South Western Railway invited RailAdvent to London Waterloo today (28th November) to see the new Arterio trains officially launched and one of the new trains named.

90 Arterio trains are part of a £1 billion investment to bring more capacity to trains on the Reading, Windsor and South West London Suburban routes.

5 Arterios are currently in service, but South Western Railway has today announced that the new trains will serve destinations such as Dorking, Guildford and Reading over the next six months.

Alstom has built the trains at their Derby site and will replace the outgoing older trains, including the Class 455, 456, 458 and 707 trains.

The fleet is made up of 60 ten-car trains and 30 five-car trains, and the rollout of the new trains is expected to take up to 2 years.

The new trains have cycle racks, charging points, WiFi, accessible toilets and air conditioning.

There is plenty of space for luggage in the overhead racks, which are deep enough for suitcases and bags.

We were invited on board the new train to take a look, and the bright interior is boosted by big windows and 2×2 seating.

It is always excellent to see these Aventra class of trains, where you can see down through the carriages due to the wide corridors.

Unfortunately, none of the seats perfectly align with the windows.

While disappointing, it does mean that wheelchair users get plenty of space with a plug socket and USBs, and there are also plenty of spaces for bikes.

Big tables don’t feature, but each bay has a small table to put your coffee mug down, but not somewhere to put your laptop, for example.

The toilets are large, making them easily accessible for everyone, and all toilets feature Controlled Emissions Toilets, which is better for the environment.

We were also invited into the cab of the train. The cab features lots of screens to show speed, AWS, as well as any warnings that the driver needs to be aware of.

There is also a screen dedicated to the 11 cameras on a 10 car set, showing the driver the view of the platform before they close the doors.

Whilst at first glance, the cab looks rather small, once in the seat, everything is easy to access, and it actually feels rather spacious.

Rail Minister Lord Hendy was joined by Managing Director Stuart Meek and English Cricketing Legend Stuart Broad.

Stuart unveiled the nameplate for 701031, which is named ‘Nighthawk’.

Stuart explains that Nighthawk is a nickname given to him by his teammates and is because of his role as a nightwatchman in the game of cricket.

701031 will be joined by four other Arterios, which will be named to celebrate the local area’s sporting history.

South Western Railway has also named trains The Jockey for horseracing destinations, The Red Rose for English rugby at Twickenham, The Aces for Wimbledon and The Thames Racer in honour of the boat race.

It was soon time to end our visit to London Waterloo, but a big thank you to South Western Railway for inviting us to the launch of their brand new train fleet

Here is what Stuart Broad had to say:

“I’m honoured to join South Western Railway today and name one of their new Arterio trains Nighthawk, a role I had great fun playing for England.

“One of the highlights of my career was taking the final wicket in my last Test match, against Australia at the Oval, one of my favourite places to play. The atmosphere is always incredible and starts long before the first ball of the day is bowled, as fans make their way from Vauxhall down to the ground.

“Trains play a huge role in bringing sports fans to the heart of the action they love, building excitement as they make their way to the big game. It’s exciting to think of the Nighthawk journeying across London, connecting even more fans to iconic sporting destinations that bring us all together.”

Stuart Broad