The British Rail Class 159 is a class of British
diesel multiple unit trains of the
Sprinter family, built in 1989–1992 by
British Rail Engineering Limited
British Rail Engineering Limited (BREL) was the railway systems engineering subsidiary of British Rail. Established in 1970, the maintenance arm was split as British Rail Maintenance Limited in 1987, and the design and building of trains was ...
(BREL)'s
Derby Litchurch Lane Works
Derby Litchurch Lane Works (formerly Derby Carriage and Wagon Works) is a railway rolling stock factory in Derby, England. It was opened in the 19th century by the Midland Railway. The plant has produced rolling stock under the ownership of the ...
as Class 158. Before entering traffic, the original 22 units were modified at Rosyth Dockyard to Class 159 to operate services from
London Waterloo to Salisbury and Exeter St Davids, replacing various locomotive-hauled passenger trains.
The units were originally branded by Network SouthEast as South Western Turbo.
History and design
In the late 1980s, the locomotive-hauled stock on Network SouthEast's ''
West of England
West of England is a combined authority area in South West England. It is made up of the Bristol, South Gloucestershire, and Bath and North East Somerset unitary authorities. The combined authority is led by the Mayor of the West of England Dan ...
'' route from
London Waterloo to
Salisbury
Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath.
Salisbury is in the southeast of ...
,
Yeovil Junction and
Exeter St Davids was in urgent need of replacement. The
Class 50 locomotives were not suited to the stop-start nature of the route, and frequently broke down.
Because of the long sections of single track west of Salisbury following the
Beeching cuts
The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Development of the M ...
, a single breakdown could cause chaos. Various options were considered including electrification, shortened
HSTs, construction of new locomotives and stock (a passenger version of the proposed
Class 48), or the proposed Class 171 (which would have been part of the
Networker family, an intercity version of the Class 165 – not to be confused with the later
Turbostars). A study found the best options were electrification or new DMUs.
With the UK economy in decline in the early 1990s, it was found that
Regional Railways
Regional Railways was one of the three passenger sectors of British Rail created in 1982 that existed until 1997, two years after privatisation. The sector was originally called ''Provincial''.
Regional Railways was the most subsidised (per pas ...
had over-ordered
Class 158s at the same time as Network SouthEast was looking for a similar number of new diesel trains. NSE agreed to take on the surplus Class 158s.
The original 22 units were built as
Class 158 units, but were rebuilt by
Babcock Rail in
Rosyth Dockyard
Rosyth Dockyard is a large naval dockyard on the Firth of Forth at Rosyth, Fife, Scotland, owned by Babcock Marine, which formerly undertook refitting of Royal Navy surface vessels and submarines. Before its privatisation in the 1990s it was ...
before entering traffic. This entailed fitting first-class accommodation and retention toilets, and various other modifications. The rebuild was required because it was not possible for Network SouthEast and the newly privatised BREL to agree terms on the variation order to NSE specification.
[Southern E-Group article](_blank)
(retrieved 3 September 2007)
The first unit (159004) was handed over to NSE on 6 January 1993.
The units converted to Class 159 specification during construction are numbered 159001–159022, with individual vehicles numbered 52873–52894 and 57873–57894 for driving motor vehicles, and 58718–58739 for intermediate motor vehicles. The entire class is maintained at a purpose-built depot at Salisbury.
In 2007, eight further Class 159 units were created through the rebuilding of surplus Class 158 units displaced from
TransPennine Express
TransPennine Express (TPE), legally First TransPennine Express Limited, is a British train operating company owned by FirstGroup that operates the TransPennine Express franchise. It runs regional and inter-city rail services between the major ci ...
.
The units feature BSI couplers. This enables them to work in multiple not only with other units from the same class, but also and the classes of the
Pacer and
Sprinter families.
Accidents and incidents
*On 4 January 2010,
Class 142 diesel multiple unit 142029 collided with a train composed of two Class 159 units at . Nine people were injured.
*On 31 October 2021,
South Western Railway Class 159 unit 159102
collided with a
Great Western Railway Class 158 train at Fisherton tunnel in Salisbury.
Operations
The units were dedicated to the West of England sector of Network South East, operating services between London Waterloo and Exeter; they also worked services between Salisbury and Southampton and on the Reading to Basingstoke line, replacing elderly DEMUs. They then transferred to the South West Trains
shadow franchise in readiness for privatisation.
Upon the
privatisation of British Rail
The privatisation of British Rail was the process by which ownership and operation of the railways of Great Britain passed from government control into private hands. Begun in 1994, it had been completed by 1997. The deregulation of the indust ...
, the ''
West of England
West of England is a combined authority area in South West England. It is made up of the Bristol, South Gloucestershire, and Bath and North East Somerset unitary authorities. The combined authority is led by the Mayor of the West of England Dan ...
