UK: Southeastern has announced that a toilet is to be retrofitted to the Class 707 City Beam electric multiple-units used on London suburban services.
Agreements for the multi-million pound investment are to be finalised with leasing company Angel Trains in the coming weeks, the operator said on January 15.
The accessible toilet will have a wide electric sliding door.
COO of Angel Trains David Jordan said this ‘will make a considerable improvement to the on-board journey experience for commuter and leisure passengers alike. It marks another key step in our comprehensive programme of investment, in partnership with train operators, to deliver modern trains that are fit for purpose now and for many years to come.’
The 30 Siemens Mobility Class 707 EMUs were originally ordered by South West Trains, which opted not to specify toilets as they would operate alongside older Class 455 units which do not have them. However, successor operator South Western Railway decided to replace both the Class 455 and 707 fleets with Bombardier Transportation (now Alstom) Class 701 Arterio units with toilets. The Class 707s transferred to Southeastern where they are now branded City Beam.
Southeastern said the project is part of a wider commitment to make it easier to access toilets across its network. It has opened its first toilet meeting Changing Places standards in Margate, as well as accessible toilets at Canterbury East and Herne Bay stations. Station information screens also now show if on-train toilets are working.
While there was no funding to retrofit toilets as part of a recently announced mid-life refresh of Southeastern’s Bombardier Class 376 suburban EMUs, the procurement of new trains to replace its toilet-equipped Networker fleet is underway and Managing Director Steve White has confirmed that ‘any new trains we bring onto our railway will have toilets’.
The lack of toilets was highlighted by a 2018 incident when nine trains became stranded during bad weather and passengers self-evacuated onto third-rail electrified tracks. The Rail Accident Investigation Branch found people became increasingly uncomfortable in crowded coaches with no toilets, and ‘ultimately the motivation of passengers to leave the train outweighed the effectiveness of encouragements to stay onboard’.
