Latest news with #Arterios
The Irish Sun
29-07-2025
- The Irish Sun
New £1billion ‘hoover' trains rolled out across major city – they will prevent overcrowding & have powerful air con
COMMUTING in the summer heat can be an almost unbearable experience for Brits. While our temperatures may not reach the scorching highs of other countries, it can feel just as bad on a crowded train car with no air conditioning. 2 A new fleet of trains will serve commuters at one of the country's busiest stations (stock image) Credit: Alamy Certain commutes in London can feel particularly unpleasant during the summer months. Most notably, any route which takes you through This bustling south London hub has been plagued with overcrowding for years. And now steps are being taken to tackle this issue, with dozens of new trains set to roll out soon. Read More On Trains This new fleet, which has been dubbed "platform hoovers", will serve routes through Waterloo and across London. The 10-carriage trains, which total to £1 billion, will be able to carry about 50% more passengers than the current ones in service. This fleet was first promised in 2019 by South Western Railway (SWR), but currently only 14 of the proposed 90 Arterio trains are in service. These ambitious new locomotives will be air-conditioned and fully walk-through. Most read in News Travel They will also be equipped with wi-fi, charging points at every seat, real-time information, and accessible toilets. SWR hasn't confirmed when the full fleet will come into service, however it has promised that "more" trains would be rolled out "over the coming weeks". 'Do not travel' warning as London's Waterloo hit by 'major signalling failure' with trains unable to use 14 platforms This comes after Labour MP Fleur Anderson raised concerns about platforms at Putney and Wandsworth Town stations becoming overcrowded. It was reported that the station was so busy that people were unable to board trains, which the MP referred to as "extreme overcrowding". "These new trains, which are great, have been announced several times. They're coming," Anderson previously told the "The rollout has been really, really slow... But I've met with the chief executive and he is now going to consistently roll out more every week. "It is really, really late but it is finally good to have them coming." New fleet facts There has been a £1 billion investment in a fleet of up to 90 new Arterio trains. There are currently 14 of the new trains in service, running on over 160 weekday services. They were originally slated to enter service in 2019, but first passenger operations didn't begin until January 2024. The fleet can hold up to 50% more passengers than the current trains. They will feature air‑conditioning, walk‑through carriages, Wi‑Fi, charging points at every seat, real‑time passenger information, and accessible toilets. Meanwhile, a spokesperson for SWR shared a statement on the new fleet. "We've introduced eight more trains in the past two months and, as of today, we are running 14 Arterios on more than 160 services every weekday, on routes to Dorking, Guildford, Hampton Court, Kingston, Reading, Shepperton, Twickenham, and Windsor & Eton Riverside. "We're looking forward to many more customers enjoying the increased capacity and comfort the Arterios bring to journeys as we introduce more trains into service over the coming weeks." More on trains Meanwhile, a new £3 billion fleet of more than 90 air-conditioned underground trains has been And a small English town is set to open a Britain's Plus, a n And an English 2 Waterloo Station, named the busiest station in London, will see the fleet slowly introduced over the coming months Credit: AP
Scottish Sun
29-07-2025
- Scottish Sun
New £1billion ‘hoover' trains rolled out across major city – they will prevent overcrowding & have powerful air con
COMMUTING in the summer heat can be an almost unbearable experience for Brits. While our temperatures may not reach the scorching highs of other countries, it can feel just as bad on a crowded train car with no air conditioning. 2 A new fleet of trains will serve commuters at one of the country's busiest stations (stock image) Credit: Alamy Certain commutes in London can feel particularly unpleasant during the summer months. Most notably, any route which takes you through Waterloo Station, the capital's busiest train station. This bustling south London hub has been plagued with overcrowding for years. And now steps are being taken to tackle this issue, with dozens of new trains set to roll out soon. This new fleet, which has been dubbed "platform hoovers", will serve routes through Waterloo and across London. The 10-carriage trains, which total to £1 billion, will be able to carry about 50% more passengers than the current ones in service. This fleet was first promised in 2019 by South Western Railway (SWR), but currently only 14 of the proposed 90 Arterio trains are in service. These ambitious new locomotives will be air-conditioned and fully walk-through. They will also be equipped with wi-fi, charging points at every seat, real-time information, and accessible toilets. SWR hasn't confirmed when the full fleet will come into service, however it has promised that "more" trains would be rolled out "over the coming weeks". 