Or by sending some 458s the other way and buying a few more Desiros for SWT.
The whole thing was a big mistake.
First of all, the 460's were brilliant trains. The exterior was very modern and stylish, and they weren't just built for GatEx, they were
designed for it. Very comfortable seats in both standard and first, so already miles better than the 387's that the poor passengers are going to have to be subjected to, with the Regulation Ironing Boards (or RIBs for short, which sort of reflects the shape of them when viewed from the side) and absolutely no difference in first. Second, they had loads of luggage space and were easily accessible, which is a 1up from the 442's. Yes, they didn't have that many seats for an 8-car train, but that doesn't matter as GatEx trains are hardly ever full.
Secondly, the whole 458/5 debacle meant that it would have been so much easier to get new build Desiros. The 458/5's aren't bad, but the 460's were brilliant and the 458/0's were also personal favourites of mine. It took a good 2-3 years to get them going, and even now they aren't all in service. New Desiros could have been built, tested and in service within a year or so, and for a much cheaper overall cost.
Now I usually prefer electrostars over desiros but why oh why could we not have just seen some 5-car 450's, that way the 458/0's would still be as they were (that is just a personal benefit), GatEx would still have their 460's and these horrible trains would never have had to be thought up of in the first place!
And maybe SWT and Southern could have split the 442's? I don't know