Siemens has completed the bodyshell for the first Class 707 Desiro City train it’s building for South West Trains (SWT).
The five-car train, one of 30 Siemens is supplying to SWT, is being assembled at the manufacturer’s Krefeld factory in Germany.
The £210 million fleet will bolster services between London Waterloo and Windsor when they enter passenger service from June 2017.
Siemens hopes to complete the first unit by the end of February next year. It will then undergo testing before transported to SWT’s Wimbledon depot.
Steve Scrimshaw, managing director, Rail Systems at Siemens, said: “The start of manufacture for a new fleet of trains is always an exciting milestone. It gives a sense of real progress to a project that up until now has lived on paper, technical drawings and computer.
“We are now turning the designs into reality and drawing closer to the next key milestone, the first complete train running around our test track before the ultimate goal, delivering new, spacious and comfortable trains that really improve the passenger experience.”
Christian Roth, engineering director for South West Trains, added: “The introduction of the brand new Class 707 Desiro City trains is an absolutely crucial part of our plans to provide the biggest increase in capacity on this network for decades.
“When delivered, these new trains will provide a major increase in spaces for passengers as well as much improved facilities, including better accessibility and free Wi-Fi.”
Hopefully 30 Class 707’s are to be built in 2017 with the Class 700’s are being built for Thameslink and after that the Class 707’s are to be built for South West Trains. Siemens could also build brand new Desiro City trains for other train operators such as Northern Rail, Great Western Railway, Abellio Greater Anglia, Southern (Coastway) and Arriva Trains Wales to replace the older ageing trains.
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