South West Trains has awarded Siemens a £210 million contract to supply 30 new Desiro City trains to operate in and out of London Waterloo station.

The new five-car trains, which will be purchased and leased back to South West by ROSCO Angel Trains, will boost peak-time capacity on the South West Trains’ network and create around 140 new engineering and operational jobs.

Set to be delivered from 2017, the trains, which will be similar to the Class 700 units being built for the Thameslink route, will operate in a 10-car formation. To accommodate the longer trains, the remaining four platforms of the former Waterloo International Terminal will be brought back into service and Platforms 1-4 will be extended.

Further infrastructure improvement are being completed on the main line and Hounslow loop to increase capacity on the network.

The new units, which will be maintained by South West Trains at its Wimbledon depot, will enter service between Waterloo and Windsor in 2018.

Tim Shoveller, chief executive for the South West Trains-Network Rail Alliance, said: “These exciting plans will deliver the biggest step-change in capacity and service to our customers on the network in decades.

“As well as providing extra space for passengers using our services now, the combination of investment in the infrastructure and these new trains will create space at Waterloo that is the essential first step to allow an increase in capacity for our longer distance, mainline services. We will also continue to work with industry partners to develop options for the longer term.”