From today (Monday 27th September), City Beam trains, new to Southeastern, will enter service on routes between London, Dartford, Hayes and Sevenoaks.
The 30 City Beam trains (officially Class 707) will operate as 10 car units up to a maximum of 534 seats. New features include clear information screens showing the space available in each carriage, larger windows, air-conditioning, WiFi and handy plug sockets, bringing an improved passenger experience to Southeastern passengers.
The first City Beam trains enter passenger services today, with the remaining trains being rolled out by Spring 2022.
Rail Minister Chris Heaton-Harris said: “The rollout of City Beam trains will mean more modern, accessible and comfortable journeys for passengers across south-east London and north Kent.
“As we build back better from COVID-19 we are seeing upgrades across the rail network that is making rail travel even smoother, cleaner and greener.”
David Statham, Managing Director for Southeastern, said: “We are pleased to introduce these trains on our busiest London area routes after many months of hard work from Southeastern and Network Rail colleagues, as well as our suppliers and industry partners, Angel Trains and Siemens Mobility. Getting the trains safety approved, tracks and stations checked, and drivers and colleagues trained, has been a real team effort.
“Our focus is always on improving the service for our passengers, and we are confident that these new trains will make a huge difference over the coming months, as we progressively introduce more of the trains into service.”
Sambit Banerjee, Managing Director Rolling Stock & Customer Services for Siemens Mobility Limited, added: “There’s been a real collaborative effort to ready the City Beam to service the South East. The popular Class 707 fleet is smart, digitally-connected and energy-efficient and we look forward to continuing our partnership with Southeastern to provide a great experience for passengers.”
Malcolm Brown, CEO of Angel Trains, said: “It has been a pleasure to work with Southeastern Railway and our industry partners on this exciting project. Following a period of deep uncertainty, we are excited for passengers to experience these modern trains that are more sustainable, reliable and fit for the future.”
Network Rail Kent route director Fiona Taylor said: “It’s great news that Southeastern’s passengers are going to be travelling on these new state-of-the-art trains, which will offer them greater capacity, convenience and comfort than ever before. At Network Rail we’ve invested over £660m in improving the signalling, stations and track in Kent this past two years, adding to the comfort and reliability of those journeys and we look forward to seeing the City Beam out on the network.”
Photo credit: Southeastern
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