British Rail Class 360
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The British Rail Class 360 '' Desiro'' is an
electric multiple-unit An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a num ...
class that was built by
Siemens Transportation Systems Siemens Mobility GmbH is a separately-managed company of Siemens, arising from a corporate restructuring effective 1 August 2018. With its global headquarters in Munich, Siemens Mobility has four core business units: Mobility Management, dedi ...
between 2002 and 2005. The Class 360 is currently operated by East Midlands Railway and the Global Centre of Rail Excellence.


Description


Class 360/1

First Great Eastern First Great Eastern was a train operating company in England owned by FirstGroup that operated the Great Eastern franchise from January 1997 until March 2004. Services First Great Eastern operated all stops and limited stops services on the ...
ordered 21 four-car Class 360/1s to replace its slam-door Class 312 units. Built in
Krefeld Krefeld ( , ; li, Krieëvel ), also spelled Crefeld until 1925 (though the spelling was still being used in British papers throughout the Second World War), is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located northwest of Düsseldorf, i ...
,
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, the units feature air conditioning, plug doors, CCTV, a wheelchair area, and first class at the cab ends. After being tested at the
Wildenrath Wildenrath is a township within the municipality of Wegberg in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The town is situated on the Bundesstraße 221 between Wassenberg and Arsbeck on the edge of Maas-Schwalm-Nette Nature Park and close to the borde ...
, Germany and Velim,
Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
test tracks, the first entered service in August 2003. In February 2004, unit 360115 returned to Wildenrath for tests aimed at improving pantograph performance. They were primarily used on Great Eastern Main Line services from
London Liverpool Street Liverpool Street station, also known as London Liverpool Street, is a central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in the north-eastern corner of the City of London, in the ward of Bishopsgate Without. It is the t ...
to
Clacton-on-Sea Clacton-on-Sea is a seaside town in the Tendring District in the county of Essex, England. It is located on the Tendring Peninsula and is the largest settlement in the Tendring District with a population of 56,874 (2016). The town is situated ...
, Colchester Town and
Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line ...
. They also ran to
Walton-on-the-Naze Walton-on-the-Naze is a seaside town on the North Sea coast and (as Walton le Soken) a former civil parish, now in the parish of Frinton and Walton, in the Tendring district in Essex, England. It is north of Clacton and south of the port of H ...
and the Mayflower line. They occasionally operated through to
Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...
. In April 2004, the Great Eastern franchise was merged into the Greater Anglia franchise that was awarded to
National Express East Anglia National Express East Anglia (NXEA) was a train operating company in England owned by National Express that operated the Greater Anglia franchise from April 2004 until February 2012. Originally trading as ''One'', it was rebranded National Exp ...
. All passed with the franchise to Greater Anglia in February 2012. The Class 360s were not maintained by the franchisee, but under contract by Siemens at
Ilford EMU Depot Ilford EMU Depot is a traction maintenance depot located in Ilford, Greater London, England. The depot is situated on the Great Eastern Main Line and is on the north side of the line to the east of Ilford station, between that station and Sev ...
. All were replaced by Class 720s in 2020/2021 and moved to East Midlands Railway (EMR) to operate services on the
Midland Main Line The Midland Main Line is a major railway line in England from London to Nottingham and Sheffield in the Midlands. It comprises the lines from London's St Pancras station via Leicester, Derby/Nottingham and Chesterfield in the East Midlands ...
from
London St Pancras St Pancras railway station (), also known as London St Pancras or St Pancras International and officially since 2007 as London St Pancras International, is a London station group, central London railway terminus on Euston Road in the London Bor ...
to
Corby Corby is a town in North Northamptonshire, England, located north-east of Northampton. From 1974 to 2021, the town served as the administrative headquarters of the Borough of Corby. At the 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 Census, the built-up ...
from May 2021. They will have their 3+2 seating replaced with 2+2 and be modified to operate at . They will be based at
Bedford Cauldwell Walk depot Bedford Cauldwell Walk depot,Also referred to as Bedford Cauldwell depot, Bedford depot, Cauldwell depot.. also .. EMU depot, .. E.M.U.D, .. Traction Maintenance Depot (TMD) etc is an electric multiple unit maintenance depot located on the Mi ...
. Beginning in June 2020, all were cycled through Siemens at Kings Heath Depot, Northampton to be modified for operation. The first was transferred to EMR's
Cricklewood Depot Cricklewood sidings currently provides stabling for passenger trains, and is the site of a former steam shed and diesel traction maintenance depot located in Cricklewood, Greater London, England. It is situated beside the Midland Main Line, to ...
in November 2020, with all having transferred by February 2021. They entered service with East Midlands Railway on 16 May 2021. Two units had received a temporary application of the EMR Connect livery in time for this; full-scale repainting of the fleet began in June 2021.


