Department for Transport confirmed after a competitive tender process that South West Trains had been awarded a new ten-year contract to operate the South Western franchise, commencing in February 2007. As a result of the award, and in keeping with commitments made in their tender, SWT implemented a new rolling stock plan that called for the withdrawal of its 24 units. Class and 450 units would take over the affected services, with the resulting gaps to be covered by re-activating the Class 458 fleet. There was some speculation from industry observers that this was made possible by Porterbrook significantly reducing the amount of money it charged SWT to lease the Junipers, given that there appeared to be no other operators interested in using the fleet. Following the December 2006 timetable change the stored Class 458 units began to return to service, and the Class 442 withdrawal was completed on 24 January 2007. By the end of the following February, observers reported that only four Junipers had not yet been re-activated, and that the general reliability of the fleet had improved so much that units now averaged between significant failures (defined as causing delays greater than five minutes). The re-activation process included the fitting of RVAR-compliant internal displays to the entire fleet. The other points of RVAR non-compliance were covered by existing exemptions that remained valid until 31 December 2010. Refresh and reliability improvements Between 2008 and 2010 the fleet was 'refreshed' at Bournemouth Traincare Depot, during which process the units were fitted with CCTV, new seats and tables in first class, and modified RVAR-compliant lavatories and doorway lights. The interiors were also cleaned and repainted. In May 2010, SWT enabled regenerative braking on two Class 458 units as part of trial testing its potential use across both the Juniper and Desiro fleets. The trials were successful and regenerative braking was enabled across all 30 Class 458 units by mid-2011. By the end of 2012 the fleet was achieving an average distance of between significant failures; making it the most reliable fleet in Britain and the first to achieve 6-figure mileages. The feat was recognized with a Modern Railways magazine Golden Spanner award in the New Generation EMU category on 23 November 2012. Conversion to Class 458/5 South West Trains had experienced a considerable shortage of passenger capacity on many of its suburban routes in the years immediately prior to 2012,