'' route passed in 1996 to the
South West Trains
Stagecoach South Western Trains Limited, trading as South West Trains (SWT), was an English train operating company owned by Stagecoach, which operated the South Western franchise between February 1996 and August 2017.
SWT operated the majorit ...
franchise, which was won by the
Stagecoach Group.
Starting in 2000, units were progressively refurbished and repainted from
Network SouthEast
Network SouthEast (NSE) was one of the three passenger sectors of British Rail created in 1982. NSE mainly operated commuter rail trains within Greater London and inter-urban services in densely populated South East England, although the net ...
's blue, red and white livery into South West Trains' express livery. Other post-privatisation modifications included clearer LED destination displays, upgraded air-conditioning, and more openable windows.
Currently, the Class 159s operate mainly from London Waterloo to Salisbury/Exeter in formations of six, eight, or nine coaches (2 × Class 159, 2 × 159 plus 1 × 158, or 3 × 159 respectively) and between Salisbury and Exeter in three- or six-coach formations. Until the December 2009 timetable change,
some trains continued beyond Exeter to
Paignton
Paignton ( ) is a seaside town on the coast of Tor Bay in Devon, England. Together with Torquay and Brixham it forms the borough of Torbay which was created in 1998. The Torbay area is a holiday destination known as the English Riviera. Paignt ...
,
Plymouth and
Penzance; these usually operated as three-coach units, though at weekends there were some six-coach formations. These services are now operated by the
Great Western Railway. The service to
Bristol Temple Meads is now also in the hands of Class 159s.
Since 2006, the original Class 159 fleet of 22 has been supplemented by eight three-coach 158s (renumbered into the 159/1 series) and 11 two-coach
Class 158s. The decision to standardise on 158s and 159s allowed the nine
Class 170 'Turbostar' units to be transferred to other operators.
Eight went to
First TransPennine Express
First TransPennine Express was a British train operating company jointly owned by FirstGroup and Keolis which operated the TransPennine Express franchise. First TransPennine Express ran regular Express regional railway services between the major ...
, with the remaining unit going to
Southern for integration into
Class 171 Turbostars.
Refurbishments and conversions
Refurbishment of the Class 159/0
2000
South West Trains began a refurbishment programme for its 22 Class 159/0s in 2000. The seats were re-trimmed and interiors repainted. The units were repainted into SWT livery.
2008
The units received another refurbishment in 2008 at
Wabtec
Wabtec Corporation (derived from Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation) is an American company formed by the merger of the Westinghouse Air Brake Company (WABCO) and MotivePower Industries Corporation in 1999. It is headquartered ...
Doncaster
Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...
.
CCTV and PIS (
Passenger Information Systems) were installed,
[. Retrieved 5 October 2007.] new seating was installed in first class and at the same time the units received a modified version of the SWT express livery (with orange doors as opposed to the red doors on
Class 444 units) for compliance with disabled access regulations.
Class 158 conversions
Eight of TransPennine's surplus three-coach
Class 158 units were refurbished to match SWT's existing Class 159 units at
Wabtec
Wabtec Corporation (derived from Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation) is an American company formed by the merger of the Westinghouse Air Brake Company (WABCO) and MotivePower Industries Corporation in 1999. It is headquartered ...
Doncaster
Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...
,
and renumbered into Class 159 subclass /1.
The first updated units were delivered to South West Trains in November 2006, and by May 2007 all of the new subclass were in service.
The refurbishment included making the first-class accommodation area larger and completely refitting it, brighter interior lighting with new diffusers and the plating-over of the disused toilet in the MSO vehicle. The Class 159/1s have been fitted with retention toilets. Additional alterations include the installation of a
Passenger information system
A passenger information system, or passenger information display system, is an automated system for supplying users of public transport with information about the nature and the state of a public transport service through visual, voice or other m ...
(PIS) and CCTV as is fitted on the 159/0s.
The converted units however retained their original
Cummins
Cummins Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and distributes engines, filtration, and power generation products. Cummins also services engines and related equipment, including fuel systems, controls, air ...
NTA855-R1 engines, which produce less power than the R3 variants fitted to the Class 159/0 fleet.
Fleet details
Liveries
Routes Served
These trains serve the following routes:
*
London Waterloo to
Basingstoke,
Salisbury
Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath.
Salisbury is in the southeast of ...
and
Exeter St Davids via
Yeovil Junction
*London Waterloo & Salisbury to
Yeovil Pen Mill
Yeovil Pen Mill railway station is one of two stations serving the town of Yeovil, Somerset, England. The station is situated just under a mile to the east of the town centre. The station is located south of , on the Heart of Wessex Line. The ...
(Via Westbury or Yeovil Junction)
Notes
References
{{British Rail DMU
159
159
Train-related introductions in 1993