Monday the 27th of September saw the state-of-the-art trains running passenger services for the first time with Southeastern and will no doubt be a big hit with their brighter, fresher and more accessible interiors.

The City Beams feature two wheelchair spaces for every five carriages, another benefit is larger windows, air-conditioning and WiFi charging points.

Southeastern will introduce 30 City Beam trains which are officially Class 707’s but have been rebranded with a futuristic name which is partly derived from the trains heritage as they are known as Desiro City by the manufacturer Siemens and also as the trains will be delivering passengers through the capital city. The ‘beam’ part of the name relates to the fact that the trains have no carriage doors, giving an uninterrupted view from one end of the train to the other almost like a single ray of light in motion.

The fleet of City Beam trains will operate as 10 car units and will have a maximum of 534 seats available. Other new facilities onboard are clear information screens which will also show how much space is available in each carriage and providing passengers with an improved travel experience.

The first City Beam train is now out and about running passenger services. The other trains will be operating by Spring 2022.

To find out more about City Beam and for the City Beam route map, please visit: http://www.southeasternrailway.co.uk/citybeam 

Rail Minister Chris Heaton-Harris said: “The rollout of City Beam trains will mean more modern, accessible and comfortable journeys for passengers across south-east London and north Kent.

“As we build back better from Covid-19 we are seeing upgrades across the rail network that is making rail travel even smoother, cleaner and greener.”

David Statham, Managing Director for Southeastern, said: “We are pleased to introduce these trains on our busiest London area routes after many months of hard work from Southeastern and Network Rail colleagues, as well as our suppliers and industry partners, Angel Trains and Siemens Mobility. Getting the trains safety approved, tracks and stations checked, and drivers and colleagues trained, has been a real team effort.

“Our focus is always on improving the service for our passengers, and we are confident that these new trains will make a huge difference over the coming months, as we progressively introduce more of the trains into service.”

Sambit Banerjee, Managing Director Rolling Stock & Customer Services for Siemens Mobility Limited, added: “There’s been a real collaborative effort to ready the City Beam to service the South East. The popular Class 707 fleet is smart, digitally-connected and energy-efficient and we look forward to continuing our partnership with Southeastern to provide a great experience for passengers.”

Malcolm Brown, CEO of Angel Trains, said: “It has been a pleasure to work with Southeastern Railway and our industry partners on this exciting project. Following a period of deep uncertainty, we are excited for passengers to experience these modern trains that are more sustainable, reliable and fit for the future.”

Network Rail Kent route director Fiona Taylor said: “It’s great news that Southeastern’s passengers are going to be travelling on these new state-of-the-art trains, which will offer them greater capacity, convenience and comfort than ever before. At Network Rail we’ve invested over £660m in improving the signalling, stations and track in Kent this past two years, adding to the comfort and reliability of those journeys and we look forward to seeing the City Beam out on the network.”