British Rail Class 707

The British Rail Class 707 Desiro City is an electric multiple unit. Siemens Mobility built 30 five-carriage sets. Initially leased by South West Trains, its franchise successor South Western Railway began phasing them out of their network. Since September 2021,[6] 18 have entered service with Southeastern. The remaining 12 will be transferred to Southeastern in August 2022.

British Rail Class 707 Desiro City
Southeastern Class 707 unit 707012 at Cannon Street in September 2021
Interior of a South Western Railway Class 707 unit in 2018
In service17 August 2017 – present
ManufacturerSiemens Mobility
Built atKrefeld, Germany
Family nameDesiro City
Replaced
Constructed2015–2018[2]
Entered service2017
Refurbished2021
Number built30
SuccessorClass 701 (South Western Railway)
Formation
  • 5 cars per unit:[3]
  • DMOS-TOS-TOS(L)W-(P)TOS-DMOS
Fleet numbers707001–707030
Capacity275 seats[2]
Operator(s)
Depot(s)
Line(s) served
  • London Waterloo and Windsor[2]
  • London Waterloo and Hounslow (via Brentford and via Richmond)[2]
  • London Waterloo and Weybridge (via Brentford)[2]
Specifications
Car body constructionAluminium
Train length101.6 m (333 ft 4 in)
Car length
  • DM cars: 20.52 m (67 ft 4 in)
  • Trailers: 20.16 m (66 ft 2 in)
Width2.80 m (9 ft 2 in)
Floor height1.10 m (3 ft 7 in)
Doors
  • Double-leaf pocket sliding
  • (2 per side per car)
Maximum speed100 mph (161 km/h)
Weight165 t (162 long tons; 182 short tons)
Power output1,200 kW (1,600 hp)
Acceleration0.85 m/s2 (1.9 mph/s)
Electric system(s)750 V DC third rail
Current collector(s)Contact shoe
UIC classificationBo′Bo′+2′2′+2′2′+2′2′+Bo′Bo′
Safety system(s)
Coupling systemDellner
Multiple workingWithin class
Track gauge1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Notes/references
Sourced from[4][5] unless otherwise noted.

Background

In September 2014, South West Trains (SWT) announced plans to procure 30 five-car trains to expand its fleet to take advantage of significant infrastructure improvements that would allow the operation of ten-car trains. The Class 707 was the second product purchased for use on the British network from the Desiro City range, following the purchase of the Class 700 for Thameslink. All are leased from rolling stock company (ROSCO) Angel Trains.[7][8]

Construction of the first vehicles began in June 2015, with the first completed in March 2016.[9] The first two were completed as dual-voltage units with pantographs for operation on 25 kV 50 Hz AC catenary. This was a temporary arrangement for testing purposes at Siemens' Wildenrath facility from May 2016.[10][11][12] They also operated in England in this configuration, being tested operating on the East Coast Main Line to Peterborough.[13]

The rest of the fleet was delivered with just 750 V DC shoegear for use on third rail electrified lines, but all will have the ability to be modified for dual-voltage use if required in future.[14] The first reached England on 9 December 2016.[15]

Entry into service was originally planned for July 2017, with all 30 planned to be delivered by the end of 2017.[16] However, the first units entered service on 17 August, just three days before the South Western franchise was taken over by South Western Railway on 20 August 2017.[17][18] The last entered service in March 2018.[19]

Due to lower leasing costs becoming available, SWR decided it would replace the Class 707s with Class 701 Aventras from 2021.[20][21][22]

In April 2020, Southeastern signed a deal to lease the entire Class 707 fleet.[23] The first four units were transferred in January 2021,[24] with fourteen more following in small batches throughout the rest of 2021. The final twelve were expected to transfer to Southeastern by early 2022,[25] but in January 2022 South Western announced that continuing delays to its Class 701 program had resulted in it extending its lease on the remaining units until August 2022.[26][27]

Operation

The Class 707 was introduced on services between London Waterloo and Windsor & Eton Riverside and London Waterloo and Weybridge via Hounslow, allowing the Class 458 units used on those services to be cascaded back to operations to Reading, which then allowed the Class 450 units to move elsewhere on the network.[28] The Class 707 units are based at the Wimbledon TMD.[7]

The first Southeastern Class 707 units entered service on 27 September 2021.[25] Southeastern branded them City Beams, and deployed them on shorter-distance services from London Cannon Street and Charing Cross stations to Gravesend, Dartford, Sevenoaks, and Hayes.[29] Passengers praised the new trains for providing air conditioning and charging points for mobile devices, but expressed dissatisfaction that they were not fitted with toilets.[30] Southeastern noted in response that it was "not practical" to install toilets in the already-built units, and that the Class 376 units already in use on the same routes were also not fitted with toilets.[31]

