in March 2020
Background In March 2017,
South Western Railway (SWR) was awarded the
South Western franchise with a commitment to introduce 750 new carriages. In June 2017, SWR awarded a contract to
Bombardier Transportation for 90
Aventra DC EMUs, with 60 ten-car and 30 five-car trains to be introduced from mid 2019 at a cost of £895million. There was an option to purchase a further five ten-car units if required by October 2020. The units are maintained at
Wimbledon depot and the new
Feltham depot. It was planned that the new trains would replace all of SWR's suburban fleets, which at the time of the order comprised Classes , , , and . At the time that the trains were ordered, buying a fleet of new trains was cheaper than the leasing rates for existing trains. Original plans called for the rollout of the full Class 701 fleet to take two years after the first units entered service. The new trains would increase peak capacity on suburban routes into by 46%, as well as including improvements over existing suburban trains such as air-conditioning, an
open gangway design and toilets. but this was later changed to place ten-car units in Class 701 subclass /0 and five-car units in subclass /5. the first completed ten-car unit (number 701002) was delivered to
Eastleigh Works on 10 June 2020 so that the testing and certification processes could commence. At this point entry into service was already more than five months late. By June 2021, only 19 units had been delivered, none of which had been formally accepted by SWR. The Class 456 fleet was withdrawn without replacement in January 2022 following cuts to service levels. In January 2022, Railway industry journalist
Roger Ford observed that the programme met the "ultimate standard for lateness", given that none of the finished units had yet been accepted by SWR and at least 280 vehicles had not yet even been built—while the original contract specified that the entire fleet was to be in service by the end of 2021. He noted that the delay was, in part, due to "endemic software issues" that had affected the introduction of all Aventra fleets to date. SWR's Business Plan for 2022–2023, published in July 2022, acknowledged that "continuing problems ... have prevented the start of driver training and delayed the programme of train acceptance", and included a commitment to "introduce the new Arterio fleet as soon as possible". This will involve SWR agreeing on new roll-out milestones for the project with the Department for Transport. A further update in December 2022 stated that 24 finished units had been accepted, as well as repeating the commitment to introduce the fleet into service "as early in [2023] as possible". A concurrent statement from the Department for Transport indicated that work to finalise a service-standard software package for the trains was still underway and that driver training had not yet commenced. In May 2023 it was announced that entry into service was planned for December 2023. In June 2023 it was reported that 42 finished units had been accepted and that training for depot drivers had begun, and in July it was confirmed that they were planned to be introduced in 2023. In December 2023 the
National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) published an update to members advising that they recommended SWR suspend any plans for entry into service or training until "several key areas" are amended to make them suitable for the union and its members.
Entry into service In late December 2023, it was reported that SWR had reached an agreement with the unions allowing for a "Soft Launch" of the Class 701 fleet. The first unit entered service on 9 January 2024 between and . In February 2024, it was reported that 71 units had been accepted, and that the entire fleet is planned to be in service in 2025 following the completion of driver training. However, by April 2024 it was further reported that the number of accepted units had dropped to 70, although construction of the fleet of 90 had been completed. On 28 November 2024, SWR announced that ten additional Class 701 trains will be entering service by June 2025. In April 2025, it was announced that once the whole fleet was in service, guards would be responsible for closing the doors at stations. The decision was attributed to reported safety concerns around visualising the entire platform clearly under different light conditions. Station modifications are also planned, with SWR saying it is committed to driver-only operation in the future. By December 2025, 30 trains were in service, with Class 455 trains withdrawn at the end of the year. By the end of summer 2026, SWR plans to have 75% of the fleet in service. ==Features==