On Mon, 23 Jul 2007 15:36 +0100 (BST), Colin Rosenstiel wrote:

As I understand it - and wrote in RBI last week (with no follow-up
calls from anyone in the industry to tell me I'm wrong.. so I assume
it's correct) the recently announced order of 377s by/for Southern
will go to FCC. DfT Rail has spotted that there are several 442's
still not claimed under the plans for Gatwick Express / Southern to
merge and has told Southern to use them instead.

(remember in all this Rail Minister Tom Harris repeatedly tells the
press that the DfT doesn't tell TOCs how many trains they can have
etc. etc.)

From the closure of Blackfriars terminal platforms for rebuilding on
the other side of the station Southeastern will have to run through
the Thameslink tunnel to a turn-back station north of London, but
DfT has still to decide where..
This will require dual voltage trains for the services - which are
likely to be the 377s mentioned - running in "plain vanilla livery"
for FCC and Southeastern... I've not heard any mention of ending the
Southern service to Watford although with these all being 4-car
diagrams releasing some of the sets with 375s (which have different
couplers) would enable a common 377 fleet to be available to
Southeastern/FCC. So it's quite a logical idea and one I'll ask
about.

I thought the point of the Southern 377s was to release the remaining
319s to FCC so they have the whole of that fleet?

See above... Southern will get extra 442s in place of the 377s.