A South Western Railway boss says he is unsure of a final date for when all the rail operator’s new Arterio trains will roll out, as the rail company seeks to try and speed up training its drivers for the new fleet. South Western Railway (SWR) invested £1bn into a new 90-strong fleet of trains that it promised to “transform every journey of our suburban network”. The new Arterio trains have room for more customers, with each 10-car train providing over 50 per cent more capacity, as well as being more technologically advanced and sustainable than previous trains.
Five Arterio trains have so far been put out in service covering stations such as Clapham Junction to Windsor & Eton Riverside, while SWR announced in November that the trains would also soon serve stations such as Chessington South, Guildford and Reading. However, the rail operator is still unsure as to when all 90 trains will be running on the network. David Wilby, SWR’s regional development manager, told a meeting of Wandsworth Council ’s passenger transport liaison group on Monday that he did not have a concrete date for the trains to be up and running.
While speaking about trains running through Wandsworth, Councillor Jenny Yates, asked Mr Wilby if he knew of the likely date of operation, and he replied: “Er, no”. “We have identified some measures in the future around training, and the training of drivers, that will accelerate the training package that we offer. “We still hope to have the train.
