The first passenger service for a Class 701 unit took place on Tuesday 9th January 2023 with a single return trip from London Waterloo to Windsor and Eton Riverside departing at 10:25 as 2U91 and returning to London as 2U92.
As 10:25 approached, the service appeared on the departure boards at Platform 19.
It was clear that this was going to be the service that the Class 701 would be operating as South Western Railway have introduced the Arterio branding as the service name, similar to LNER's Azuma on the East Coast Mainline.
At this point the media, who had been gathered outside the gateline, came onto the platform to set up cameras for the 701's arrival.
At 10:11, 701037 arrived into Waterloo from Wimbledon Depot as 5U91 ready to operate the first passenger service for a Class 701.
701037 was displaying its SWR and Arterio branding on the side, as do all the Class 701 units that have not been stored away from the South Western Railway network.
At the country end of the platform, 701037 was sat in the sun and members of the SWR management responsible for the introduction of the Class 701 were taking photos.
I hadn't planned to be taking photos with the media but Platform 19 at Waterloo is only about a person and a half wide, so I was trapped behind everyone else with some other enthusiasts.
The outbound trip was very busy with media doing interviews, so I didn't explore the interior of the train apart from the immediate area where I boarded.
Walking through the train was a great experience compared to the Class 450 that had brought me to Waterloo. The seats on the Class 701 are a similar width to those on the 450 but are in a 2+2 configuration rather than the 3+2 on the 450, I've seen the 701's configuration referred to as 3-1+2, as it's 3+2 seating with 1 seat removed from the 3 seat side. This means that the gangway is wider and may even be wider than the Class 707 that these replace.
A feature that is very welcome in my opinion is the use of an LCD rather than dot matrix passenger information screen. This allows for a wider range of information to be displayed, such as the status of the London Underground line and the names of the next few upcoming stations. The interface is very similar to the Elizabeth Line Class 345s and London Overground Class 710s and presumably the 720s and 730s. It's a good balance of getting high information density while still being easily readable both sat by it and from further down the carriage.
Another notable feature by the doors is the SWR Suburban carriage map. The Class 455s still have their South West Trains route maps from at least before 2017, Class 458 and Class 707 units don't have route maps and the Class 450s are used on long distance services as well as suburban so don't have route maps either. This means that this is the first use of a suburban route map. South Western Railway clearly dividing services into long distance and suburban moving forward with the 701s, rather than the intercity, suburban and metro of South West Trains.
A new feature to this Aventra family train (unless the 730s feature it) is an information screen located beside the route map by the doors. During the round trip today, it displayed the South Western Railway logo, the date and time and the next station name. Maybe in the future, when there are more 701s in use, SWR will use this display for other information as well.
The lighting is far better than the 455s, 458s and 450s. The light has a cooler colour temperature than on the other classes but didn't feel too blue. I would have to compare the Class 707s and the 701's lighting one after the other as in the sunlight they didn't feel particularly different. I'm hopeful that it won't be too long until 701 operation happen at night where the lighting can be put to the test properly.
The last observation I have from the trip to Windsor is the seats are not as bad as some online feared. While they look like the "ironing board" seats found on Thameslink's Class 700 and other recent classes, there is a bit more padding in the Class 701's seats. Not as much as a dedicated long distance class would have but the majority of people are unlikey to think they are a downgrade from the Class 455 that these primarily replace and are similar to the class 450 and 458 seats.
Turning round at Windsor and Eton Riverside was another opportunity for photos of the South Western Railway management team with 701037.
At the far end of the platform more photos of SWR staff were taken, the platform was wide enough not to get trapped behind media like at Waterloo.
The break at Windsor was also a good time to walk the length of the unit inside to see what was different about each coach of this 10 coach 701.
Just like the other Aventra family members, the Class 701 features a walk though design with no dividing doors between the coaches. There is also no first class on the 701s as the services they will operate are standard class only, the first class on Class 450 services is often declassified.
On the walk though the train, there was an accessible area with enough space for two wheelchair users and a bike storage area each half of the 10 car train. This keeps these areas in the same place on the train whether it's a single 10 car 701/0 or two 5 car 701/5 units paired together.
Once the 701 was on the way back to London Waterloo, I got to have a proper look around and get some photos of things I had seen on the way to Windsor but could get photos of on that journey. The Passenger Information Screens were one of these things.
Another notable part of the Class 701 is that there are three grab poles in the some of the door ways compared to only single grab poles in previous classes. These poles will be very useful as the acceleration of the Class 701 is improved over the classes it replaces so passengers will need to be able to hold on to something when the train pulls away from a stop.
Another (small) benefit over the 455s, 450s and 458s is that the groups of 4 seats together on the Class 701 get a small table. It's not as big as the tables found in the first class areas of 450s and 458s but it adds something to the middle of these groups of seats that makes the spacing feel underutilised if there is nothing there, such as on the 458s.
The 10 car 701/0s feature 2 accessible toilets and the 5 car 701/5s feature a single accessible toilet. The area around has tip down seating, however it was noted that the middle tip down seats do block the way past the toilet when they are in use.
Something I haven't seen done before like this is using red and green LEDs to signify if the toilet is in use or not on the outside. This is a far more noticeable sign than the small red lightbox on the Class 450s. There is also a line of LEDs that can cross out the WC text for if the toilet is locked out of use.
2U92 ended its journey in Platform 17 at London Waterloo at 12:32 so there was another opportunity to get some photos of the country end of 701037 in the sun.
Platform 17 also provides great lighting with the end of the full length roof canopy ending at platform 17 with the far end of platform 18 and 19 out in the open before the former Eurostar terminal begins for platform 20.
At 12:42, 701037 returned to Wimbledon Park depot as 5Y89 12:40 London Waterloo to Wimbledon Park Depot.
The introduction of Class 701 has taken nearly 4 years since the first one (701002) was delivered to Eastleigh from Derby but the wait has been worth it. 701037 was far quieter and smoother than any of the classes it will replace on the South Western Railway suburban network. One of the SWR management said that there were 2 or 3 that were ready for passenger use and they want to get all 90 units into service as soon as possible. Ongoing issues with the unions preventing training from taking place may restrict their use initially, reportedly to 2U91 and 2U92 for the 10th, 11th and 12th January 2024 before they disappear from passenger service again until further agreements have been made. However, progress is being made as one of the 701s has now carried paying passengers and hopefully more of them will soon.
While the first passenger operations were taking place with 701037, there were three other 701 activities taking place.
At 10:18 at London Waterloo, 701526 (and another 5 car 701?) arrived with the 5Q50 Eastleigh TRSMD to London Waterloo mileage accumulation run operated by GB Railfreight.
Then as 701037 was passing though Nine Elms on 2U92, its was overtaken by 701028 on 5Q21 London Waterloo to London Waterloo operated by South Western Railway.
After seeing 701028 pass at Nine Elms, I went out later in the day to get it arriving at Barnes Bridge on 5Q23 London Waterloo to London Waterloo, also operated by South Western Railway.
Finally, 701527 was being delivered from Derby Litchurch Lane to Eastleigh TRSMD by GB Railfreight 69010 as 5Q20 ready to complete its fault free running, as 701526 was doing.
