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Here's your first look at the new Crossrail trains

Trainspotters ahoy!

Here's your first look at the new Crossrail trains

You wait ages for some good trainspotting news and then two pieces come along at once. It's, erm, just like buses.

Following hot on the heels of the teaser for Danny Boyle's Trainspotting 2 comes a slightly different, but no less exciting, piece of train news, with the first images of the new carriages we'll be seeing on the Crossrail - aka Elizabeth - line, when it launches next May.

The new 'Class 345' trains will go into operation between Liverpool Street and Shenfield and will consist of seven carriages, measuring 160m - these will eventually be upgraded to nine-carriage monsters from May 2018 when the Heathrow to Paddington leg of the line opens. There will eventually be a fleet of 66, all with air conditioning.

The headlines? Funky upholstery. Blue, white and purple livery. Two different types of coach: one with seats on either side only - similarly to the new District/Hammersmith & City/Circle trains - and one with a more traditional arrangement, similar to the existing Abellio Greater Anglia trains.

The trains will now be tested with over one hundred tonnes of weight, to simulate the effect of 1150 passengers, which the seven carriage model will hold.

Take a gander at the videos and images below:

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(Images: Twitter/railwaygazette.com/Rex)