Refurbished ‘458s boost SWR suburban routes

David Stubbings News Editor rail@bauermedia.co.uk

SOUTH Western Railway has not ruled out using Class 458/4s on the express services for which they were originally refurbished, even as the fleet is rolled out across its suburban network. Alstom has completed a £25 million upgrade of the 28 Porterbrook-owned sets at its Transport Technology Centre in Widnes. The work has involved fitting 2+2 seating, reconfiguring vehicles to allow for faster acceleration, and overhauling powered wheelsets to increase their top speed from 75mph to 100mph. The work, announced in 2021, was supposed to have begun the following year, before delays in the introduction of the Class 701 Arterio fleet pushed the programme back. The first refurbished unit entered service in June 2024. The final unit (458414) was unveiled on December 12. The initial plan was to run them…

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RAIL (Digital) - 1 Issue, Issue 1026

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