NSEWonderer
Established Member
So is 2S25 to 2S48 on the list becoming 701 operation soon? Would be pretty nice as particularly 2S39 and 2S48 picks up a load of school kids and workers.
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Class 701 'Aventra' trains for South Western Railway: progress updates
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From Monday
NSEWonderer
Established Member
Beautiful
They are two different diagrams from what I can see.
2H96 is booked to form 2C19 from next week. It's a 7 minute turnaround in the WTT, which is tight but doable.
MasterPhillips
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A recipe for skip - stopping if I ever saw one. No doubt 2H96 will be made to do so at least once a week.
Goldfish62
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Or 2C19.
Arrived at 0847 this morning, giving a measly 3 min turnaround for 2C19. Maybe the 701 will fair better
Realtime Trains | 0800 Shepperton to London Waterloo | 24/07/2025
Real-time train running information for 0800 departure from Shepperton to London Waterloo on 24/07/2025. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.
www.realtimetrains.co.uk
Invincible
Member
Although good to have a late night 701, the morning peak at Addlestone and Chertsey is now strangely reduced to an hourly service, rather than half hourly.
Goldfish62
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That's the SWR "Summer Timetable" which they're being rather low-key about:
SWR "Summer timetable"
Buried in the SWR website if you happen to scroll down the "plan my journey" page there's an entry which states that a summer timetable will operate from 28th July until 29th August, ie the school holiday period. The routes listed are mostly mainline suburban and Windsor lines routes, plus...
www.railforums.co.uk
Invincible
Member
After a week of trains being diverted to Ascot with a replacement bus service, the line has deteriorated for commutors. First saw this on the local MPs FB page as he has taken up the issue with SWR.That's the SWR "Summer Timetable" which they're being rather low-key about:
SWR "Summer timetable"
Buried in the SWR website if you happen to scroll down the "plan my journey" page there's an entry which states that a summer timetable will operate from 28th July until 29th August, ie the school holiday period. The routes listed are mostly mainline suburban and Windsor lines routes, plus...
Noticed this online about the 701s
The new train fleet set to make your journey much easier
www.independent.co.uk
This blurb from Winbledon!
Dozens of new trains, dubbed “platform hoovers,” are due to be rolled out to help tackle “extreme overcrowding” on routes to London Waterloo after years of delays.
A £1 billion fleet of new trains was supposed to be rolled out from 2019 but just 14 of the 90 services are currently running in south west London.
South Western Railway has now told the Standard that it plans to introduce more of the trains in the coming weeks.
SWR had promised the new Arterio trains would “transform every journey on our suburban network”, with “more capacity, quicker journey times and better reliability and punctuality for our customers”.
The first Arterio train carried passengers between Waterloo and Windsor in January 2024, around five years later than when SWR had planned to introduce the trains.
Many of the new 10-carriage, air-conditioned, walk-through trains remain parked up in depots, including at Clapham Junction, due to the delays in training drivers.
Last November, SWR announced that the trains would start running to Epsom, Guildford and Dorking in March, to Chessington South in May and to Reading in June.
The trains, which were built by Alstom in Derby, have been designed to carry more than 50% more passengers than the eight-car Class 455 trains they will replace.
They also feature wi-fi, charging points at every seat, real-time information and accessible toilets.
On Monday, SWR was forced to issue a rare “do not travel” warning to passengers as trains were unable to use 14 platforms at London Waterloo due to a major signal failure.
Story via ES: *******.com/New-SWR-Arterio
Dozens of new trains, dubbed “platform hoovers,” are due to be rolled out to help tackle “extreme overcrowding” on routes to London Waterloo after years of delays.
A £1 billion fleet of new trains was supposed to be rolled out from 2019 but just 14 of the 90 services are currently running in south west London.
South Western Railway has now told the Standard that it plans to introduce more of the trains in the coming weeks.
SWR had promised the new Arterio trains would “transform every journey on our suburban network”, with “more capacity, quicker journey times and better reliability and punctuality for our customers”.
The first Arterio train carried passengers between Waterloo and Windsor in January 2024, around five years later than when SWR had planned to introduce the trains.
Many of the new 10-carriage, air-conditioned, walk-through trains remain parked up in depots, including at Clapham Junction, due to the delays in training drivers.
