Bombardier to supply trains for Southern

Bombardier Transportation has signed an €85m contract with Southern Railway and Porterbrook Leasing for 48 additional Electrostar cars, to be delivered by January 2009.

The contract follows the recent decision by the Department for Transport (DfT) to commission the purchase of the cars to ease overcrowding on Southern and Thameslink services in the UK.

Colin Walton, Chairman of Bombardier Transportation in the UK, said: ‘This order has enabled us to switch our Electrostar production line back on, which is good news for our Derby site and for our suppliers. We see a very strong future for the Electrostar product both here in the UK and overseas. The additional Electrostars for Southern will form part of the solution to overcrowding on trains in the South of England’.

Over 1,600 Electrostar vehicles are already in service with three operators in the UK - c2c, Southeastern and Southern. Electrostar-type trains were also ordered in 2006 by Transport for London for the ‘London Overground’ services for East London Line and North London Railway.