British Rail Class 707

British Rail Class 707 Desiro City
South Western Railway 707028 at Datchet in 2018
707017's interior at Weybridge
In service 17 August 2017 – Present
Manufacturer Siemens
Built at Krefeld, Germany
Family name Desiro City
Constructed 2015–2018
Number built 30
Formation 5 carriages per unit
Fleet numbers 707001–707030
Capacity 275 seats, 533 standing
Operator(s) South Western Railway
Depot(s) Wimbledon Traincare depot
Line(s) served Various
Specifications
Train length 101.52 m (333 ft 1 in)
Car length 20 m (65 ft 7 in)
Width 2.80 m (9 ft 2 1⁄4 in)
Floor height 1.10 m (43.31 in)
Maximum speed 160 km/h (100 mph)
Power output 1,200 kW (1,600 hp)
Electric system(s) 750 V DC Third rail
Current collection method Contact shoe
Track gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Notes
Sources : Desiro City data sheet[1]
Except where noted

The British Rail Class 707 is an electric multiple unit built by Siemens, currently operated by South Western Railway (SWR). A total of 150 carriages were built, formed into 30 five-car units, providing 18,000 additional peak-time passengers into London Waterloo.[2]

History

In September 2014, South West Trains (SWT) announced plans to procure a total of 30 five-car trains as a means of expanding the fleet used to operate services out of London Waterloo. As a result of significant infrastructure improvements to allow the operation of ten-car trains across large parts of the SWT network, the operator procured additional rolling stock to allow for this. SWT's fleet includes other Desiro units (Class 444 and 450) built by Siemens. 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 Angel Trains.[3][4]

Construction of the first vehicles began in June 2015, with the first completed in March 2016.[5] The first two Class 707 units 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.[6][7][8]

The rest of the fleet is being 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.[9] The first reached England on 9 December 2016.[10]

Entry into service was originally planned for July 2017, with all 30 planned to be delivered by the end of 2017.[11] However, the first units entered service on 17 August, just 3 days before the South Western franchise was taken over by South Western Railway on 20 August 2017.[12]

Due to lower leasing costs now available, these trains will be replaced by Aventras from 2019.[13][14] Consequently, Angel Trains is looking for a future operator to lease these trains from 2019.[15]

Operation

The Class 707 is intended primarily for services between London Waterloo and Windsor & Eton Riverside and London Waterloo and Weybridge via Brentford, allowing the Class 458 units used on those services to be cascaded back to operations to Reading, which will then allow the Class 450 units to move elsewhere.[16] The intention is to run these services as ten-car trains with pairs of Class 707s. However they also run on lines through to Kingston, Wimbledon, Epsom, Guildford and Woking.

The Class 707 units are based at the Wimbledon Traincare depot.[3]

Fleet details

Class Operator No. built Year built Cars per unit Unit nos.
Class 707 South Western Railway 30 2015–2018[17] 5 707001–707030

Livery details

South West Trains livery, 2017
South Western Railway transitional livery, 2017 – 2019

References

  1. ↑ "Desiro City Class 707" (PDF). Siemens. Retrieved 22 December 2016.
  2. ↑ "SWT Desiro City fleet to be '707s'". Rail. Bauer Media (768): 27.
  3. 1 2 Class 707 Desiro City Factsheet South West Trains
  4. ↑ "Class 707s on way as well" Today's Railways issue 162 June 2015 page 67
  5. ↑ "Class 707s on way as well" Railways Illustrated issue 166 August 2015 page 15
  6. ↑ "First South West Trains Class 707s begin testing" Rail Magazine issue 806 3 August 2016 page 6
  7. ↑ "Class 707 People Movers for the Windsor Line" Modern Railways issue 816 September 2016 page 10
  8. ↑ "SWT Class 707s on Test" Railways Illustrated issue 166 October 2016 page 7
  9. ↑ "Class 707 breaks cover". The Rail Engineer. 25 August 2016. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
  10. ↑ "First SWT 707 reaches UK" Modern Railways issue 821 February 2017 page 12
  11. ↑ "First South West Trains Class 707 EMU under construction". Railway Gazette International. 29 October 2015. Retrieved 29 October 2015.
  12. ↑ "Class 707s enter service on Windsor routes". Global Rail News. 18 August 2017. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  13. ↑ "Business focus: Why your box-fresh train is being replaced". Evening Standard. Retrieved 18 February 2018.
  14. ↑ FirstGroup and MTR order 750 EMU cars for South Western franchise International Railway Journal 20 June 2017
  15. ↑ "Risky business: train fleets in a state of flux". www.railmagazine.com. Retrieved 18 February 2018.
  16. ↑ Robert Pritchard. "Rolling Stock Update". Today's Railways. No. 159. Platform 5. pp. 40–43.
  17. ↑ https://www.railstaff.uk/2017/12/27/swr-receive-final-class-707-trains-january/

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