'Do not travel' warning as London's Waterloo hit by 'major signalling failure' with trains unable to use 14 platforms This comes after Labour MP Fleur Anderson raised concerns about platforms at Putney and Wandsworth Town stations becoming overcrowded. It was reported that the station was so busy that people were unable to board trains, which the MP referred to as "extreme overcrowding". "These new trains, which are great, have been announced several times. They're coming," Anderson previously told the Standard. "The rollout has been really, really slow... But I've met with the chief executive and he is now going to consistently roll out more every week. "It is really, really late but it is finally good to have them coming." New fleet facts There has been a £1 billion investment in a fleet of up to 90 new Arterio trains. There are currently 14 of the new trains in service, running on over 160 weekday services. They were originally slated to enter service in 2019, but first passenger operations didn't begin until January 2024. The fleet can hold up to 50% more passengers than the current trains. They will feature air‑conditioning, walk‑through carriages, Wi‑Fi, charging points at every seat, real‑time passenger information, and accessible toilets. Meanwhile, a spokesperson for SWR shared a statement on the new fleet. "We've introduced eight more trains in the past two months and, as of today, we are running 14 Arterios on more than 160 services every weekday, on routes to Dorking, Guildford, Hampton Court, Kingston, Reading, Shepperton, Twickenham, and Windsor & Eton Riverside. "We're looking forward to many more customers enjoying the increased capacity and comfort the Arterios bring to journeys as we introduce more trains into service over the coming weeks." More on trains Meanwhile, a new £3 billion fleet of more than 90 air-conditioned underground trains has been delayed for another year. And a small English town is set to open a new £42 million train station that will reopen key link shut for over 60 years. Britain's busiest railway will be shutting down for three weeks next month for a £20 million demolition. Plus, a new £15 million train station linking tiny town to three major destinations has been unveiled in a new satellite photo. And an English train station is set to shut for two years ahead of a major £11.5 million revamp.
The Sun
29-07-2025
- Politics
- The Sun
New £1billion ‘hoover' trains rolled out across major city – they will prevent overcrowding & have powerful air con
COMMUTING in the summer heat can be an almost unbearable experience for Brits. While our temperatures may not reach the scorching highs of other countries, it can feel just as bad on a crowded train car with no air conditioning. 2 Certain commutes in London can feel particularly unpleasant during the summer months. Most notably, any route which takes you through Waterloo Station, the capital's busiest train station. This bustling south London hub has been plagued with overcrowding for years. And now steps are being taken to tackle this issue, with dozens of new trains set to roll out soon. This new fleet, which has been dubbed "platform hoovers", will serve routes through Waterloo and across London. The 10-carriage trains, which total to £1 billion, will be able to carry about 50% more passengers than the current ones in service. This fleet was first promised in 2019 by South Western Railway (SWR), but currently only 14 of the proposed 90 Arterio trains are in service. These ambitious new locomotives will be air-conditioned and fully walk-through. They will also be equipped with wi-fi, charging points at every seat, real-time information, and accessible toilets. SWR hasn't confirmed when the full fleet will come into service, however it has promised that "more" trains would be rolled out "over the coming weeks". 'Do not travel' warning as London's Waterloo hit by 'major signalling failure' with trains unable to use 14 platforms This comes after Labour MP Fleur Anderson raised concerns about platforms at Putney and Wandsworth Town stations becoming overcrowded. It was reported that the station was so busy that people were unable to board trains, which the MP referred to as "extreme overcrowding". "These new trains, which are great, have been announced several times. They're coming," Anderson previously told the Standard. "The rollout has been really, really slow... But I've met with the chief executive and he is now going to consistently roll out more every week. "It is really, really late but it is finally good to have them coming." New fleet facts There has been a £1 billion investment in a fleet of up to 90 new Arterio trains. There are currently 14 of the new trains in service, running on over 160 weekday services. They were originally slated to enter service in 2019, but first passenger operations didn't begin until January 2024. The fleet can hold up to 50% more passengers than the current trains. They will feature air‑conditioning, walk‑through carriages, Wi‑Fi, charging points at every seat, real‑time passenger information, and accessible toilets. Meanwhile, a spokesperson for SWR shared a statement on the new fleet. "We've introduced eight more trains in the past two months and, as of today, we are running 14 Arterios on more than 160 services every weekday, on routes to Dorking, Guildford, Hampton Court, Kingston, Reading, Shepperton, Twickenham, and Windsor & Eton Riverside. "We're looking forward to many more customers enjoying the increased capacity and comfort the Arterios bring to journeys as we introduce more trains into service over the coming weeks." More on trains Meanwhile, a new £3 billion fleet of more than 90 air-conditioned underground trains has been delayed for another year. And a small English town is set to open a new £42 million train station that will reopen key link shut for over 60 years. Britain's busiest railway will be shutting down for three weeks next month for a £20 million demolition. Plus, a n ew £15 million train station linking tiny town to three major destinations has been unveiled in a new satellite photo. And an English train station is set to shut for two years ahead of a major £11.5 million revamp. 2
