09.05.12
South West Trains welcomes new carriages
South West Trains has announced the introduction of 48 extra carriages on its network – cascaded Class 456s from Southern Railways, refurbished to the same specification as SWT’s existing Class 455s.
These 48 carriages, plus the 60 announced by the DfT in December 2011 – refurbished former Gatwick Express Class 460 Junipers, combined with refurbished trains from the SWT fleet – mean that 108 new carriages will be added to the network between May 2013 and December 2014.
Platform 20 at the former Waterloo International Terminal is also now likely to be brought back into use before the original planned date of December 2013, SWT announced.
The 108 new carriages will mean that five-, six- and eight-car trains can be lengthened to run as eight-, nine-, ten- and twelve-car services.
The Class 456s, built inYorkin 1990-91, were ‘refreshed’ and repainted by Southern in 2005-6, and had passenger information system added in 2009.
SWT managing director Tim Shoveller said: “The number of passengers we are attracting to our rail services has doubled in the past 15 years. Both South West Trains and the Department for Transport recognise our shared responsibility to tackle overcrowding and look at ways of providing extra capacity and more seats for the 200 million customers who travel on our network every year.
“We have already confirmed the introduction of 60 additional carriages, which will be introduced from May next year, and today’s announcement that we have successfully secured a further 48 carriages will provide another huge boost to South West Trains' passengers.”
Transport Secretary Justine Greening added: “This is great news for passengers. Adding extra carriages to these vital routes will not only ease congestion but also help to boost London’s economy.
“Rail travel is more popular than ever and we are delivering the biggest rail modernisation programme since the Victorian era, with £18 billion committed in this spending period. This includes work on Crossrail and the Thameslink upgrade – two schemes that will transform connections across London and the South East.”
SWT said the enhancements will be as follows:
Morning peak
Six longer mainline trains from Salisbury, Yeovil Junction, Basingstoke, Portsmouth Harbour (via Eastleigh) and Alton to London Waterloo
Three longer suburban trains from Guildford (via Cobham) and Woking to London Waterloo
Two extra eight car trains from Raynes Park to London Waterloo
Evening peak
Six longer mainline trains from London Waterloo to Exeter and Basingstoke
Extra seats on four suburban services from London Waterloo to Guildford (via Woking),
Guildford (via Cobham) and Twickenham (via Kingston)
Two longer trains on Windsor line services from London Waterloo to Aldershot (via Richmond) and to Teddington (via Richmond).
A full list of the specific services being upgraded is available on the South West Trains website.
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