SOUTH Western Railway says it is “increasingly confident” about the consistent performance of its Derby-built Class 701 ‘Arterio’ units and expects the first of them to be brought into service towards the end of this year, four years later than anticipated when the order for the 90 sets was placed.
As of July, the operator had accepted 42 units “with no plans for further modifications to the design”.
An SWR spokesman told The RM: “We are now half way through depot driver training, which is a really important milestone towards the safe and reliable introduction of the new Arterio trains that will transform our customers’ journeys.”