British Rail Class 387

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.[1][2]

On behalf of the Department for Transport, Southern issued an OJEU notice in December 2012[1] 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.[3][4] 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.[5]

387204 in Gatwick Express livery

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.[6] 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.[7][8][9] 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.[10][11]

In April 2016, c2c announced that it would operate six Class 387s to add capacity on the c2c network.

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.

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.[12][13] In January 2017 GWR began running a half-hourly Paddington to Hayes and Harlington service using pairs of these 387/1s.[12]

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.[14] 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.[15]

In January 2019, Class 387/1 EMUs began operating between Reading and Newbury after electrification works on the Reading to Taunton line had been finished.

In December 2019, Class 345s took over most of the GWR stopping services between Reading and Paddington. This displaced 12 Class 387s to now be used on Heathrow Express services between Heathrow Terminal 5 and Paddington.

The first c2c Class 387 was delivered in October 2016 and entered service in November 2016.[16] These trains were built primarily as stock units; they were leased out to c2c which at the time was suffering with overcrowding.[17][18] The units were leased pending delivery of newer rolling stock. They will be replaced by Class 720/6 in 2021.

387123 in Great Northern livery

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 moquette. Unit 387105 was transferred to Gatwick Express on a permanent basis, but was not relivered into Gatwick Express red. At the start of the May 2020 timetable, 387105 was transferred back to Great Northern. Great Northern Class 387s are allowed to be used at 110 mph but must observe the usual speed restrictions.

In March 2018, it was announced that Heathrow Airport Holdings had come to an agreement with Great Western Railway to take over the operating of the Heathrow Express service between London Paddington and Heathrow Airport from August 2018.[19] Upon takeover, GWR would then begin providing twelve Class 387 units from their own fleet for the service with modifications to include first class accommodation, higher speed Wi-Fi, additional luggage racks and on-board entertainment.[20] In September 2019, Heathrow Express confirmed that GWR would not takeover the operation of the service with the ownership remaining with Heathrow Airport Holdings until at least 2028, but GWR will still be providing and maintaining the Class 387 units for the service from 2020.[21]

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. During Summer 2016, several of Gatwick Express’ 387/2 units entered service with Thameslink prior to introduction on Gatwick Express services due to the delay of the Class 700 units, although these returned to service with Gatwick Express after a few months. The 387/1s have now been transferred to Great Northern working services from Kings Cross to Peterborough and Cambridge/King's Lynn.