Southeastern Class 707s

NEW trains made redundant before they even entered traffic are set for a new home, with Southeastern signing a deal to lease the 30 five-car Class 707s.

The trains had been ordered by South West Trains in 2014, as part of a Government-led High Level Output Specification (HLOS) capacity improvement programme on routes from London Waterloo. They were built by Siemens in Krefeld (Germany) in 2015-17.

When FirstGroup/MTR was awarded the South Western franchise in 2017, it was announced that the entire HLOS rolling stock (including the ‘707s’) would be replaced by 90 Bombardier Class 701s. At that point, the ‘707s’ had not entered traffic ( RAIL 824).

Owned by Angel Trains, the ‘707s’ were due to have been replaced by the 701s’ from the end of last year. However, the latter, like every other Bombardier Aventra order, have since been delayed by software issues.

Southeastern is taking the five-car trains as part of its Direct Award announced on March

30 ( RAIL 902). Spokesman Paul Prentice told RAIL: “We are in the early stages of planning for additional capacity for the Southeastern network - this is part of the Direct Award contract announced with the Department for Transport.

“We are dependent on the availability of existing rolling stock, and we are working with the industry on a plan to transfer Class 707 units which are currently in service on the South Western Railway network - only when they become available.”

He told RAIL that their availability relies on delivery of the ‘701s’.

There are currently no plans to use the trains to replace any existing SE fleets, although an issue remains surrounding storage space - something that former Rail Minister Paul Maynard highlighted in 2018 prior to the sub-lease of Class 377s from Govia Thameslink Railway to Southeastern.

One possible option could be Ashford Chart Leacon. It was due to be part of the Thameslink stabling plan as part of the Maidstone East services, but the decision to use that depot was reversed and the land sold to a developer. It has now been bought back by Network Rail.

There has been no confirmation as to the routes the ‘707s’ would operate on, but they have metro interiors and no toilets, suggesting they would be used on similar routes to those that employ Class 376s. Prentice explained that the ‘707s’ would be the first Metro trains the franchise has that are fitted with airconditioning.

The ‘707s’ finally entered traffic in the dying days of the SWT franchise, but the majority were introduced by SWR.