By Colin J. Marsden

As part of the renewing of the South West Trains Franchise, it was agreed to provide significant extra passenger accommodation on some routes, as part of this policy, 28 Class 450 Desiro sets are now in the process of modification at Bournemouth depot into Class 450/5 high capacity units. From early summer 26 of the 28 sets will be rostered daily on the Waterloo to Windsor, Weybridge via Chertsey and Hounslow Loop services.

The sets to be modified to Class 450/5 are Nos. 450043 to 450070 these will be renumbered to 450543 to 450570 in order. The first two sets to enter traffic were Nos. 450548 and 450555 on 21 January 2008.

The modification work, carried out by Siemens engineers has seen the first class seating area removed from the TOC vehicle and replaced with standard class seating in the 2+2 and 2+3 style providing 26 seats. The original first class under luggage-rack lighting and lap top/telephone power points have been retained, while the first class curtains have been removed. The previous sliding doors separating the first class area have also been removed. To provide an easier movement for passengers to pass along inside vehicles and room for an extra 40 standing passengers, two standard class seats have been removed from the vehicle and extra grab handrails installed.

In the Trailer Open Standard Disabled Toilet vehicle two seats have been removed from the toilet end, extra handrails have been fitted and new litter bins between seat backs provided.

In the two driving cars six seats have been removed from each vehicle by the door openings, extra handrails have been fitted and three new litterbins provided. All the original vertical doorway litterbins have been removed throughout the train.

The upgrade work at Bournemouth depot takes around 15 days per set to complete, with four sets under modification at one time. The downtime also allows other work to be carried out such as replacement of the scratch resistant surface on the windows and a graffiti resistant finish to the walls of the toilet compartment and gangways areas.

Seating
450/0 Unmodified
DMOS1 – 70 standard
TOSLW – 60 standard + 9 tip up
TOCLB – 32 standard, 24 first + 4 tip up
DMOS2 – 70 standard
Total – 232 standard, 24 first

450/5 High Capacity
DMOS1 – 64 standard
TOSLW – 56 standard + 9 tip up
TOSLB – 56 standard + 4 tip up
DMOS2 – 64 standard
Total – 240 standard, 0 first