A fleet of new trains dubbed “platform hoovers” are being rolled out in an effort to alleviate “extreme overcrowding” on services to London’s Waterloo.
South Western Railway (SWR) invested £1 billion in the Arterio trains, which were supposed to be deployed in 2019, but only six were in operation at the start of the year.
Now, a SWR spokesperson has confirmed that eight more trains have been launched in the past two months.
“As of today, we are running 14 Arterios on more than 160 services every weekday, on routes to Dorking, Guildford, Hampton Court, Kingston, Reading, Shepperton, Twickenham and Windsor & Eton Riverside,” the spokesperson told The Independent.
“We’re looking forward to many more customers enjoying the increased capacity and comfort the Arterios bring to journeys as we introduce more trains into service over the coming weeks.”
The announcement follows Labour MP Fleur Anderson’s campaigning efforts to engage with rail operators about the issue.
The Putney MP told the Standard: “I have raised [the problem of] extreme overcrowding on the stations.
“As the Waterloo line gets closer to London, it’s more full. By the time it gets to Putney, it is quite overcrowded but Wandsworth Town is really bad. Lots of people just can’t get on the train.”
She added that the layout of the Arterio trains means they are capable of fitting many more passengers onboard.
“They've been described as “platform hoovers” – which everyone in Wandsworth Town will love to hear about,” she said.
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”.
But it wasn’t until January 2024 that the first Arterio train carried passengers between Waterloo and Windsor – around five years later than planned.
According to reports, the rollout of the new trains were delayed as existing drivers were required to run day-to-day services and were unable to get time off to attend training programmes.
The trains, which were built by Alstom in Derby, have been designed to carry more than 50 per cent 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.
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