Time Out
22-07-2025
- Business
- Time Out
London Waterloo has unveiled a £1 billion fleet of ‘platform hoover' trains to tackle extreme overcrowding
If you commute via Waterloo Station, you'll know it's not usually a pleasant experience. As one of the capital's busiest train stations, the south London hub has been plagued with overcrowding for years. To curb this issue, dozens of new trains will soon be rolled out along routes that serve Waterloo, and the bosses are calling them 'platform hoovers'. Not the most appealing metaphor, we'd say. If you're imagining thousands of travellers being sucked up by a giant Henry, that's sort of the idea. The vacuum analogy has come from the fact that the £1 billion fleet will be able to carry about 50 percent more passengers than the current trains in service. This has been a long time coming, and harried commuters are still patiently waiting for the new fleet to be rolled out – it was first promised in 2019 by South Western Railway (SWR), but currently only 14 of the proposed 90 Arterio trains are in service. When they do arrive, the 10-carriage locomotives will be air-conditioned and fully walk-through. They will also have wi-fi, charging points at every seat, real-time information and accessible toilets. SWR hasn't confirmed when the full fleet will come into service, but promised that 'more' trains would be rolled out 'over the coming weeks'. This announcement came after Labour MP Fleur Anderson raised concerns about platforms at Putney and Wandsworth Town stations becoming so busy that people are unable to board trains, which she called 'extreme overcrowding'. 'These new trains, which are great, have been announced several times. They're coming,' Anderson told the Standard. She added: 'The rollout has been really, really slow... But I've met with the chief executive and he is now going to consistently roll out more every week. It is really, really late but it is finally good to have them coming.' A spokesperson for SWR said: 'We've introduced eight more trains in the past two months and, as of today, we are running 14 Arterios on more than 160 services every weekday, on routes to Dorking, Guildford, Hampton Court, Kingston, Reading, Shepperton, Twickenham and Windsor & Eton Riverside. 'We're looking forward to many more customers enjoying the increased capacity and comfort the Arterios bring to journeys as we introduce more trains into service over the coming weeks.'
Telegraph
28-04-2025
- Automotive
- Telegraph
The £1bn train fleet still stuck in the sidings after almost a decade
The UK railway network is famous for its extraordinary excuses for delays, from 'leaves on the line' to 'the wrong type of snow'. But one fleet of trains has experienced the kind of hold-up that even the most cynical commuters would baulk at. South Western Railway's Arterio fleet cost £1billion and was supposed to begin ferrying passengers in 2019. Yet six years' later, only a handful of the trains are in service (the first of which began operating in January, 2024), and the rest don't appear to be coming down the track any time soon. So what's gone wrong? March 2017 Chris Grayling, the then-transport secretary, announced that FirstGroup and MTR had won a seven-year deal to take over the South Western Railway (SWR) franchise from Stagecoach. 'We are delivering the biggest rail modernisation programme for over a century and this franchise will deliver real changes for passengers who can look forward to modern trains, faster journeys and a more reliable service,' he said at the time. June 2017 SWR proudly announced the introduction of Class 701 trains known as Arterios, a 'brand new fleet of 90 trains that will transform every journey on our suburban network'. Built by Alstom in Derby, the 750-carriage fleet promised to offer 50 per cent more capacity than the 40-year-old ex-British Rail carriages that were then being used on commuter lines out of London Waterloo. The Arterio could accelerate and brake more quickly to reduce journey times between destinations, while larger, driver-operated doors would allow more customers to board and alight, thereby reducing dwell time at stations. In short, the fleet would result in 'quicker journey times and better reliability and punctuality for our customers' as they operated to and from Waterloo on routes passing through stations such as Windsor, Reading and Farnham. The first trains were due to come into service in mid-2019, with the entire fleet envisaged to be operational by December 2020. Unfortunately, this didn't materialise. June 2020 Already a year late by this point, the first Class 701 Arterio trains emerged from the Derby Litchurch Lane Works in June 2020. But according to sources at SWR, the initial Arterios were 'not fit for purpose', with some having to be sent back to be reworked. Delivery was then repeatedly delayed by production-line disruption during the pandemic and extensive faults, largely to do with software. Instead of ferrying commuters as planned, many of the trains spent years sitting in sidings including at Long Marston, Eastleigh and Marchwood. And as drivers began their two-week conversion training to the Arterio, yet more problems were identified. The Arterio train has one of the largest windscreens of any modern UK train, and union reps claimed the wipers were so big that they blocked drivers' views of the trackside signals used to inform drivers when to stop and go. Problems with the couplers used to connect the trains together, electrical traction equipment and even cab doors that 'proved difficult to open' also delayed the Arterios' entry into use. August 2020 SWR held a