The contract follows the recent decision by the Department for Transport to sanction the purchase of the cars to ease overcrowding on Southern and Thameslink services (Transport Briefing 04/04/07). The new vehicles will be delivered by January 2009.

Colin Walton, chairman of Bombardier Transportation in the UK, said: "I am delighted with this order for new Electrostars. This has enabled us to switch our Electrostar production line back on, which is good news for our Derby site and for our suppliers. We see a very strong future for the Class 377 product both here in the UK and overseas. The additional vehicles for Southern will form part of the solution to overcrowding on trains in the south of England."

At present there are 1,600 Electrostar carriages in service in the UK with train operators Southern, Southeastern and c2C. Transport for London has placed an order for Electrostar trains to provide London Overground services on the revamped East London and North London Railway network. Bombardier is also building new Electrostars for the Gautrain railway project in South Africa and which are due to enter service in time for the 2010 football World Cup.

Southern's new Electrostars will allow it to pass older Class 319 carriages to First Capital Connect for the train operator to extend 4-car trains to 8-car formations.