All aboard! After almost 10 months Island Line services are set to resume with the first passenger train confirmed for Monday morning (1st November).
South Western Railway says that the first Class 484 passenger service will depart Ryde St John’s at 05:35 on Monday, calling at Ryde Esplanade at 05:39 and then Ryde Pier Head at 05:41. The train will then head back down the line passing through Brading, Sandown and Lake before arriving in Shanklin at 06:10.
The line was only ever meant to be closed for a period of 3 months, between January and April, but significant delays with track work and software issues with the new trains have led to serious delays. When the £26million Island Line investment was announced in September 2019 it was hoped that the new trains would be in operation from May 2021, meaning the project has been delivered some 6 months later than planned.
A total of 5x 2-car trains have been built by Warwickshire-based Vivarail, converting former 1978 London Underground District Line trains into modern Class 484s equipped with wifi, passenger information screens and wheelchair spaces. These trains, the first of which arrived on the Island last November, will now operate a 30-minute service thanks to the installation of a new passing loop at Brading. That said, a full timetable has not yet been released but there is some indication that the service will only be hourly – for now.
The last Class 483 train ran on Island Line on 3rd January, with 006 rolling into Ryde St John’s at 23:21. The train has now been transferred with Llanelli Railway in Wales, with other carriages going to the Isle of Wight Steam Railway and to scrap.
Superb to hear – about time!
they have spent the last weeks and months frantically working on the pier – as recently as yesterday there were teams underneath it, working away – these delays have been due to the pier end as well as the alleged software issues.
Thhe part they are working on is not the train pier but the old tram pier which is to be re built for foot passengers and bicycles
No – I have watched them under the pier on the train side – on the beach at low tide working on the structure
voting my comment down, doesn’t change the facts. They were working on the train side structure from the beach at low tide, only a couple of days ago.
I walk down the pier six days a week. I have seen no work performed on the tramway pier.
There is still a work platform under the train pier.
Yay! But after this weekends weather there might be ‘leaves on the line’!
Easier on the eye…and ears than those hideous museum pieces they’ve replaced.
Although i don’t live anywhere near the Island Line, i will be taking a ride to see how good they are compared to the previous stock i used to work on.
Glad it will be running again.
its about time theses train ran later than 10 35
Anyone going to get me 50p that there’s an issue on Monday….the whole island is run by incompetent chimps…. don’t be surprised when you slip on a banana skin!
Easy to knock. Harder to contribute and make things better.
Starts on Monday, out of service on tuesday
I think its hats off to all,for getting it up and running.well done