British Rail Class 387

British Rail Class 387 Electrostar
Interior of a Great Western Railway Class 387 carriage.
In service 2014 (2014)–present
Manufacturer Bombardier Transportation
Derby Litchurch Lane Works
Family name Electrostar
Replaced
Number built 107 units (428 carriages)
Formation 4 carriages
Operator(s)
Specifications
Car length 20.39 metres (66 ft 11 in)
Width 2.80 metres (9 ft 2 in)
Height 3.77 metres (12 ft 4 in)
Maximum speed 110 mph (177 km/h)
Traction system IGBT-VVVF
(Bombardier MITRAC DR1000)
Power output 1.68 megawatts (2,250 horsepower)
Electric system(s) 750 V DC Third rail
25 kV 50 Hz AC Overhead
Current collection method Contact shoe
Pantograph
Track gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge

The Class 387 Electrostar is an electric multiple unit (EMU) built by Bombardier Transportation for Thameslink (now transferred to Great Northern[1]), Gatwick Express, c2c and Great Western Railway (GWR), with the first delivered in December 2014.

These trains are part of the Electrostar family which also includes classes 357, 375, 376, 377, 378 and 379.

History

The Class 387 is a variation of Bombardier’s Class 379 Electrostar with a higher maximum speed of 110 mph (177 km/h). Those used on G.T.R. Great Northern are only cleared for 100mph running at present.

Description

Class 387/1

The first Class 387/1s were ordered for the Thameslink route, which enabled the existing Class 319s to be transferred to Northern Rail for use on the newly electrified Manchester Victoria to Liverpool via Newton-le-Willows route.[2][3]

On behalf of the Department for Transport, Southern issued an OJEU notice in December 2012[2] with proposals received in January 2013. The invitation to tender for the fleet was released the following month with final offers being submitted by 18 June 2013. Southern announced it had signed a deal with Bombardier on 30 July 2013 for 29 four carriage units.[4][5] The deal also included an option for 140 carriages which have since been taken up with 108 for Gatwick Express and 32 for Great Western Railway.

In October 2015, Porterbrook placed a speculative order for 80 carriages. Fifty-six were later leased to Great Western Railway and the remaining 24 to c2c as 387/3s.[6]

Class 387/2

Gatwick Express Class 387/2 No. 387204 at Crewe.
The Standard Class Interior of a Gatwick Express Class 387/2
The 1st Class Interior of Gatwick Express 387218

As part of Govia's bid for the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern franchise, 27 four-carriage units were ordered to replace Class 442s on the Gatwick Express service, using some of the optional 140 extra carriages.[7] The order was announced in November 2014 with the first units on test in July 2015 and they began to enter service on 29 February 2016.[8][9][10] The deployment was disrupted by unionised drivers refusing to take passengers, claiming that the twelve coach Class 387 trains are not covered by their driver only operation agreement which is limited to ten coaches, and that running them without a conductor would be unsafe.[11][12]

Class 387/3

In April 2016, c2c announced that it would operate six Class 387s until replaced by Class 711s in 2021[13]

Current operations

Gatwick Express

Class 387 units began to replace the Class 442 EMUs from mid-2016, until the final 442 ran on 10 March 2017. The Class 442s were then stored.

Great Western Railway

The first Great Western Railway unit entered service on 5 September 2016 running between London Paddington and Hayes & Harlington in peak hours to relieve congestion on some of the country's most crowded trains.[14][15] In January 2017 GWR began running a half-hourly Paddington to Hayes and Harlington service using pairs of these 387/1s.[14]

On 22 May 2017 Class 387/1 EMUs began operating suburban services between London Paddington and Maidenhead.

On 1 January 2018, following further electrification work, Class 387/1 EMUs began operating suburban services between London Paddington and Didcot Parkway, replacing GWR Class 165 DMUs on these services.[16] Due to electrification being suspended from Didcot Parkway to Oxford, the previous Oxford suburban service from London Paddington was cut back to Didcot Parkway to allow electric trains to operate this service. Oxford is still served by the fast services from London Paddington, and a DMU service from Didcot Parkway.[17]

c2c

The first c2c Class 387 was delivered in October 2016 and entered service in November 2016.[18] These trains were built primarily as stock units; they were leased out to c2c which at the time was suffering with overcrowding.[19][20] The units were leased pending delivery of newer rolling stock. They will be replaced by Class 711s in 2021.

