In March 2017, South Western Railway 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 2019. These new trains will eventually replace all of SWR's Class 455, 456, 458 and 707 fleets, the last of which will transfer to Southeastern. Initially classified as Class 705 and Class 711, the units were subsequently given the number Class 701 with 701/0 for the 10-car sets and 701/5 for the 5 car sets. Production was halted in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Bombardier Transportation said it would restart train production at Derby from 14 April 2020. The first Class 701, 10 car unit 701002, was delivered from Derby Litchurch Lane Works to Eastleigh Works on 10 June 2020, for testing, in order to progess to certification from the ORR before passenger introduction later in the year. As of August 2020, four units have been delivered.
Maintenance
The Class 701s will be maintained at Wimbledon depot and the future Feltham Depot, which will open in 2021.
Features
The Class 701 will feature regenerative braking, wide gangways between coaches, wide doors for ease and efficiency of boarding and alighting, 2+2 standard class seating arrangement, Wi-Fi and at-seat USB charging points, as well as real-time passenger information screens, air conditioning and accessible toilets for disabled passengers. Each five-car train will have 274 seats with room for 361 standing passengers, while a 10-car set will seat 556 passengers with space for 746 standing. SWR have called the 701s "a near-£1 billion investment," and they have said that "these modern trains are designed and operated to reduce station dwell times, so more customers can arrive at their destinations on time more comfortably". They want to use the trains to increase peak capacity on suburban routes into London Waterloo by 46%. They also claimed that the trains were more sustainable due to the regenerative braking and the new toilets "biologically and thermally treat the waste and are accessible for all passengers, including those using wheelchairs". They mentioned that "there will be several multi-use spaces available, where seating can be tipped up to accommodate prams or luggage. Dedicated wheelchair spaces are available as well as cycle racks so passengers can safely and conveniently store their bicycles" as well as showing off preview images of the new trains.
