Landmark reached in Class 700 delivery programme
SIEMENS has reached the halfway mark in its delivery of Class 700s under the Thameslink programme.
Eight-car 700043 was delivered to Hornsey depot on April 26, and was the 58th of 115 dual-voltage electric multiple units (EMUs) ordered by the Department for Transport in 2012; the first trains arrived in 2015.
The Class 700s are being built by Siemens in Krefeld (Germany), and tested in Wildenrath before being dispatched to the UK for commissioning. They are leased by Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR).
The latest EMU followed classmate 700022, which arrived at Three Bridges on April 24. So far two ‘700s’ have been delivered direct to Hornsey due to the fact that Three Bridges is full with EMUs being commissioned, as well as the fleet in public traffic.
The deal covers 1,140 vehicles, and so far Siemens has delivered 43 eight-car trains (344 vehicles) and 15 12-car trains (180 vehicles), giving a total of 524 vehicles - equivalent to 131 of the four-car EMUs that they are replacing. GTR had leased 86 Class 319s, nine Class 377/2s, 23 Class 377/5s and 29 Class 387s (147 trains). Most ‘319s’ have been sent off-lease, the ‘377/2s’ have returned to Southern, eight ‘377/5s’ have moved to Southeastern and the ‘387s’ are being used on GTR’s Great Northern operations.
Siemens is nearing the end of a delivery programme for 40 eight-car Class 700/0s, with 700001/034/035/042 still to be delivered from the current batch. RAIL understands that when that is completed, 30 12-car Class 700/1s will be sent to the UK (700116700145), followed by 12 ‘700/0s’ (700047-700058). The final batch of ten ‘700/1s’ will then arrive (700146-700155), followed by the final two ‘700/0s’ (700059/060).
Deliveries are being made weekly, with a RAIL source saying that they must all be delivered by May 2018.
Class 700s entered traffic in June 2016, and are now widely used across the existing Thameslink network. They will also be introduced on Great Northern routes, running to Cambridge and Peterborough.