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As much as we like to complain about trains, public transport in London isn’t too bad You can usually get where you want to go in a (mostly) timely and (mostly) convenient manner. Sometimes, however, transport gets old and rusty, and complaints are justified.
London rail operator Southeastern recognises this, and so has made the decision to completely overhaul its fleet in what is the company’s biggest investment into the business in 25 years.
The brand’s managing director Steve White said the current trains had been in service for over 30 years, so they’re getting pretty pricey to maintain.
White said: ‘Despite the sterling work of our people to keep our current Metro fleets in service, our customers will know only too well that many of the trains are tired.’ He also explained that the trains currently fall short of Southeastern’s standards for accessibility and ‘customer facilities’.
We don’t know exactly what these new trains will look like, but White explained that improving accessibility will be a priority. He also said the company wants the new fleet to be ‘bright and spacious’, with modern air con units installed. Yep, you read that right: air con.
We know this is big news, but try not to get too excited. It could be a while before we actually see these new trains on the railways. Southeastern says it is open to working with bidders to either refresh existing carriages or build new ones, so we’re very much at the start of the process.
Hopefully we’ll see more train companies follow suit and make improvements to their services in the near future too, and never again will anyone have to complain about the state of Great British transport.
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