PASSENGERS in the south look set to benefit from a £40 multi-million upgrade to a train fleet being built in Eastleigh.

Around £40m will be invested to upgrade South West Trains’ Class 455 train fleet.

The fleet will be fitted at the firm’s depot in Eastleigh after a prototype train is fitted at its Wimbledon depot.

It comes after the works in the rail way town were down graded seven years ago.

A total of 91 trains fitted with new traction equipment to enhance performance and improve reliability as part of the investment.

The investment is being delivered in partnership with the South West Trains-Network Rail Alliance, Porterbrook and the Department for Transport.

The programme will be rolled out over the next three years. Existing DC traction equipment, including motors, will be removed and replace with a reliable modern system.

It is hoped 20 per cent of traction electricity will be returned through regenerative braking in the new traction system, which aim to be lighter and reduce the amount of wear and tear on rail infrastructure.

New traction units will mean major servicing and maintenance works will be carried out every 15,000 miles – an increase from 10,000.

South West Trains will introduce 100 more carriages onto its services to provide capacity for an additional 23,000 peak-time passengers a day.

Christian Roth, engineering director for the South West Trains – Network Rail Alliance, said: “Our Class 455 trains are already by far the most reliable fleet in the country, however we are not complacent and we want to make sure these excellent results are sustained and improved even further.

“The new traction motors will help us to improve the reliability of these trains for our passengers at the same time as delivering environmental benefits through the reduced electricity supply.”