First refurbished Class 444 enters SWR service

THE first fully refurbished and reconfigured South Western Railway Class 444 has entered traffic after almost a year out of service.

Five-car 444040 is the first of the operator’s 45 Class 444 Desiros to be fully upgraded internally, as part of a £50 million project to improve the ‘444’ and ‘450’ fleets.

Siemens Mobility Ltd is carrying out the work at Arlington Fleet Services’ Eastleigh Works. The German company built the ‘444s’ in 2003-04.

There are now 32 more seats in Standard Class on the ‘444s’, while new features include enhanced WiFi, real-time information systems, and installation of ‘infotainment’ systems. First Class has also been enhanced, with new leather seats and new tables incorporating inductive charging tables.

SWR Engineering Director Neil Drury said: “When the refurbishment programme is complete, all 172 of our Desiro class trains will have new, high-quality interiors, and will be providing almost 5,000 much-needed additional seats in Standard Class.”

The refurbishment project is already under way on the ‘450s’, with an extra 22 Standard Class seats per four-car Class 450/0 and 41 additional Standard Class seats per four-car Class 450/5 (the latter are the high-density sets used for metro routes).

Meanwhile, SWR returned Class 442s to London Waterloo on November 15, with a test run from Fratton. The operator took 442404/414 to the capital as part of

a driver training programme, ahead of their introduction as part of the December timetable.

SWR has 18 of the 24 five-car electric multiple units (EMUs) to be used on the Portsmouth route. They will be refurbished and retractioned, although initially not all those returning to traffic will have the new Vossloh Kiepe traction packages. The refurbishment and re-engineering work is also being carried out at Eastleigh Works.

Over the next few years, SWR will replace its Class 455, ‘456’, ‘458’ and ‘707’ EMU fleets with new Class 701s on order from Bombardier. Its Class 158 and ‘159’ fleets will remain, alongside the ‘444’ and ‘450’ EMUs and the reinstated Class 442s.

Plans are ongoing regarding the replacement of the 80-year-old Class 483s on the Isle of Wight (operated by SWR) with Class 230 D-Trains ( RAIL 866).

JULIAN GAJEWSKI The first Class 442s to London Waterloo in more than two years arrived on November 15, when South Western Railway 442414 and 442404 worked the 1811 Fratton Carriage Service Depot-London Waterloo and 2202 London return training runs. SWR is introducing 18 of the trains back onto the South Western Main Line from December. Apart from a Rail Operations Group charter on August 29 2016, the last Class 442s to serve Waterloo ran on February 3 2007, before they were transferred to Gatwick Express. Ready to head south, SWR 442404 waits to leave Waterloo.

MARK PIKE. Refurbished 444040 arrives at Basingstoke on November 13, with the 1320 Weymouth-London Waterloo. This is the first of South Western Railway’s 45 Class 444s to be fully refurbished.