Class 710s have entered passenger service on London Overground’s West Anglia services from Liverpool Street to Chingford, Cheshunt and Enfield Town.
A pair of the Bombardier-built units made a brief debut on 24 February before a formal introduction on 3 March. Software issues have plagued the Aventra fleet, with the latest development following progress with software upgrades enabling the four-car ‘710s’ to operate in pairs as eight-car formations.
Transport for London has a total of 54 ‘710s’ on order from Bombardier. Dual-voltage units entered service last year on the Gospel Oak to Barking (GOBLIN) and Euston to Watford routes, with 30×4-car AC-only sets ordered for West Anglia services, although two of these have been in use on the GOBLIN route operating singly.
At the time of the launch, TfL had accepted two units for West Anglia services, which began working a full diagram on 4 March. It expected to accept a further two units imminently with introduction of these planned for mid-March, and after a further two-week interval a pair of units is then planned to be accepted for introduction every week. Initially introduction will be in pairs, but in future some off-peak services will operate with single four-car sets. The full fleet of ‘710s’ for West Anglia is expected to be in service by the end of June.
