The British Rail Class 376 are
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 number ...
passenger trains manufactured by
Bombardier Transportation
Bombardier Transportation was a Canadian-German rolling stock and rail transport manufacturer, headquartered in Berlin, Germany.
It was one of the world's largest companies in the rail vehicle and equipment manufacturing and servicing industry ...
at its
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 ...
. It is part of the
Electrostar family, which are the most common EMUs introduced since 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 units were ordered by
Connex South Eastern, introduced in 2004/2005 by
South Eastern Trains originally to replace
Class 465 and
Class 466 to be transferred to the Outer Suburban services to Kent to replace the
Class 423 slam-door trains.
Design
It is a derivative of the
Class 375 Electrostar specially designed for use on the high-volume metro routes running from
Central London
Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local government. Its characteris ...
, and through
Southeast London to
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
. The changes are mostly focused on increasing the trains’ capacity and decreasing station dwell times. The Class 376's doors are wider to allow more passengers to board at once, and are metro-style sliding pocket doors which are faster and more reliable than the Class 375s
plug doors, although they do not close flush with the bodyside and hence are less aerodynamic and do not provide as much thermal insulation. The units have 2 sets of double doors per side in each carriage. Also, these trains do not have
air conditioning
Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C or AC, is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior environment (sometimes referred to as 'comfort cooling') and in some cases also strictly controlling ...
, with hopper style windows available for ventilation. In order to provide more standing room, the trains also have fewer seats, more handrails, and no on-board toilets (South Eastern promised to provide additional facilities in their stations to compensate) and, as a consequence, these trains are limited to in-service journey times of 1 hour.
Class 376 units have five coaches, and unlike the Class 375, they have full-width cabs instead of gangways at the ends of the train; as a result, it is not possible to walk between two coupled Class 376 units. The cab front is also smooth and ‘step free’ to reduce the dangerous problem of
train surfing in Southeast London.
Like all new trains in the United Kingdom using
third rail
A third rail, also known as a live rail, electric rail or conductor rail, is a method of providing electric power to a railway locomotive or train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a railway ...
power, one carriage in each unit has a recess in its roof where a
pantograph
A pantograph (, from their original use for copying writing) is a mechanical linkage connected in a manner based on parallelograms so that the movement of one pen, in tracing an image, produces identical movements in a second pen. If a line dr ...
can be fitted, so as to allow for future conversion to
overhead AC traction power and/or make the unit dual voltage.
Maintenance
All Class 376 trains were allocated to
Slade Green depot, but due to the high volume of work there, these trains are sent to
Ramsgate
Ramsgate is a seaside town in the district of Thanet in east Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century. In 2001 it had a population of about 40,000. In 2011, according to the Census, there was a populati ...
for routine maintenance.
Fleet details
Accidents and incidents
A train formed by units 376 002 and 376 035 was one of eleven trains that
stalled and became stranded in the Lewisham area on 2 March 2018. Passengers self-evacuated the train after conditions on board became intolerable due to lack of heating, toilets and communication.
On 10 July 2018, 376 030 partially derailed at
Grove Park depot.
See also
*
Bombardier Electrostar
*
British Rail Class 378
The British Rail Class 378 ''Capitalstar'' is an electric multiple unit passenger train specifically designed for the London Overground network. It is part of Bombardier Transportation's Electrostar family. A total of 57 five-car trains have ...
References
External links
*
{{British Rail EMU
376
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Year 376 ( CCCLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Valens and Augustus (or, less frequently, year 1129 ''Ab ...
Bombardier Transportation multiple units
Train-related introductions in 2004
750 V DC multiple units