Customers travelling with Southeastern in south-east London and parts of Kent can soon look forward to new onboard toilets as part of a multi-million-pound investment between Angel Trains and Southeastern
Final contractual agreements are expected to be confirmed in the coming weeks, at which point detailed final designs can get underway. Once complete, accessible toilets will be fitted on all 30 of the Class 707 ‘City Beam’ trains which serve south-east London and parts of Kent, carrying thousands of passengers every day.
The toilets are expected to be the larger accessible toilets; with a wide electric sliding door entrance, suitable for wheelchair users and customers with other accessibility requirements. They will also be more convenient for customers with children, pushchairs or luggage.
The installation of toilets on the City Beam fleet is part of a wider commitment by Southeastern to making it simpler and easier to access public toilets across the network. Earlier this year, Southeastern opened their first ‘Changing Places’ toilet in Margate and has also introduced new accessible toilets at Canterbury East and Herne Bay.
In addition, earlier this year Southeastern upgraded its customer information screens to show if on-board toilets are working, allowing customers to make informed decisions about their journeys before boarding while also investing in more cleaning staff to clean and maintain facilities.
As the City Beam fleet operates on Southeastern’s Metro routes, these additional toilets will complement Transport for London’s commitment to increase the number of customer toilets available in their stations, too.
Mark Johnson, Engineering Director at Southeastern, said:
“We know how important it is for customers to be able to simply and quickly access toilets when they are travelling. Last year, we welcomed the final two City Beams into our fleet and despite being our newest trains, we know there was still more we could do to make them even better for customers and installing customer toilets is an important step in that direction. We are looking forward to detailed design work for the toilets starting in the coming weeks and the first units entering customer service in the future.”
David Jordan, COO of Angel Trains, said:
“The installation of new, accessible toilets on all Southeastern’s Class 707 ‘City Beam’ trains will make a considerable improvement to the on board journey experience for commuter and leisure passengers alike. It marks another key step in our comprehensive programme of investment, in partnership with train operators, to deliver modern trains that are fit for purpose now and for many years to come. We look forward to the work getting underway.”
The Class 707 was originally purchased by neighbouring operator South West Trains who did not specify customer toilets to be included in their construction.
