Latest Siemens ‘700’ arrives in UK

Eight-car 700034 became the 59th Class 700 (of 115) to be delivered to the UK when it arrived at Hornsey on May 3. It is the 44th ‘700/0’ to arrive in this country.

Manufacturer Siemens is nearing the end of a delivery programme of 40 eight-car Class 700/0s, with 700001/035 still to be delivered from the current batch. (Some have already been delivered).

RAIL understands that when that is completed, 30 12-car Class 700/1s will be sent to the UK (700116-700145), 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 weekly, with a RAIL source explaining that they must all be delivered by May 2018. Sixty eight-car and 55 12-car trains are on order, with 532 vehicles now in the UK.

The dual-voltage EMUs were ordered by the Department for Transport in 2012, with the first trains arriving in 2015. They are being built by Siemens in Krefeld (Germany), and tested at Wildenrath before being dispatched to the UK for commissioning. They are leased by Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR).

The EMUs have started being delivered direct to Hornsey instead of Three Bridges, because the latter is full with EMUs being commissioned, as well as the fleet in public traffic.

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 offlease, the ‘377/2s’ have returned to Southern, eight ‘377/5s’ have moved to Southeastern, and the ‘387s’ are now used on GTR’s Great Northern operations.

Class 700s entered traffic in June 2016, and are now widely used across the existing TL network. They will also be introduced on routes on the Great Northern, running to Cambridge and Peterborough.