TWO fleets of'Electrostar' trains used on Govia Thameslink Railway services will benefit from a £55million modernisation programme.
The Class 377 fleet of 214 EM Us that work on Southern railway services along with both the newer Gatwick Express and Great Northern Class 387 fleets will be fitted with real-time information screens and combined USB/power points, as well as an on-board performance monitoring and fault diagnosis software to streamline maintenance. Energy saving lighting will also be fitted to the sets.
The upgrades follow research by Passenger Focus, and will be fully funded by Porterbrook.
The fault management software will help predict and diagnose faults, and in the long-term streamlining maintenance.
Passenger-counting technology will also be fitted, to allow GTR to better analyse how busy trains are, further helping to support social distancing. Driving cabs will be fitted with new forward-facing CCTV cameras.