Last November, SWR announced that the trains would start running to Epsom, Guildford and Dorking in March, to Chessington South in May and to Reading in June.
The trains, which were built by Alstom in Derby, have been designed to carry more than 50% more passengers than the eight-car Class 455 trains they will replace.
They also feature wi-fi, charging points at every seat, real-time information and accessible toilets.
On Monday, SWR was forced to issue a rare “do not travel” warning to passengers as trains were unable to use 14 platforms at London Waterloo due to a major signal failure.
Story via ES: *******.com/New-SWR-Arterio
The_Train
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But it's "only enthusiasts who moan about new stock blah blah blah"
Interesting you say that. I've been on TikTok and seen many videos about how much better the new trains are compared to the 'povvo red trains'. Of course, that is sometimes Desiros, but it seems like people notice. In fact, my friend (who takes absolutely no interest in trains) has commented to me about how much he likes the new blue SWR trains (and pointing to a 701 at CJ) compared to the red ones.
Here are some videos about it:
(Video of SWR 450, captioned 'when i'm overheated & phone on 3% and one of these turns up instead of a povo red one >>' [note: the '>>' means something is good or better than the other options)
(Video of a SWR 701, captioned 'the absolute joy when this genre of train turns up [...] and not a povo red one')
(Video of the interior of a 701, captioned 'My commute home train got an upgrade and I can't get over it')
(TSW Video of a '455' and '701' captioned 'That feeling when the other platform have the povo red train and then your posh blue one rocks up')
(Video of a train passing a 455, captioned 'That feeling of being on the posh blue train and passing the old poor red train >>>')
Read the comments on these videos too! Every non-enthusiast expresses how much they like the new trains and hate the old ones (my favourite comment is 'nothing fills me with more rage and fury than seeing a red train pull up. it’s sent from the depths of hell and i HATE them with every inch of my being').
This was Windsor lines so most likely comparing to a 458 or 450
Snow1964
Established Member
Possibly not, the 701s can accelerate better, don't know exact ratio, but I suspect they can serve all stations and keep up with 455s skipping about every fourth station.
SWR is still on the slow 455 timetables, not the faster all 701 timetable (if it ever happens)
Goldfish62
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A timetable recast is due next year, presumably December.
Goldfish62
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There was one journey last Saturday, but that appeared to be the result of the previous evening's signalling issue.
No 458/5s or 455s on Reading services today either.
701041 did the 0020 from Waterloo last night then stabled overnight at Reading as per what was previously a 455 diagram (since May).
Peter Wilde
Member
Well from the above, much of the general public seems to like them. Maybe I will (but Guildford via Cobham seems to be right at the end of the queue).
So why the ****! the 5+ year delay in getting the various problems sorted? Not exactly the industry’s finest hour is it?
So why the ****! the 5+ year delay in getting the various problems sorted? Not exactly the industry’s finest hour is it?
brad465
Veteran Member
As has probably been said before, the government will probably use the 701 rollout as selling the benefits of nationalisation. It won't of course be all down to that, but the coincidental timing will fool or not matter to most passengers affected by their introduction.
GW43125
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Was quite looking forward to it... Until I found the 21.50 cancelled unit fault (but still ran empty to stable at reading) and no working toilets on 701041 on the 21.33 last night.
Goldfish62
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That runs as 5C80 to Staines at 2325 rather than stabling at Reading, although strangely there's no record of it on RTT once it arrived at Reading on its seemingly pointless run from Waterloo.
MasterPhillips
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It left Reading around it’s booked time. Very strange it ran ECS all the way the Reading.
jammmmmsssssss
Member
Looks like it went empty all the way back to Wimbledon Park depot
https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:L48654/2025-07-28/detailed 701013's first day today? (apologies it won't expand the link into the post)
NSEWonderer
Established Member
It has been testing since April. Usually i'd be able to physically confirm but I'd not be surprised it is out. Leaves unit 005, 021, 057 and 058 I believe on a rl of dice for who's next.
GW43125
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Whilst it's great we're getting a new unit every week or two at this rate, how long until we hit a plateau where we're waiting on units to come out of storage? Have any of the ones that were dumped at Worksop been re-activated yet?