‘319s’ move on as Thameslink becomes domain of ‘700s’
The final Class 319 electric multiple units were due to finish with Govia Thameslink Railway on August 27 (after this issue of RAIL went to press), to be followed a week later by the final ‘377s’ as the Thameslink route becomes a Class 700-only railway.
More of the Siemens Class 700s have now been made available for GTR service, with 60 of the 72 in the UK commissioned. From late July through to mid-August, nine eight-car ‘700/0s’ were commissioned for passenger use (700004/011/012/032/033/035/ 037/040/042), with a further three (700001/034/041) to follow.
Meanwhile, ten 12-car Class 700/1s delivered in recent months are being commissioned (700116123/125/128). These were joined on August 16 by 700132, which was delivered to Siemens’ Hornsey depot, becoming the 72nd of 115 Class 700s transported to the UK.
Overall, there are currently 46 eight-car and 26 12-car Class 700s in the UK, which equates to 680 vehicles from an order of 1,140. They were ordered by the Department for Transport in 2012, and are being built by Siemens in Krefeld (Germany). Of those 680 vehicles, 548 are available for traffic (the equivalent of 137 fourcar EMUs).
GTR plans to introduce Class 700s on its Great Northern routes to Cambridge and Peterborough from the autumn, with route and driver training under way.
Of the EMUs removed from the Thameslink route, 32 Class 319s have been leased to Northern (with eight being converted to Class 769s), while seven have moved to London Midland. The rest are off-lease, but owner Porterbrook is actively looking for new homes for them.
The Class 377/2s used by Thameslink have moved back to Southern and are now used on Metro and West London Line trains, while eight ‘377/5s’ have been sub-leased to Southeastern. The remaining 15 ‘377/5s will move into Southern’s Class 377 fleet.
Twenty-nine Class 387/1s introduced in 2014-15 have been cascaded to GTR’s Great Northern route, allowing the cascade of Class 317s to Greater Anglia and Class 321s to both GA and ScotRail.