22.06.16
SWT completes £65m roll-out of extra 108 carriages
South West Trains has completed the £65m roll-out of 108 additional carriages, allowing capacity for 23,000 new passengers on its services.
The Class 456 and Class 458/5 carriages will be added to 34 morning services and 43 evening services, running on routes from London Waterloo to destinations including Portsmouth, Yeovil, Southampton and Basingstoke.
They feature wider doors to help passengers get on and off the train, improved seating, full CCTV and new flooring.
Christian Roth, managing director of South West Trains, said: “The completion of this multi-million pound scheme is excellent news for passengers travelling on one of Europe’s busiest railways.
“We are now operating more than 1,400 carriages and providing well over half a million journeys every day and the completion of this significant investment means we are able to provide more space for more passengers than ever before.
“However, we are far from complacent and know there is much more we still need to in order to improve journeys and provide space for the ever increasing number of passengers travelling with us.”
He said that in addition to acquiring 150 new carriages next year, South West Trains would work with Network Rail and other partners to carry out an £800m expansion and development programme at London Waterloo, improve depots and upgrade infrastructure.
Earlier this year, RTM interviewed Roth about the importance of depots as strategic assets.
The Class 456 compartments, leased from Porterbrook, were previously operated by Southern but have now been refurbished by Knorr-Bremse Rail Systems and are similar in appearance to the existing South West Trains Class 455 units.
The Class 458/5 trains, also owned by Porterbrook, were created by integrating the Class 460 fleet, previously used by Gatwick Express, into South West Trains’ existing 4-car Class 458 fleet to create a fleet of 36 5-car units.
The conversion and refurbishment was carried out by Alstom, who originally manufactured the vehicles.
(Image c. South West)
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