LETTER: Here's where new trains are...

Michael was complaining about Govia Thameslink Railway’s (GTR) Class 313 trains, which run on the Littlehampton and Portsmouth routes, and described them, quite truthfully, as old, used ones that rattle and shake and have no toilets or legroom or effective heating.

I then read my latest copy of Rail magazine and thought I could answer his question.

It reported that GTR was buying a 25-strong fleet of new trains, at a cost of £20million, to replace Class 313s, and that it would be in operation by December of this year.

That was the good news; unfortunately, Michael, there was also some not-quite-so-good news. The answer to your question is ‘up north’.

They are all going to operate on GTR’s Great Northern route, none of them down here on Southern, so it looks as though we will have to carry on being thrown about on our 42-year-old trains, and carry on ‘holding on’ because they don’t have toilets.

Eric Waters

Ingleside Crescent

Lancing

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