Class 701 'Aventra' trains for South Western Railway: progress updates

[swr444]

Well, there are connections at Portsmouth, Southampton and (from Waterloo East) Dover for ferries to France. And Portsmouth, being on an island, is technically overseas.

Reminds me that 4CORs had slip boards (is that what they are called?) saying "Waterloo-Portsmouth-Isle of Wight", giving passengers the impression that there was a train ferry.

The script was from when the Eurostar terminal was still open though.

 

[Goldfish62]

I guess this diagram would have been 701035 had there been a driver, and there would have been 53 in service this morning for only the second time. Perhaps it will appear later in the day. As it is 2M07/2M14 were also cancelled and 2G15 looks to be 701033 off 2J16

701035 now showing on RTT as allocated to 2G62.

 

[Meglos]

I travelled on 701 029 last night, and the destination on the front above the drivers cab was scrolling "Shepperton via Wimbledon", first time I remember seeing that. They normally just say "Shepperton".

 

[NSEWonderer]

Yep 047, and 056 both were observed with scrolling front dests. 047 of recent to this post on its way to Chessington South with dest mentioning the latter via Wimbledon.

 

[Siemens Staines]

I make it 51 701s in passenger service this morning. The two outstanding diagrams are two 2*450 (2U04 & 2C07) although neither are shown as short formed on journeycheck.

 

[nctd2306]

I make it 51 701s in passenger service this morning. The two outstanding diagrams are two 2*450 (2U04 & 2C07) although neither are shown as short formed on journeycheck.

That 2C07 diagram includes 2C18, one of the busiest up services from Reading midweek. I noticed it was an 8-450 yesterday too so I really hope this isn't going to be a regular diagram chosen for short forming now. Most 701s are usually completely full by Twickenham on that service let alone a 450!
(This does not apply to Fridays as considerably fewer people commute then.)

 

[Nimbus020]

That 2C07 diagram includes 2C18, one of the busiest up services from Reading midweek. I noticed it was an 8-450 yesterday too so I really hope this isn't going to be a regular diagram chosen for short forming now. Most 701s are usually completely full by Twickenham on that service let alone a 450!
(This does not apply to Fridays as considerably fewer people commute then.)

Would also be interesting to know what SWR's latest patronage stats are saying, especially for Mon - Thurs commuting volumes - the 10 coach 701s probably couldn't have come soon enough!

 

[Siemens Staines]

I make it 50 701s in passenger service this morning. The two outstanding diagrams (of the 52 FO a.m) are cancelled (2G08 & 2C07).

 

[WWTownEnth]

009
014
027
034
039
040
043
047
057

are the nine unallocated today so far

 

[Rob1969]

Morning all

Does anyone happen to have a list of current locations for the 701/5s by any chance that they could share please?

Appreciate there has been some movement but hoping to track a few down today.

Noted 504+1, 509+512, 519+1 & 529 at Clapham a few minutes ago and now on way to Farnham as previous reports indicates several are there.

All help gratefully received. Many thanks Robi

 

[Peter Sarf]

Morning all

Does anyone happen to have a list of current locations for the 701/5s by any chance that they could share please?

Appreciate there has been some movement but hoping to track a few down today.

Noted 504+1, 509+512, 519+1 & 529 at Clapham a few minutes ago and now on way to Farnham as previous reports indicates several are there.

All help gratefully received. Many thanks Robi

A walk from Wimbledon Park District line to view the two halves of Wimbledon depot is worth while. Forget the London most end of the half nearest London - a fly past required there. But I usually walk onto Durnesford road bridge viewing what I can on both sides of the bridge. Then double back past the District Line station and turn left along Home Park Road - so along the West side of the District line and depot getting views on the Wimbledon end. Then onto the bridge over the line there called Gap Road (if you have Binoculars). Then it is a bus back to Wimbledon from the stop at the start of Alexander Road (where it says B235 on the map almost at the bottom of the page).

Map Linky

 

[swr444]

There are two /5s out testing this morning on 5T80 (701519) and 5Q81 (701509)

 

[WWTownEnth]

There are two /5s out testing this morning on 5T80 (701519) and 5Q81 (701509)

Entry into service imminent?

 

[CR165022]

There are two /5s out testing this morning on 5T80 (701519) and 5Q81 (701509)

512 is also out on 5Q runs

 

[NSEWonderer]

Entry into service imminent?

Driver training hasn't started on them for that.

 

[WWTownEnth]

512 is also out on 5Q runs

What are 5Q runs for the uninitiated?

 

[swr444]

What are 5Q runs for the uninitiated?

Can be for various things. This is probably for unit testing

 

[Rob1969]

A walk from Wimbledon Park District line to view the two halves of Wimbledon depot is worth while. Forget the London most end of the half nearest London - a fly past required there. But I usually walk onto Durnesford road bridge viewing what I can on both sides of the bridge. Then double back past the District Line station and turn left along Home Park Road - so along the West side of the District line and depot getting views on the Wimbledon end. Then onto the bridge over the line there called Gap Road (if you have Binoculars). Then it is a bus back to Wimbledon from the stop at the start of Alexander Road (where it says B235 on the map almost at the bottom of the page).

