South Western Railway has announced that they have completed the refurbishment of the Class 444s is now completed after the final refurbished Class 444 Desiro train entered service.
The £70 million refurbishment programme began in December 2017 and modernised all 172 Class 444 and 450 trains to improve the passenger experience for those travelling long-distance between London Waterloo, Weymouth, Poole and Portsmouth stations.
The completion of this rollout means passengers now benefit from 1,305 additional seats in standard-class.
The refurbishment was completed by the trains’ manufacturer, Siemens and was financed by Angel Trains.
What did the officials say?
Neil Drury, SWR’s Engineering Director, said:
“This massive refurbishment train programme is a huge investment which offers customers, using our long-distance services, a quality on-board experience.
“I’m proud to see the final refurbished Class 444 train in the programme enter service, and by 2020, more trains will roll-out to help us fulfil our promise of offering 52,000 extra seats over the course of the franchise.”
Sambit Banerjee, Managing Director of Siemens Mobility’s Rolling Stock business in the UK, said:
“The full refurbishment of the 172-strong Class 444 and Class 450 ‘Desiro’ fleet is a highly complex and demanding project, which we are achieving through very close collaboration with the SWR Team.
“We are extremely proud to achieve this very significant milestone in this project and to be contributing to an enhanced experience for SWR’s passengers.”
Kevin Tribley, CEO of Angel Trains, said:
“Investing in the development of rolling stock that reflects the evolving needs of today’s passenger is a crucial part of modernising our railways. We’re delighted to have supported this ambitious refurbishment project, which will modernise the ‘Desiro’ fleet and enable SWR to better serve its passengers.”
Updated on 10th January 2020 – revised information received from South Western Railway
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Responses
A recent journey on a 158/9 was a disappointment, time for SWR to give their West of England passengers a train fit for the 2020’s. I may have missed a blurb about improvements, correct me if I’m wrong!
And what about the Class 158, Class 159, Class 442 and Class 450. As South Western Railway are continuing on refurbishing their rolling stocks and replacing the Class 455, Class 456, Class 458 and Class 707 units as the Class 701 is coming into service later this year.