South West Trains Take Delivery of New Trains
Will start to be in service on local lines by April 2017
New trains ordered by South West Trains that will significantly increase capacity on local services have been delivered to Clapham Junction. They will be subject to testing and are expected to start to come into operation by next April.
The first pair of the new Siemens built Class 707 Desiro City train will begin test runs in the new year and it is hoped that the fleet of 30 brand new trains, providing 150 extra carriages costing £210million will be in passenger service by November.
The new trains will provide space for approximately 11,000 passengers every weekday morning on one of Europe’s busiest railways; to and from London Waterloo.
The trains will run between London Waterloo and Windsor & Eton Riverside, including the Hounslow Loop and Weybridge via Brentford, calling at many of the network’s busiest stations such as Clapham Junction, Putney, Brentford and Twickenham.
They also provide free passenger WiFi throughout, open-ended carriages, allowing passengers to see through and walk the length of the train, a modern climate control system which monitors the number of passengers onboard to maintain the temperature while minimising energy consumption and state-of-the-art onboard passenger information which can provide real-time updates on a range of information, including London Underground services and tell passengers which carriages have more space. However, the have attracted criticism for not having any toilets.
South West Trains say they are also far lighter and more energy efficient, reducing the impact on the environment and track.
Christian Roth, Managing Director of South West Trains, said, “It is fantastic to see the first of our new trains arrive on our network. They are a vital part of the Waterloo & South West Upgrade, which will provide a 30% increase in capacity for passengers during the busiest times of the day.”
Becky Lumlock, Route Managing Director at Network Rail, added, “In addition to the extra trains, the Waterloo & South West Upgrade includes major improvement works at London Waterloo to rebuild platforms 20-24 (the former International Terminal) to bring them back into use for domestic passengers as well as creating a spacious new concourse.
“Between 5 and 28 August 2017, work will also take place to extend platforms 1-4 to allow longer trains to serve suburban routes, which will mean temporary changes to services during this time as fewer trains will be able to run. I urge passengers to pay close attention to these temporary changes as they will affect journeys.”
Preview of the inside of the new trains
December 21, 2016