South West Trains has ordered 30 five-car Siemens Desiro City electric multiple units, as part of an overall £540 million project on the South West Alliance route.
The trains are due to arrive in the UK from February 2017, with all entering traffic by the following year. They will cost £210m, with a further £30m required in terms of maintenance.
Additionally, a further £300m will be needed for platform lengthening at London Waterloo (introducing the International platforms into everyday use), and for the construction of a flyover at Woking that will enable trains from Portsmouth to be separated from slower trains on the South West Main Line.
The new trains will create an additional 30% space at peak times, enabling a 24,000 increase in passenger numbers at Waterloo (Britain’s busiest station). They will be built in Krefeld, in Germany, and owned by Angel Trains.
The SW Alliance says around 140 new jobs will be created from this order, through drivers, engineers and maintenance staff. The trains will be based at Wimbledon.
Rail Minister Claire Perry said: “This latest new train deal is proof not only of our determination to transform Britain’s railways, but also of the industry’s commitment to deliver a better journey for Britain’s passengers.”
Angel Trains Chief Executive Malcolm Brown said: “Growth in passenger volume in the capital is expected to continue in the future, and we are committed to working with train operators and the Department for Transport to find effective solutions.”
Steve Scrimshaw, managing director at Siemens Rail Systems, said: “The Desiro City takes the best and makes it even better. No other train in the UK is as technologically advanced and offers as many benefits in terms of passenger environment, capacity and reliability.”
The new trains, which will be similar to the Class 700s being delivered for Thameslink, will work on Waterloo-Windsor trains, creating a cascade of EMUs to other parts of the SWT network. Longer trains will run from Staines through to Bracknell, Ascot and Reading, and on a number of main line services from Basingstoke to London Waterloo.
Ten-carriage services will be introduced on the main suburban network for the first time, serving stations such as Kingston, Epsom, Hampton Court and Guildford via Cobham.
- This news story was published in RAIL 757 on 17 September 2014
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