Southern Railway has placed a £60 million order for 40 new Electrostar carriages off the back of a deal agreed last year for 130 units.
The operator announced yesterday (November 15) that it plans to exercise an existing option on December’s order with Bombardier for a fleet of new carriages, as well as work with the Department for Transport on a new procurement competition for a possible 216 dual voltage vehicles.
Southern said the new carriages “will enable additional capacity on the Southern network as well as a cascade of rolling stock around the wider network”.
Southern managing director Chris Burchell said: “I am pleased that Southern is able to assist the department in introducing additional capacity.
“The potential new order for 116 carriages will be exciting news for train manufacturers and for passengers.”
Delivery of the new carriages is expected in 2014.
