Safety concerns mean delayed SWR trains enter service with guards closing the doors

South Western Railway is to use guards to close train doors at stations on its long-delayed fleet of Class 701 Arterio trains.

The trains were intended for driver-only operation, in which the driver both opens and closes the doors at platforms.

But safety concerns have now been raised at some stations. This has led to a halt in driver training and yet further delay in rolling out the £1 billion fleet of 90 Derby-built trains. They had been due to enter service five and a half years ago, in 2019. Most remain in storage.

The RMT Union has previously held 78 days of strike action over the role of guards on the new trains. The strikes ended following agreement that a guard would travel on every service, but the driver would operate the doors.

A spokesman for SWR told RAIL: “The drivers rely on effective CCTV cameras and in-cab displays down the full length of the 10-car train to make the judgement it is safe to depart.

“Many of the 98 stations the Arterio will serve were built more than 150 years ago, with the Victorian infrastructure creating some specific challenges in guaranteeing a consistently clear image for the driver, under all light conditions.”

Although a handful of the trains have been available for testing for more than four years, this issue has only now been admitted.

SWR said stations will now be modified.

The spokesman said: “While we complete those works at our stations, we’ve taken the decision to re-phase our training programme. This means we will now begin training our drivers and guards to operate the trains with the driver opening the doors and the guard closing them, which will enable us to operate on new routes sooner.

He added: “With the shorter training programme set to begin in the coming weeks, the approach will enable an accelerated programme of introduction.”

No timetable was given for when the station work would be completed or what the overall impact on service entry would be.

SWR said it “remains committed to full DODC [Driver Open Driver Close] operations at the earliest viable opportunity,” without offering a date.

The first Arterio train carried passengers on the Waterloo to Windsor route in January 2024. Over the following 16 months, only five trains have been in daily service.

In November 2024, SWR had promised a further 10 trains would be in daily use on Windsor and Shepperton services, the Hounslow Loop and to Dorking and Guildford. From June 2025 they were also to run on the longer journey to Reading.

It promised that by summer, the trains would operate 80 services each weekday, though it said it could be two years before the entire fleet of 750 carriages would be in service.

At the time, SWR stated that 100 of the 750 mainline drivers who will work the new rolling stock had already completed their two-week conversion course. It described the occasion as “a major milestone” and “a monumental achievement.”

The leases on older Class 455 suburban trains have been extended to cover the gap. It is likely these trains will be scrapped when they are no longer needed.

First MTR’s contract to operate SWR ends on 24 May, after which all services into London Waterloo will revert to the public sector. It is understood Ministers have demanded the issue with driver visibility is fixed by the time the contract ends, but this appears unlikely.

Paul Donnelly, ASLEF’s full-time organiser in the south-east of England, said: ‘Due to technical and infrastructure issues impacting the introduction of the Arterio 701 stock, ASLEF are pleased that, after months of negotiating, an agreement has been reached with SWR in order to roll out the 701 stock with driver open/guard close as the method of operation.’