A £55m project has been announced by Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) and Porterbrook, which will see 270 trains from the fleet undergo a modernisation programme.
The five-year programme will include trains from the Southern, Gatwick Express and Great Northern ‘Electrostar' fleets
Trains will benefit from USB power/power sockets and real-time passenger information screens, along with high-tech onboard operation systems and energy-saving LED lighting.
Most of the trains are between 15 and 20 years old, although the Gatwick Express Class 387s are only five years old. The project will see all the trains upgraded to the same level of passenger facilities and on-board systems for diagnosing faults.
Front-facing CCTV cameras will be installed to help investigate any incidents which may have delayed services. Technology will also be installed to see how busy the trains are which will help with social distancing.
214 of the Class 377 trains which run on the Southern Network between London, Surrey, Sussex and the south coast will be upgraded along with the Class 387s on the Great Northern and Gatwick Express routes
GTR's Engineering Director Steve Lammin said: “Taking on board our passengers' feedback, this multi-faceted upgrade by our own team at Selhurst Depot will provide a better on-board experience and more reliability.
“I'm really pleased that GTR is working with Porterbrook and Bombardier to deliver this improvement programme that will continue to ‘build back' a better railway for our customers.”
Mary Grant, Porterbrook CEO, said: “We are committed to helping GTR meet the needs of its travelling customers. This is why Porterbrook are investing £55 million in the Electrostar fleet to significantly enhance passenger facilities and improve reliability using digital analytics. These are excellent and popular trains and I am delighted that their upgrade will be undertaken by GTR's own workforce at Selhurst Depot.”
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Travelled on a 377/6 yesterday, noted there are no at-seat USB/3-pin sockets, so I think these units will need upgrading. The 377/7s initially used on East Croydon-Milton Keynes service, would also need to meet passenger expectations, although immediately pre-covid the 377/2 units seemed to dominate.
The Class 377/1/2/3/4 Electrostars do need modernisation. The Class 377/5 have gone to Southeastern. And the Class 377/6/7 are newer and probably won’t need to be modernised.
GTR Southern or Gatwick Express could inherit the Class 387/3 from c2c as it’s to be replaced by the Class 720/6 next year. With the Class 387/3 to work side by side with the Class 377, Class 387/2, Class 455 and Class 313. Or cascaded to Great Northern to work alongside with the Class 387/1 and Class 365.
With Govia Thameslink Railway to lose the TSGN (Thameslink, Southern & Great Northern) franchise next year since they had 4-5 years in operation when Thameslink, Great Northern and Southern franchises merged together. And previously Thameslink & Great Northern were called First Capital Connect.
Or perhaps the Class 387/3 to be cascaded to GWR or Heathrow Express to add more extra capacity.
Sorry…the 171s are of course DMU!
Welcome news, the 377 fleet are starting to look a little care-worn, and the 387 units on the GN services are a bit Spartan anyway. Concern currently on Southern’s 171 emu fleet (Ukfield and Hastings services); several recent failures have highlighted the need for some robust refurb here. Or indeed, 369 replacements?