Southeastern has taken an important step towards delivering a multi-million-pound investment to improve its fleet of Metro trains.
Southeastern’s Metro services link busy London terminals including Victoria and Charing Cross with south-east London and parts of Kent.
As part of Southeastern’s goal of building a more reliable and sustainable railway, it has published an Invitation to Negotiate with a number of shortlisted bidders. This includes a range of options, including new trains, trains cascaded in from other parts of the country and upgrading the existing fleet.
This could mark the largest investment in Southeastern for decades.
Rail Minister Huw Merriman said: "This is great news for the rail manufacturing industry and forms part of an estimated £3.6bn to support the sector in the coming years, making us one of the largest in Europe by the end of the decade.
"Modernising rolling stock is crucial to delivering a sustainable, reliable and growing rail network, encouraging more people to travel by train, and I’m pleased millions of passengers will be able to benefit from this investment for generations to come."
The new or improved Metro fleet would reduce maintenance and repair costs and be more energy efficient.
The precise details of the new fleet will be developed during the next stage of the procurement process.
Steve White, Managing Director, Southeastern, said: "As part of our commitment to building a better, more reliable and sustainable railway we are pushing forward with our plans to develop our Metro operation into a high-performing railway.
"We are working at pace, with our partners at Network Rail, to improve performance, expand our timetable, enhance our stations and increase staffing levels. The final piece of the jigsaw will be the replacement of our aging Metro fleet.
"We are now inviting competitive offers from our short-listed suppliers and want to bring modern rolling stock to our railway for the benefit of customers and taxpayers."
The timescales for the introduction of the trains will be developed as part of the procurement process, but Southeastern has set bidders ambitious targets to deliver as soon as possible.
Image credit: Southeastern
