The high-speed Javelin trains that provide services between London St Pancras and Kent are to receive a £27 million refurbishment, with work starting early next year.

The upgrade will involve a full interior refresh, including new carpets and seats, with proposed new seating layouts to assist people with reduced mobility. There will also be USB charging sockets introduced, and later in 2024, live passenger information screens.

Eversholt Rail, which owns the trains and leases them to Southeastern, will be installing new CCTV, which combined with Hitachi Rail’s digital solutions, provides live passenger data on numbers and load weighting. Live data allows Southeastern to do more on passenger information, along with longer-term planning of passenger flow and maintenance.

The Javelin fleet will also be one of the first in the UK to install Hitachi Rail’s external cameras which will focus on the electric pantograph and send live monitoring of overhead lines and surrounding equipment back to the control room.

The initial phase of the project will take seven months and include design, engineering and procurement, with the upgrade to the first of the 29 trains commencing in March 2023 at Southeastern’s Ashford Depot.

The Javelin trains, officially British Rail Class 395, were built by Hitachi and delivered between August 2007 and August 2009, with full passenger services from December 2009.