Class 360/2

In June 2003,
BAA plc BAA or Baa may refer to: Letters and sounds * Baa, onomatopoeic representation of the noise made by sheep *Bāʾ, the Arabic letter ب * Baa, the fifth consonant of the Thaana script used in the Dhivehi language Places * Baa Atoll, an administrat ...
ordered four Class 360 units for its
Heathrow Connect Heathrow Connect was a train service in London provided jointly by Heathrow Express and Great Western Railway (GWR), between Paddington station and Heathrow Airport. The service followed the same route as the non-stop Heathrow Express servic ...
service, which was designed to complement the non-stop
Heathrow Express Heathrow Express is a high-frequency airport rail link operating between London Heathrow Airport and . Opened in 1998, trains run non-stop, with a journey time of 15 minutes. The service is operated jointly by Great Western Railway and Heathrow ...
service by calling at a number of intermediate stations between
London Paddington Paddington, also known as London Paddington, is a Central London railway terminus and London Underground station complex, located on Praed Street in the Paddington area. The site has been the London terminus of services provided by the Great ...
to Heathrow Airport. Siemens fulfilled the order by rebuilding four units it had previously built in speculation of an order from
Angel Trains Angel Trains is a British rolling stock company (ROSCO). Together with Eversholt Rail Group and Porterbrook, it is one of the three original ROSCOs. Angel Trains was established in March 1994 as part of the privatisation of British Rail. In ...
. One of these, 350001, had already been delivered to England and was being used for training by
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 ...
at
Northam Carriage Servicing Depot Northam Traincare Facility, also known as Northam Carriage Servicing Depot, is an electric traction maintenance depot in the suburb of Northam in Southampton, England. The depot is situated on the South West Main Line and is south of St Denys ...
, while the others remained at the Wildenrath test track in Germany. The first rebuilt unit arrived at Heathrow Connect's
Old Oak Common depot Old Oak Common TMD was a traction maintenance depot located west of London Paddington, in Old Oak Common. The depot was the main facility for the storage and servicing of locomotives and multiple-units from Paddington. The depot codes were OC f ...
in November 2004, and services commenced in June 2005. An additional unit was subsequently ordered; it arrived in England in November 2005 but did not enter service for a further 12 months. In 2007 five additional intermediate vehicles were procured and used to lengthen each unit to five carriages. In 2010, one unit began operating a Heathrow Central to
Heathrow Terminal 4 Heathrow Terminal 4 is an airport terminal An airport terminal is a building at an airport where passengers transfer between ground transportation and the facilities that allow them to board and disembark from an aircraft. Within the ter ...
shuttle, with a new
Heathrow Express Heathrow Express is a high-frequency airport rail link operating between London Heathrow Airport and . Opened in 1998, trains run non-stop, with a journey time of 15 minutes. The service is operated jointly by Great Western Railway and Heathrow ...
livery. In May 2018
TfL Rail TfL Rail was the concession which operated commuter services on two separate railway lines in London, England and its environs whilst the Crossrail construction project linking these lines was underway. On 24 May 2022, upon the opening of th ...
inherited all five of Heathrow Connect's Class 360s, which were replaced by Class 345 units once problems with the
European Train Control System The European Train Control System (ETCS) is the signalling and control component of the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS). It is a replacement for legacy train protection systems and designed to replace the many incompatible ...
in the Heathrow tunnel were resolved. On 30 July 2020, Class 345 units began entering passenger service on the Heathrow branch, and the last Class 360 units were withdrawn on 13 September 2020. In February 2021,
Rail Operations Group Rail Operations Group (ROG) specialises in ad-hoc movement of rolling stock for rolling stock companies and train operating companies as well as locomotive spot hire services and the operation of charter trains. It has its headquarters and main ...
(ROG) announced it had purchased the five-strong fleet from
Heathrow Airport Holdings Heathrow Airport Holdings is the United Kingdom-based operator of Heathrow Airport. The company also operated Gatwick Airport, Stansted Airport, Edinburgh Airport and several other UK airports, but was forced by the Competition Commission to se ...
. The fleet was moved to
MoD Bicester MoD Bicester is a large military storage and distribution centre just outside Bicester in Oxfordshire. History The site dates back to September 1942 when a depot was constructed near Bicester to provide logistical support for operations in Europ ...
for storage pending further use with the company, which potentially included conversion into "fast freight" units. In August 2022, ROG stated that the units would not be repurposed due to technical issues, and that they wished the units to return to passenger service. However, this did not occur, and on 23 August 2022 unit 360205 was taken to
Sims Metal Sims Limited (formerly Sims Metal Management Limited) is a global environmental services conglomerate, operating through a number of divisions, with a focus on: (a) Ferrous and Non-ferrous metal recycling, (b) enterprise data destruction and cl ...
in Newport, South Wales, to be scrapped. Unit 360204 followed shortly thereafter. In October 2022, it was announced that the remaining three units had been acquired by the
Global Centre of Rail Excellence The Global Centre of Rail Excellence (GCRE) is a proposed train, railway infrastructure and technology testing facility, located in Onllwyn, Wales, where the site sits on the border between Neath Port Talbot and Powys. The centre is located on ...
(GCRE). The units will be used in the running-in process for the GCRE's infrastructure test track, as well as being made available to the railway industry as research and development test trains.


Accidents and incidents

* On 25 May 2014, 360205 derailed as it entered due to bogie maintenance errors, exacerbated by a track defect.


Fleet details


References

{{British Rail EMU 360 Siemens multiple units Train-related introductions in 2003 25 kV AC multiple units