New rolling stock at a cost of £80 million for LTS Rail promises to bring a new and dynamic rail service for Essex commuters - despite a delay in a delivery of previous new trains.

An order has now been placed for 28 Class 357 Electrostar trains which are due to be running by the end of June 2002, but a previous order of 46 trains should have been delivered in November.

A spokesman for Prism Rail, which owns LTS Rail, said the 46 trains were now expected to be in use early next year and were being safety tested.

He said: "They should all be delivered around the same time early next year."

With the first new trains next year and a following delivery in 2002, LTS's new train fleet will be brought to a total of 74 and will result in the replacement of all existing slam door rolling stock.

Giles Fearnley, chief executive of Prism, said: "This is tremendous news for our customers.

"LTS will now be the first London commuter network to have a completely new fleet since rail privatisation.

"While we continue to suffer unacceptable delays in the delivery of our existing 357 order, these are primarily safety case-related and will have been resolved well before the new order goes into production.

"We remain totally confident of the product and believe that, once the safety case has been achieved early next year, the first new trains will very quickly enter into service."

The new order will bring further enhancements including the Train Protection Warning System, air conditioning, a 100 mph capability and CCTV for added security.

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