launch event with its new Arterio train at the Wimbledon depot. The franchise blamed delays on Covid, but promised that the whole fleet would be in service within a year. April 2021 SWR finally reached a compromise with The Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union, which held 74 days of strikes over the Arterio between 2017 and 2020. RMT members had fought the plans for drivers to operate the doors on the new Arterio trains, instead of guards. Eventually the union accepted the change, after SWR guaranteed a guard would still be put on every passenger train for customer service duties. Disruption caused by this industrial action typically resulted in 800 trains being cancelled on every strike day, affecting tens of thousands of passengers each time. January 2024 SWR initiated a 'soft launch' of the Arterio, which translated to just a single train running along its Windsor route. It came as an unnamed SWR source quoted by industry press at the time said only a 'handful' of drivers had been taught to operate the new trains, when 769 required instruction. October 2024 At this point, if you happened to get on an Arterio train to or from Waterloo you were very lucky indeed. SWR were still only operating two of them on the Windsor and Shepperton routes, despite promising to have the entire fleet operational more than four years before. A spokesman for the franchise said at the time: 'As is well documented, introducing the Arterios has been a major and complex project, introducing both a new fleet and method of operation, while facing extensive production and software issues and all against a backdrop of Covid and industry recovery.' 'Our first train entered customer service earlier this year and, following good progress on training colleagues and the trains performing well, we are now expanding the phased rollout of the 90-strong fleet, as evidenced by the new service to Shepperton this week. 'This is an important milestone on the Arterio programme and another step toward the full rollout of the fleet of 90 Arterio trains that are set to transform capacity and comfort on SWR's suburban network.' November 2024 Things started to look a little more promising for the long-awaited Arterio, with another launch event at Waterloo Station, this time to great fanfare. SWR described the occasion as 'a major milestone' and 'a monumental achievement' that would 'completely transform every single journey' on the suburban network. Stuart Broad attended, and the former England cricketer named unit No 701031 'Nighthawk', in a nod to his sporting moniker. SWR continued the sporting theme by naming other Arterio trains The Jockey, The Red Rose, The Ace and The Thames Racer. Yet most of the fleet weren't going anywhere fast. There were still only five Arterios in service every day. Stuart Meek, interim managing director for SWR, said at the time: 'Customers love the Arterios we already have in service and thousands more of them will soon benefit from the next wave being rolled out. Over the next six months, Arterios will call at 74 stations, operating 80 peak services every weekday, with customers along new routes including Dorking, Epsom, Guildford, Hampton Court and Reading able to enjoy extra capacity and comfort.' April 2025 Meek's vision has not materialised. Instead, the Arterios' rollout was derailed yet again by another trade union row about who should close the train doors. Reports citing industry sources said the Aslef union - which represents Britain's train drivers - had insisted guards were needed to close the doors because drivers cannot fully see the platform at some stations, risking passengers getting trapped while attempting to enter and exit carriages. SWR has since confirmed that drivers will now open the doors at stations, while guards are responsible for closing them again. But eight years after SWR announced its plans for new trains, few have made their way onto the tracks. In fact, sources quoted by industry press have suggested that only 17 of the 90 trains are currently able to carry passengers and that it's possible some of them will have to return to Alstom for rectification work due to the length of time they've spent out of traffic. Many have reportedly remained stored at locations including MoD Bicester, MoD Marchwood and Long Marston. The latest setback means the fleet will not be fully deployed until as late as 2027. 'This has been a textbook case of how not to secure rolling stock,' says Jeremy Varns, spokesperson for the campaign group SWR Watch. 'SWR ordered these trains with no proper plan on how to get them into service. You'd think they would have consulted the union on the specification of the trains, but instead it's been a colossal waste of taxpayers' and passengers' money.' An SWR spokesperson said: 'We are sorry that the Arterio rollout is taking longer than previously expected.' More of the trains will enter service in the coming months, owing to a revised training programme for drivers and guards, they added. 'While the further delay has been frustrating, we now have a way forward that will see increasing numbers of customers enjoying increased capacity and comfort of the Arterios through the rest of 2025 and beyond.' SWR itself is due to transfer to public ownership on May 25, in the first part of Labour's flagship renationalisation of Britain's railways, meaning the franchise that ordered the trains will never see them rolled out. In the meantime, it's misery as usual for most commuters travelling on trains that are over 40 years old, with no toilets and no air-con. As Varns points out: 'If we're expected to use 40-year-old trains, perhaps ticket prices should revert back to those from the 1980s?'
