GOVIA THAMESLINK Railway withdrew its Class 313s from Great Northern suburban services into Moorgate at the end of September. The operator says it has now completed its five-year programme of rolling stock introductions and cascades.
The 44x3-car fleet, owned by Eversholt Rail, was one of the oldest in the UK. A charity special was due to operate on 23 October to mark the end of the fleet’s service.
GTR still operates a separate fleet of 19 Beacon Rail-owned Class 313s on its Southern-branded services on the Coastway routes radiating from Brighton.
The class’s withdrawal on Great Northern services has been made possible by the arrival of 25x6-car Class 717 units, built by Siemens and financed by Rock Rail. The ‘717s’ offer an 11% capacity increase compared to a pair of ‘313s’, along with air conditioning, Wi-Fi, plug sockets, walk-through carriages and on-board passenger information screens.
The new fleet is maintained by GTR’s engineering team at Hornsey depot in north London, where £5 million was spent on modifications at the depot to accommodate the new trains. GTR’s Great Northern Class 365 and Class 387 fleets are also maintained at Hornsey, while an adjacent facility is used by Siemens to maintai…