Map Linky

Thanks Peter, I may try this later but Farnham was definitely worth a visit as I validated all 10 701/5’s from Wickham’s post on 24/09. Legs are a bit tired now as it’s a fair old walk from Farnham station so hopefully a smooth journey back into town to follow

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 2 Oct 2026 ==

701/5s at Farnham 12.00 today (24.09.26): For those interested, on a walk past Farnham Depot today, I managed to identify 8 of the 10 701/5s by number, but the bushes and undergrowth are something of a challenge: There is a footpath to a footbridge off of Weydon Lane, some distance Farnham station side of Farnham Shed, but from here with a good telephoto lense I was able to identify 701513 and 518 right through the other end of the shed, the numbers of which were not visible later in my walk. Continuing down Weydon Lane to the Alton end of the Shed, there is a fairly clear area of fence (just past the bus stop) from which I could see 701507, a bit further over than the rest of the units. Nearest to the main line/Weydon Lane 701527+521 were clearly visible through the bushes. At the far end of Weydon Lane, in line with the buffer stops there is an access gate and from here could be seen 701506, 530 and 523 (lined up behind already mentioned 521): Having seen what I wanted to see, I proceeded no further, but it is possible that another unit (Alton end of 507) might be identifiable from Wrecclesham Road, but the view here is very challenging - two horrible fences and bushes/undergrowth in the way. So it was only Alton end of 507 and London end of 530 that I did not identify (although it is pretty certain that these are 511 and 516.

These directions are excellent Wickham, thank you. I’ve managed to validate all that you saw and I can confirm 511 is the one through the bushes on its own viewable from Wrecclesham Road. The other one you couldn’t validate 516, is on the station end of either 523 or 530, I made out the number easily enough but I couldn’t be certain which line it was on given the view through the bushes wasn’t great. 513 & 518 through the open doors of the depot were a great pick off because they weren’t viewable from anywhere else. Thanks again

 

[norbitonflyer]

What are 5Q runs for the uninitiated?

Headcodes of the form 5Qxx.
5 indicates empty stock, Q seems to be used for training and test runs. (Empty stock runs going into or out of passenger service tend to use the headcode of the next or previous passenger service operated by that unit, with the initial "1" or "2" replaced by a "5". So for example 5K01 would run from the depot to Waterloo, and then enter service as 2K01

 

[DanCardwell]

701502 was still at litchurch lane on Friday afternoon...

 

[mansonlo49]

701502 was still at litchurch lane on Friday afternoon...


View attachment 212737

At least now its branded with SWR first

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

At least now its branded with SWR first

Celebrating the application of a now obsolete branding is so ironic and a good representation of Britain's railways.

 

[Siemens Staines]

I make it 50 701s in passenger service this morning. The three outstanding diagrams are one 2*450 (2C03) and two cancelled (1N92 & 2R05).

 

[WWTownEnth]

007
009
013
014
030
034
037
038
045
051

are the TEN I can’t find allocated to diagrams this morning

 

[swr444]

007
009
013
014
030
034
037
038
045
051

are the TEN I can’t find allocated to diagrams this morning

037 was involved in a fatality last night at north sheen

 

[Siemens Staines]

007
009
013
014
030
034
037
038
045
051

are the TEN I can’t find allocated to diagrams this morning

If the allocations are correct then 701045 worked 2G03 etc, but conversely 701012 did not work this morning. 701012 was allocated 1N92, but;

06:46 Farnham to London Waterloo due 08:30 has been cancelled.
This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.
Last Updated:05/10/2026 07:02

 

[ijmad]

Are these trains on the sick list every day really encountering issues every morning or is there some other reason why they keep staying in the depots?

 

[WWTownEnth]

Are these trains on the sick list every day really encountering issues every morning or is there some other reason why they keep staying in the depots?

It does seem incredible that 60 brand new units can’t cover 53 diagrams….

 

[hwl]

Are these trains on the sick list every day really encountering issues every morning or is there some other reason why they keep staying in the depots?

Lots waiting for parts.

DfT wnet through a phase where they though they could save lots of money by getting TOCS (in management contract times) to hold less stock of spare to save cash. It has always turned out to be a bad idea for rail users but DfT had to learn the value of stock holding... (the hard way!)

 

[Stephen42]

Are these trains on the sick list every day really encountering issues every morning or is there some other reason why they keep staying in the depots?

It's not quite a sick list. Aside from 037 which wasn't traction related from the above, every other unit went into the depot on its diagram. 009 and 014 are both at Clapham. I suspect they are being used for training or testing of some sort.

012 appears to have failed at Farnham depot, entered service this afternoon from Wimbledon. The rest could be maintenance exams, none have been out of service for more than a week.