A new train has entered service on SouthWestern this week.
In fact it's a whole new train class - class 701 - but as yet there is just one train. There should be 90 trains but their introduction is running way behind schedule, indeed the original intention was for the first 701 to enter service five years ago. Reasons for the delay include Covid, union disputes, shoddy workmanship and "endemic software issues", all contributing to a massive delay that makes Crossrail look competent. Geoff made a video about them pre-pandemic, ffs.
Class 701 isn't being introduced with a fanfare, indeed it's hardly being introduced at all, the sole new train making just four return journeys before returning to the depot for an unspecified period. It crept into service at 10:25am on Tuesday morning for a trip from Waterloo to Windsor, slotting into the usual timetable as an additional service and carrying anyone who happened to turn up. And it's been running daily since, the fourth and final outing being yesterday so you've already missed your chance. The Men Who Like Trains were out in force.
The place to be was platform 19 at Waterloo station, ideally well before 10:25 to give yourself a chance to walk up and down and admire the new beast. Even better they'd plonked it next to a horrible old class 455, a shabby model dating back 40 years, as a proper contrast. This is why the new trains are needed, indeed why they ought to be in service already.
Many of those lingering by the new train had lanyards identifying them as members of SWR staff or from Alstom, the manufacturing company. They were here to see how the train performed, this time with passengers, and to be on hand in case something untoward happened. Others were hovering to appreciate the new exterior, check the livery, press the buttons, grab a selfie from the top of the platform, message their mates - all the things that MWLT like to do. And some just boarded the train thinking it was a normal service to Windsor, found a seat and sat there oblivious.
The door buttons look exactly like Crossrail door buttons, this because class 345 trains and class 701 trains are all from the same overarching 'Aventra' family. The front might slope more steeply and the seats might be arranged differently but the underlying mechanics and bodywork are similar. Other operators with Aventra trains include London Overground (class 710), Greater Anglia (class 720), c2c (also class 720) and West Midlands Trains (class 730). The SWR version is branded 'Arterio', this because the trains "will carry our customers along the arteries of our suburban network to the capital", and you'll see this vacuous name emblazoned just behind the driver's cab.
Having stepped aboard, the interior of the 701 feels quite a lot like the interior of the class 700s used on Thameslink. There are slim grey seats, slightly moulded cushions and umpteen grabhandles, plus an excess of standing room - the increase in capacity being one of the main drivers behind the introduction of the new trains. Yes you can plug in a gadget under the seats, yes you can charge your phone, yes there's onboard Wi-Fi and yes there's aircon because this is the 21st century. The heating was doing its job yesterday too.
It's not mostly longitudinal seating like Crossrail, so thankfully you can still look out of the window rather than at your fellow passengers. Then in the centre of each carriage is a display screen which scrolls through the usual carousel of coach number, stops served, service updates and toilet availability. I thought the contrast on the latter was quite poor, and Greater Anglia's version is much clearer. There are also additional screens beside the door listing destination, next stop and the current time, all in SWR's preferred typeface.
The most obvious thing you'd have spotted yesterday, had you been aboard, is that the sound quality of the announcements was awful. Every time the guard launched into one of his spiels ("welcome aboard... I will be walking through the train... I am currently in coach 10") the sound went all crackly, obliterating the odd syllable in a burst of fuzz. If this is the best a new train can do, on the only Arterio yet to enter service after months and months of testing, you have to wonder what else isn't quite up to scratch.
One reason the trains have been delayed is because they're One-Person-Operable and the unions don't like that. They think a guard is essential for safety reasons whereas the train company would rather take advantage of the economies the new trains offer. It seems some kind of compromise has been struck because guards are still supervising door closure at some stations but not at others. I overheard two members of staff reeling off a full list of which was which as they walked down the carriage ("...it's driver at Barnes, guard at Mortlake and North Sheen, driver at Richmond..."). I'm pretty sure I've remembered that wrong so don't take it as gospel, but it just goes to show you never know who's listening.
I didn't sample the Controlled Emission Toilets, whose bioreactor "thermally treats waste to produce wastewater compliant with EU bathing water standards" but apparently they're a UK first. And you can't sample them either, sorry, until SWR decides to run another journey. The ultimate plan is to roll out 90 class 701 trains on of all SWR's suburban lines, i.e. as far as Dorking, Guildford, Farnham, Reading and Windsor & Eton Riverside, including services to Hampton Court and Shepperton. They reckon this programme will take another two years - two years! - but eventually all the class 455 and class 458 trains will be replaced.
I don't tend to get excited by new types of rolling stock, I'm more interested in where trains go, which I suspect makes me a Man Who Likes Railways rather than a Man Who Likes Trains. Nevertheless I'm always keen to learn, so I've tried to use Wikipedia to knock up a list of all the class numbers used on London's suburban railways. The 100s are diesels, the rest are EMUs.
If you're a Man Who Likes Trains I expect you to tell me the numbers are wrong, and if you're a Man Who Likes Railways I expect you to tell me those aren't all London's suburban railways. And if you're most normal people, just be aware you might eventually be catching a newer train from Waterloo.
