Southeastern Railway is set to replace its 30-year-old Class 465 'Networker' trains that serve stations in Lewisham, promising commuters newer, more modern, and reliable rolling stock. The rail operator is currently in a procurement process to select the new trains.
The announcement was made at the Public Transport Liaison Forum meeting on Tuesday, 14 October 2025, where Southeastern representatives provided updates on investment plans and performance metrics. Councillor Louise Krupski, Deputy Mayor and Environment, Transport and Climate Action, and Councillor Sian Eiles were in attendance.
Southeastern also stated that punctuality in its Metro Area has been higher than its overall performance. For Railway Period 6 (August 18 to September 14), the 'Time-to-3' punctuality, which measures trains arriving within 2 minutes and 59 seconds of their scheduled time, was 86.7% for the entire network. Punctuality in the Metro Area was 88.93%.
The rail operator is also investing £1.35 billion between 2024 and 2029 in renewing the South Eastern Railway network's infrastructure.
As part of this investment, Southeastern is undertaking a £90 million re-signalling of the Parks Bridge area, which includes the lines via Catford and Catford Bridge, as well as the line between Hither Green and St Johns. The full system is expected to be commissioned by the end of 2026. This upgrade will replace old signalling equipment with new, modern, more reliable equipment, supporting more punctual journeys across the network as a whole as well as for Lewisham residents.
Other improvements in the borough include a £28 million investment at Hither Green station to make it fully step-free for entry, exit, and interchange for the first time. This project is funded by the Department for Transport's 'Access for All' programme and is expected to be completed next year.
Southeastern is also working with Lewisham Council to explore potential uses for Section 106 funding for station improvements at Lewisham station. Work is continuing on a capacity-relief scheme to move the gateline to platform 1, expected to be substantially complete in early 2026. One option being considered is further development work for an additional station exit on Platform 4. Further discussions are planned on the best use of available resources, to support upgrades and investment at Lewisham station in the short term as well as in the long term. Long term upgrades and investment has a strong interface with planning for the potential Bakerloo Line extension to Lewisham.
In response to a question about bringing the north bound platform station house at Catford Bridge Station back into use, Southeastern stated that major refurbishment works would be required to bring the station into use, and we are exploring potential sources of funding for this.
