Anyone undertaking the daily commute into Victoria tomorrow will likely be taking a ride on a train that has been part of a £100million refurbishment.
Publicly owned: 304 Southern trains have undergone extensive modernisation to extend the fleet’s life by 15 years
More than 300 commuter trains operating out of Victoria Station have undergone repairs and upgrades as part of a project to keep them working for another 15 years.
Conducted over the past five years, Southern’s depot at Selhurst has got its fleet of Electrostar trains – which are also used to operate the Gatwick Express – ready to return to service tomorrow, with most having benefited from a paint job and having their seats re-covered.
The works have been completed with Southern, Thameslink and Gatwick Express due to be handed into the control of the Department for Transport – re-nationalised – once operators Govia’s franchise expires in May 2026.
Southern claims that the refurbs to the 1,222 carriages are equivalent of having new trains coming online.
The trains now all feature new routers to provide better wifi, USB phone-charging sockets beside all seats, power points, brighter lighting and digital information boards.
In addition, sensors above the train doors count how many passengers are on board, which will allow for the introduction of display boards that indicate which carriages have empty seats, and also for the train operators to manage capacity at peak times.
The trains are now fitted with front-facing CCTV, which Southern hopes will help management of faults on the track and on the trains.
Some of the trains were built by Bombardier and came into service in 2001. The oldest trains needed to have all their seats removed in each carriage to allow comprehensive rewiring.
According to The Standard: “The cost of the refurbishment, known as the Aurora Project, has been met by Porterbrook, the private rolling stock company that owns the trains. About 23 of the trains are used by Southeastern.”
Ben Ackroyd, Porterbrook’s chief operating officer, told the newspaper, “These trains are 25 years old and well-deserving of an upgrade, to bring them up to modern passenger expectations.
“We have also invested in the technology inside the train to make the trains more reliable and improve passenger journeys.”
Southern says that its passenger numbers, on some of the busiest lines in the country, are approaching pre-pandemic levels.
“Millions of passengers will experience this upgrade,” said Steve Lammin, Govia Thameslink Railway’s engineering director.
“It’s been a fantastic project – 304 trains of the Electrostar fleet. I think it’s fair to say it’s the largest UK modification package in history. On the 200th year anniversary of the railways, it’s something to celebrate.”
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A good news story.