Southeastern and Hitachi Rail have agreed a new contract for the maintenance of the iconic Class 395 ‘Javelin’ which will see more units in service for customers every day alongside the continuation of the GBP 27 million refurbishment programme.
The new contract will see the maintenance of the flagship fleet brought in-house with technical support and spares supplied by the train’s manufacturer, Hitachi. This new contract will reduce the cost of maintaining the fleet and therefore the cost to the taxpayer.
It also extends Southeastern and Hitachi’s partnership through to at least 2027 and will transition from a Train Service Agreement (TSA) to a Technical Support & Spares Supply Agreement (TSSSA). There will be no changes to services, timetables, or any customer-facing aspects.
Since entering service in 2009, Hitachi has maintained the fleet at the Ashford Train Maintenance Centre. The fleet operates on High-Speed lines between London St Pancras International and Ashford International as well as standard lines across Kent, serving Canterbury, Dover, and Margate.
The Class 395 is currently undergoing a GBP 27 million refurbishment programme, jointly delivered by Southeastern and Hitachi Rail. The internal refurbishment is now past the halfway mark with the final unit due to enter service in Spring next year. Following that, a further programme to replace the external livery and upgrade the onboard customer information facilities will be carried out.
The Class 395 fleet is the only Southeastern fleet which is not currently maintained ‘in house’. The new maintenance contract is intended to reduce costs, and improve the availability of the units while also continuing Hitachi Rail’s expertise, technical skills and access to the global supply chain.
“Our highspeed fleet is a flagship of Southeastern and the wider UK railway and therefore maintaining them to the highest possible standards is vital for us and Hitachi. We look forward to welcoming our new colleagues from January next year and continuing to work with Hitachi to deliver the best possible service for our customers across the Southeastern highspeed network,” Mark Johnson, Engineering Director at Southeastern, said.
“Hitachi Rail is proud to continue our long-standing partnership with Southeastern as they implement their new strategic rail operations for the iconic Class 395. We are collaborating closely to facilitate a smooth transition ahead of the new maintenance contract starting in January 2025,” Angus Thom, Senior Director OS&M Operations at Hitachi Rail said.
The new contractual arrangements start from 12th January 2025 at which point a number of current Hitachi Rail colleagues will transfer to Southeastern under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006, also known as TUPE.
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