Great Northern

From late 2016, 29 of the Class 387/1s operating on Thameslink were displaced by the delivery of Class 700 Desiro City units, and were transferred to Great Northern. They operate mostly on the Kings Cross–Cambridge–King's Lynn route, though they can also be seen on other services. These units were delivered in a white livery, with Southern green doors and Southern upholstery. They are only cleared for 100mph running at present.

Future operations

Heathrow Express

In March 2018, it was announced that Heathrow Airport Ltd, the owner and operator of Heathrow Express, had come to an agreement with Great Western Railway to take over the running of the service between London Paddington and Heathrow Airport, beginning in August 2018. From December 2019, GWR will then run the service using a dedicated pool of 14 modified Class 387 units from its own fleet. These Electrostar units will be modified at Ilford HM Depot by Bombardier Transportation. [21]

Former operations

The first Thameslink unit entered service in December 2014 with all in service by July 2015.[22] They were operated by Thameslink on services between Bedford and Brighton. These trains have now been transferred to Great Northern working services from Kings Cross to Peterborough and Cambridge/King's Lynn.

Accidents

Fleet details

Class Operator No. Built Year Built Cars per Unit Unit nos.
Class 387/1 Great Northern 29 2014–15 4 387101–387129
Great Western Railway 45 2016–17 4 387130–387174
Class 387/2 Gatwick Express 27 2015–16 4 387201–387227
Class 387/3 c2c 6 2016 4 387301–387306

One unit so far has been named:

  • 387124 - "Paul McCann"[24]

Liveries

Interiors

References

  1. ↑ "Improvements on Great Northern : Thameslink and Great Northern".
  2. 1 2 "Bombardier to manufacture 116 new train carriages for Thameslink rolling stock cascade" (Press release). Southern. 17 July 2013. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
  3. ↑ Thameslink Southern & Great Northern Invitation to Tender Department for Transport 26 September 2013
  4. ↑ Commuters to benefit from state of the art electric trains Department for Transport 30 July 2013
  5. ↑ Bombardier Transportation Wins UK Rolling Stock Contract Archived 3 March 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Bombardier Transportation 30 July 2013
  6. ↑ "Porterbrook orders 387s to meet electrification demands" Rail Magazine issue 787 11 November 2015 page 13
  7. ↑ Government welcomes new carriages for the Gatwick Express and Thameslink routes Department for Transport
  8. ↑ "Govia and Bombardier sign Gatwick Express train contract". Railway Gazette International. DVV Media Group. 18 November 2014. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
  9. ↑ Gatwick Express Class 387/2 EMU on test Railway Gazette 23 July 2015
  10. ↑ "Late-February debut for Gatwick Express Class 387/2s".
  11. ↑ "Gatwick Express drivers' strike threat over longer trains".
  12. ↑ The Safety Critical Role of the guard 2016 RMT PDF download
  13. ↑ "New trains boost to deal with 'unprecedented' demand". Railnews. 13 April 2016. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
  14. 1 2 "Introducing our new trains". www.gwr.com. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
  15. ↑ "First Electrostars enter service on Great Western Railway".
  16. ↑ "GWR Electrostar fleet enters service after electrification completed". 2 January 2018. Retrieved 7 January 2018.
  17. ↑ "New GWR trains enter service after electrification". 2 January 2018. Retrieved 7 January 2018.
  18. ↑ "c2c Class 387s enter service". 22 December 2016.
  19. ↑ "c2c delays: late night crush on trains so bad that 'businessmen wet themselves'". Evening Standard. 29 January 2016. Retrieved 17 March 2018.
  20. ↑ "What complaints did you have about overcrowding before the timetable change, and how does it compare to now?". c2c. Retrieved 17 March 2018.
  21. ↑ "GWR to manage Heathrow Express service". Railway Gazette. 28 March 2018. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
  22. ↑ "New air-conditioned trains enter service on Thameslink : Thameslink and Great Northern".
  23. ↑ Hartley-Parkinson, Richard. "Meanwhile, a train at London's King's Cross Station appeared to have hit the buffers on platform nine". Metro. Associated Newspapers. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
  24. ↑ "387124 20170518 Biggleswade KingsCross". Flickr. Retrieved 18 May 2017.

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