Southeastern to see trains moving from Southern Railway
Southeastern are set to see 13 trains move from Southern as part of a wider cascade of rolling stock.
The news isn’t a surprise and was covered on this site all the way back in March, but the company have only just revealed the exact number of trains.
What gets the ball rolling is Great Northern receiving 30 Class 379 stock which sat off-lease in sidings for years despite being pretty new stock.
With Great Northern – who are part of the same company as Thameslink and Southern – seeing that stock arrive, they in turn would cascade trains to Southern who saw a substantial number trains scrapped in recent years.
That led to passenger overcrowding in places which saw Transport for London consider running trains into London Bridge. That now won’t happen with Southern set to increase services permitted by a net increase in stock helped by receiving Great Northern trains.
With Southern receiving extra stock, they in turn will send 13 Class 377 trains to Southeastern.
Networkers
Cascaded stock to Southeastern will displace Networkers on mid-distance routes to Maidstone East and Tunbridge Wells.
Trains used on those routes are often a Networker sub-class refurbished many years ago to include first class and contains the orange interior colour scheme seen below.
Replacement Class 377 trains are a step up with air conditioning and plug sockets.
Class 465/9s are however far better maintained internally than the rest of the somewhat dreary – and often filthy – Class 465 Networkers.
Unloved
Bubbling floors, broken fittings and years of embedded filth are the norm for much of the stock. Compare heating grills and general fittings of each sub-class. The difference is stark. The sub classes 465/0, 465/1 and 465/2 plus sister Class 466s on Metro routes are rancid.
On the Class 465/9s fittings are often kept clean and maintained. One train type seems to be cared about.
The rest of the Networkers? Rather less so.
Grim and years of filth are everywhere.
Unfortunately for passengers its likely more of those trains in the far nice 465/9 sub-class will head to storage and eventual scrap while the grotty trains remain in service for years to come.
That’s due to what’s below the floor and traction packages as well as ownership. Different leasing companies took on different subclasses after British Rail was privatised.
Replacements
It’s now more than two years since a tender was issued for replacement stock and trains are now more than 32 years old.
That in itself isn’t an issue except they’ve barely seen any substantial interior improvements for the entire duration of their service alongside a poor level of basic cleaning and upkeep. Most trains have a 40 year lifespan with substantial improvement works after 20.
We may hear more about any replacement program in spring/summer 2025 but given how long trains take to construct, test and introduce into service it will take some years until they’re running. For delayed new trains see just about all others in recent years with South Western Railway’s five years late.
Metro passengers were supposed to see a mild refresh of Class 376 trains but a 2023 deadline wasn’t met, a 2024 target hasn’t been met and possibly 2025 may see work undertaken.
The Class 707s cascaded from South Western Railway are welcome but remain a fraction of the overall Metro fleet.
When all’s said and done Metro trains and services remain the runt of the litter for Southeastern though those on the mainline will benefit from noticeable improvements soon.
