SWR begins main line testing o

MAIN line testing of the first South Western Railway Class 701 has begun between Wareham and Weymouth.

SWR has 90 electric multiple units on order from Bombardier (60 ten-car and 30 five-car sets). They were ordered when FirstGroup/ MTR won the South Western franchise from Stagecoach, and will be used on suburban services from London Waterloo, enabling SWR to withdraw the Class 455, ‘456’, ‘458’ and ‘707’ fleets. It’s expected they will enter traffic later this year, although no specific date has been given.

“The programme is gathering pace. We’re entering an important phase of the project as we begin real-world testing on our network ahead of the trains entering passenger service later this year,” said SWR Commercial Projects Director Alex Foulds.

The ten-car sets have 556 seats and space for 740 standing passengers, while the five-car sets have 269 seats and space for 330 standing passengers. The trains have a 100mph maximum speed and are fitted with Standard Classonly interiors. They are also the first Aventras to be delivered for the third-rail network (see panel).

The £895 million fleet, leased from Rock Rail, had been due to enter passenger traffic from December 2019. However, like other Bombardier Aventras, the trains have been beset by problems with their Train Control Management System (TCMS). One five-car set (701501) has visited the Velim test facility in the Czech Republic but has now returned to Derby.

The first Class 701 to leave Derby for main line testing was ten-car 701002 on June 10. It was moved to Eastleigh Works by GB Railfreight 66740 Jayne and 66745 Modern Railways The first 50 years.

For initial testing, the ‘701’ will run in a Signal Protection Zone (SPZ) until it receives approval to operate under its own power across the SWR network (expected to be by the end

of June). GBRf is carrying out the testing programme.

More ‘701s’ will be delivered soon, and these will be used for main line testing as work continues to enable the trains to enter service. When in traffic, the ‘701s’ will be based at Wimbledon with work also carried out at Feltham.

SWR acquired the ‘701s’ before some Siemens Class 707s (the trains they are to replace) had even entered traffic.

The latter had been delivered in 2016-17, with a handful entering service in the dying days of South West Trains. After threats that they would be scrapped, the ‘707s’ will move to Southeastern. The other fleets being replaced currently have no future home.