New trains set to revolutionise rail travel from Brighton and Hove are being tested in Germany.

South West Trains, which runs an hourly service from the city, along the coast and up to Reading, has spent £1 billion on 785 new carriages due to be brought in to service next year.

The new rolling stock will replace the operator's slam-door coaches, some of which have been in use on the route since the Fifties.

New features include air conditioning, electronic noticeboards, more comfortable seats, better disabled access and power-points in first class carriages.

A spokeswoman for the operator, owned by Stagecoach, said engineering giant Siemens was now putting the new body-shells through their paces on track near Wegberg in Germany.

Railway trials and field tests can also be carried out on the track in Germany, which has been specially-made to meet the gauge and power supply of the UK network.

She said: "We're aiming to bring the service out of the 20th Century."