Southeastern’s programme to replace its older Networker trains continues and will give commuters better services on these newer, more comfortable trains.
They started transferring the City Beams from the South Western Railway (SWR) fleet in September 2021, and with these final 2 units, that process is now complete.
Thirty class 707 ‘City Beam’ five-car trains will now service the Grove Park, Hayes, and Dartford ‘Metro’ routes.
The last two units were switched over from the SWR red livery into Southeastern blue at the Gillingham depot following their transfer on 7 September.
Customers like the City Beams for their bright, spacious, accessible interiors, Wi-Fi, handy power sockets, and modern customer information systems showing where customers can find space on board.
They also have two wheelchair spaces for every five carriages. Not to mention air-conditioned carriages and improved heating and ventilation.
The Class 707s are leased from Angel Trains and maintained by Southeastern in partnership with the manufacturer, Siemens.
Southeastern, runs train services into London from Kent and East Sussex, operating over 2,000 trains a day, carrying more than 640,000 passengers. It serves 176 stations covering 540 miles of track.
The name ‘City Beam’ highlights their primary role in delivering, or beaming, passengers across the capital. The name also refers to the trains’ design. There are no inter-carriage doors, so there is an uninterrupted view from one end to the other, making it like a ray or beam of light in motion.
We’re really proud that our Class 707’s, the City Beams, have been serving passengers in the South East since 2021, playing an important role in transforming journeys for Southeastern passengers. The deployment of the final two trains marks a major milestone in the complete transfer of our fleet to Southeastern which has been a great collaborative effort between Southeastern and Angel Trains.
Sambit Banerjee, Joint CEO for Siemens Mobility UK & Ireland
Responses
Modern trains for a small section of SE’s routes, while those of us on the London Victoria to Orpington route have to put up with the 30 year old rolling stock, with 40 year old ingrained dirt and grime.
I was in Networker today and the entire window surround fell off and hit me they really are falling apart
How does a 30 year old train amass 40 years worth of dirt?
Toilet issues aside, it’s bull that these are more comfortable. The 707s (and 700s), nice as they are generally, have harder and less comfy seats than the 465s and 319s they replaced. They aren’t the worst but they are, objectively, more uncomfortable seats.
Should have included toilets when the Class 707 Desiro City were built. Why didn’t Siemens install toilets on the Class 707 when they were used on South Western Railway. But oh well if trains don’t have toilets then it’s best to use the toilets at any station before boarding a Class 707 train that doesn’t have toilets.
Such a shame that the Class 707s doesn’t have toilets unlike there are toilets on the Thameslink Class 700 and Great Northern Class 717. As Siemens built the Class 707 that were used on South Western Railway (formerly South West Trains). But at least they aren’t to be used on long distance services and are used on shorter suburban routes.
Why in the 21st century do these new trains.have no toilet facilities on board, especially for older or anyone who may get caught short in mid journey and don’t wantto get off at say the next stop and wait for another train especially late evening when most station toilets are closed, or they may b on a longer journey and struggle to hold themselves, especially after an event or meal where water or alcohol is drunk, yes you can go to toilet before boarding but some people have weaker bladders than others and will want to go again, or was it just a cost saving in the construction process of these new trains as nice and and spacious as they are. Feel sorry for the poor cleaners.
Where’s the toilets? With the constant signal failures trains are often stacked up behind each other then what fir the poor passenger that finds themselves sat outside London Bridge station needing a toilet facility
Maybe the City Beam trains can have toilets added in to them,like Thameslink did with their trains. They put toilets in the carriages
No toilets .what is wrong with you lot .pee in a bucket
No buckets? The industry must have a suitable emergency response for when hundreds of passengers are stuck on trains which can’t move, a situation which is bound to occur sooner or later.
No toilets…. very poor! Grrrr..unbelievable…can imagine state of trains at werkend!
why do this when these trains have no toilets. ridiculous
New trains and no toilets ,
What progress compared to their replacements !
If you don’t want them, could we have them back on SWR?