First Open

A Mk4 First Open or FO, is a type of railway carriage used by British Rail in its IC225 trains in the East Coast Main Line.

Built in 1988 by Metro Cammell at their Washwood Heath plant in Birmingham the coaches are 23m long with power operated sliding plug doors, are fitted with SIG bogies and are capable of running at up to 140 mile/h (225 km/h) but usually run at a maximum of 125 mile/h (200 km/h).

The Mk4 fleet was introduced by British Rail in 1988 together with the Class 91 locomotives and Mk4 DVT following electrification of the line between London Kings Cross, Leeds, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

In 1996 following privatisation of the railways the services were taken over by Sea Containers who ran the trains under the Great North Eastern Railway (GNER) banner.

However after the parent company declared itself to have major finacial problems and the franchise was re-let. It was won by National Express who commenced their operations in December 2007 under a new title of National Express East Coast.

Over the next few months they will re-brand the whole fleet in their new colours of grey, black and white