Southern Rail has announced it will be retiring all of its Class 313 trains as of May 21 this year.
Wirth the introduction of the summer timetable, the trains will be replaced by Electrostar trains, which will provide the luxury of onboard accessible toilet facilities and air conditioning.
The Class 313s are the oldest trains currently on the network at 46 years old, beaten in age only by trains on the London Underground, which were introduced in in 1972 and 73.
Govia Thameslink Railway’s stakeholder team said:
“Some services along the coast between Portsmouth, Brighton and Seaford are operated by our Class 313 units which were introduced to Southern in 2010, after a significant refurbishment, to add much needed capacity into the fleet.
“They are the oldest trains we run, dating from the 1970s. Many of you have told us about the need for better, more modern trains with more facilities on these well used routes, so we are keen to update the passenger experience for current and new customers.
“We are therefore pleased to say, with the introduction of the Summer 2023 timetable from Sunday 21 May, we are planning to entirely retire the Class 313. This will mean replacing all our Class 313s with Electrostar trains on the following routes: Brighton to Seaford; Brighton to Lewes; Brighton to Portsmouth; Littlehampton to Bognor Regis and Littlehampton to Portsmouth & Southsea.
“The two trains already share many routes, so this change will mean that customers will now always have a more modern train, still with a second member of staff on board.
“With the addition of air-conditioning, accessible toilets, and a £55m upgrade currently under way, these trains will be much more comfortable for customers as well as staff and help us to win customers back as we head into the busy summer period.
“There will also be more space on board our busiest route, Brighton to Portsmouth, as the three carriage Class 313 will be replaced by a four carriage Class 377 Electrostar. On other coastal routes three carriage Class 377 Electrostars will be used. As today, on occasion another variant of the Electrostar family, the four carriage Class 387, may be used if a Class 377 is not available.
“We are pleased to be phasing out our oldest trains so we can provide a consistent, more attractive and updated offer to customers, supporting more people on their travels along our coastway routes.”
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