unit was reduced to five cars. All passed with the franchise to East Midlands Railway in 2019.
Hull Trains obtained four 4-car Class 222/1 Pioneers in 2005 to replace four Class 170 Turbostars. These units are slightly different internally from the 222/0 Meridian trains. Following a maintenance incident and the long-term unavailability of one unit, First Hull Trains replaced its Class 222 fleet with a fleet of Class 180 Adelantes in 2009. The Class 222s were transferred to EMT for use with the rest of the Class 222 fleet.
Bombardier Voyager Variants
Technical problems and criticism
The Class 220s and 221s have been criticised for being cramped as they are designed to be able to be converted to tilting operation, since when tilted they must still fit within the loading gauge.
Because there is one diesel engine per car, there is increased underfloor noise, vibration and rattles when compared to the InterCity 125 sets and locomotive hauled trains that the units in this family replaced.
There is very little space to store heavy luggage or bicycles. Although CrossCountry has now removed the shops from its trains to increase capacity, the bicycle compartment can now only store 3 instead of the original 4 bicycles.
CrossCountry services formed of Classes 220 and 221 frequently have to be stopped at Exeter St Davids or Newton Abbot when waves break over the Dawlish sea wall, due to the roof mounted brake resistors.
The trains are notably shorter than the trains they replaced, resulting in reduced capacity. In addition, most seating in Standard Class is in airline configuration with fold-down tables, which are too small for large laptops.
Accidents and incidents
In 2006, a Class 222 unit had to be taken out of service due to a door opening in Northamptonshire on a London-Sheffield service, while the train was at speed.
On 26 May 2006, a passenger was murdered on board 220005 as the train pulled into Oxenholme whilst working the Glasgow to Paignton service.
On 14 March 2008, a fire broke out on a Voyager at. About 100 passengers were evacuated from the train.
On 20 April 2012, a Voyager unit caught fire at. The fire was caused by a buildup of grime which was heated by the movement of the train's wheels.
On 18 July 2018, a Voyager unit caught fire shortly after leaving whilst operating a service to. All 175 passengers were evacuated.
On 26th of September 2019 an electrical explosion occurred in a vestibule on Voyager unit 221132. Fortunately this was on an ECS move and occurred between the Central Rivers depot and Birmingham New Street station and was discovered when the driver changed ends.
Proposed conversion to electrical operation
In 2010 Bombardier proposed the conversion of several Voyagermultiple units into hybrid electric and diesel vehicles capable of taking power from an overhead pantograph. The proposal was named Project Thor. In October 2010 it was speculated that 123 additional pantograph vehicles would be manufactured at Derby Litchurch Lane Works, and 21 sets converted, at a cost of approximately £300million, however in 2011 the plant did not have the facilities to manufacture steel carriages, though it was expected that much of the work would take place in the UK, and provide work for the Derby plant. In December 2011 a proposal to electrify 30-35 sets for the CrossCountry franchise, referred to as "eVoyager", was considered by the Department for Transport.