Fleet details
Operator No. built Year built Cars per unit Unit nos.
South Western Railway 12[27][32] 2015–2018 5 707014–707024, 707030[33]
Southeastern 18[27] 707001–707013, 707025–707029

Named units

Unit 707005 is named Remembering Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP Old Bexley and Sidcup.[34][35]

References
  1. "Southeastern to bring Class 707s to London from Autumn 2021". RailAdvent. 5 July 2021. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
  2. "Class 707 "Desiro City"". South Western Railway. Archived from the original on 7 February 2021. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
  3. "Class 707 infographic interior". Southeastern Media Centre. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
  4. "Desiro City Class 707" (PDF). Siemens. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 December 2016. Retrieved 22 December 2016.
  5. "Class 707". Angel Trains. Retrieved 19 December 2021.
  6. "Introducing the City Beam | Southeastern". www.southeasternrailway.co.uk. Retrieved 28 September 2021.
  7. "Class 707 Desiro City - Factsheet". South West Trains. Archived from the original on 16 August 2017. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  8. "Class 707s on way as well". Today's Railways UK. No. 162. June 2015. p. 67.
  9. "Class 707s on way as well". Railways Illustrated. No. 166. August 2015. p. 15.
  10. "First South West Trains Class 707s begin testing". Rail. No. 806. 3 August 2016. p. 6.
  11. "Class 707 People Movers for the Windsor Line". Modern Railways. No. 816. September 2016. p. 10.
  12. "SWT Class 707s on Test". Railways Illustrated. No. 166. October 2016. p. 7.
  13. "On-test Class 707s reach Peterborough". Rail. No. 837. 11 October 2017. p. 28.
  14. "Class 707 breaks cover". The Rail Engineer. 25 August 2016. Archived from the original on 2 May 2017. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  15. "First SWT 707 reaches UK". Modern Railways. No. 821. February 2017. p. 12.
  16. "First South West Trains Class 707 EMU under construction". Railway Gazette International. DVV Media Group. 29 October 2015. Archived from the original on 4 July 2020. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  17. "Class 707s enter service on Windsor routes". Global Rail News. 18 August 2017. Archived from the original on 2 September 2017. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  18. "SWT Class 707s enter traffic - at end of franchise". The Railway Magazine. No. 1398. September 2017. p. 82.
  19. "Final Class 707s put into service by SWR". Rail. No. 849. 28 March 2018. p. 32.
  20. Armitage, Jim (14 February 2018). "Business focus: Why your box-fresh train is being replaced by a brand new model". Evening Standard. Archived from the original on 28 December 2020. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  21. Barrow, Keith (20 June 2017). "FirstGroup and MTR order 750 EMU cars for South Western franchise". International Railway Journal. Simmons-Boardman Publishing. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  22. "Risky business: train fleets in a state of flux". Rail. 23 August 2017. Archived from the original on 11 November 2020. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  23. Clinnick, Richard (20 April 2020). "Southeastern signs deal to lease unwanted Class 707s". Rail. Archived from the original on 19 October 2020. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  24. "Southeastern welcomes the first of SWR's Class 707s". Rail. No. 923. 27 January 2021. p. 24/25.
  25. "Brighter, fresher, smarter new City Beam trains enter service in South East London and North Kent | Southeastern". Southeastern. 27 September 2021. Archived from the original on 27 September 2021. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  26. "SWR retains 12 Class 707 trains in boost to fleet availability". South Western Railway. 11 January 2022. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  27. Holden, Michael (11 January 2022). "South Western Railway extends Class 707 lease to boost capacity". RailAdvent. Archived from the original on 11 January 2022. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  28. Robert Pritchard. "Rolling Stock Update". Today's Railways UK. No. 159. Platform 5. pp. 40–43.
  29. "Introducing our new City Beam trains". Southeastern. Archived from the original on 2 October 2021. Retrieved 11 October 2021.
  30. "The new trains with WiFi, air conditioning and power points...but no toilets". ITV News. 1 October 2021. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  31. McGroarty, Adam (29 September 2021). "Southeastern slammed as flash new trains revealed to have no toilets". KentLive. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  32. "SWR retains 12 707s to offset Arterio delays". Rail. No. 949. 26 January 2022. p. 10.
  33. "SWR hands first Class 455s back to Porterbrook". Rail Express. No. February 2022. p. 11.
  34. "Naming Update". Railways Illustrated. No. April 2022. p. 21.
  35. "Stock Update". The Railway Magazine. No. 241. March 2022. p. 83.

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