IN your Spotlight Argus feature in Monday’s edition, your correspondent Ben Leo talks in glowing terms about the Siemens class 700 trains that will enter service with Thameslink in mid-2016, and that they will offer passengers ‘new standards of comfort’.

Unfortunately, they will not be anything like as comfortable as the class 387 trains that have just been introduced on the route. These excellent trains have seats with armrests, individual reading lights, power sockets, and tables – all features missing from the class 700s which have Spartan interiors more suited to suburban services.

The class 700s may be OK for short distances of up to 30 minutes, but for journeys of between one and two hours they are completely inadequate. I would urge Thameslink that before the first train is delivered to reconsider the interiors, especially with regard to provision of tables and power sockets.

This is so that us long-suffering Brighton commuters can enjoy standards of comfort they should be entitled to for the price they pay for their season tickets. If not we’re in for a rude awakening next spring when the well-appointed 387s are spirited away to be replaced by the utilitarian 700s.

Shawn Buck, Lawrence Road, Hove