The British Rail Class 315 is a fleet of

alternating current Alternating current (AC) is an electric current which periodically reverses direction and changes its magnitude continuously with time in contrast to direct current (DC) which flows only in one direction. Alternating current is the form in whic ...

(AC)

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 ...

(EMU) trains, built 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 ...

at Holgate Road Carriage Works in

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

between 1980 and 1981; they replaced the Class 306 units. It was the fifth and final variant of unit derived from

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four (British ra ...

's 1971 prototype suburban EMU design which, as the BREL 1972 family, eventually encompassed 755 vehicles across Classes , , 315, and . Revenue services with Class 315 units commenced in 1980 and continued until December 2022.

Description

Each Class 315 unit is formed of four vehicles; ---DMSO. Up to three units can be used together in service for a maximum 12-car formation. Each DMSO vehicle carries four DC

traction motor A traction motor is an electric motor used for propulsion of a vehicle, such as locomotives, electric or hydrogen vehicles, elevators or electric multiple unit. Traction motors are used in electrically powered rail vehicles ( electric multip ...

s, each of for a total power output of per unit. The order included an element of dual-sourcing 41 units (315801–315841) were fitted with electrical equipment from

Brush Traction Brush Traction is a manufacturer and maintainer of railway locomotives in Loughborough, England. It is a subsidiary of Wabtec. History Hughes's Locomotive & Tramway Engine Works Henry Hughes had been operating at the Falcon Works since ...

, while equipment for the remaining 20 units (315842–315861) was provided by the

General Electric Company The General Electric Company (GEC) was a major British industrial conglomerate involved in consumer and defence electronics, communications, and engineering. The company was founded in 1886, was Britain's largest private employer with over 250 ...

(GEC). The traction motors are interchangeable between equipment providers. The DMSO vehicles also carry the air compressors and main reservoirs that provide the braking and suspension air supplies. The air supply was originally additionally used to operate the passenger doors, but this system was later replaced by an all-electric one. The PTSO vehicles carry the main and auxiliary

transformer A transformer is a passive component that transfers electrical energy from one electrical circuit to another circuit, or multiple circuits. A varying current in any coil of the transformer produces a varying magnetic flux in the transformer' ...

s, auxiliary batteries, the Stone Faiveley AMBR Mk.1 pantograph, and the main

circuit breaker A circuit breaker is an electrical safety device designed to protect an electrical circuit from damage caused by an overcurrent or short circuit. Its basic function is to interrupt current flow to protect equipment and to prevent the ris ...

, while the TSO vehicles only provide passenger accommodation. Seating is standard-class only and there are no toilet facilities provided onboard. As-built, each four-car unit had seats for 318 passengers, but this was reduced to 309 plus seven tip-up during a refit in 2012 Vehicles are numbered in the following ranges: * DMSO: 64461–64582 * PTSO: 71281–71341 * TSO: 71389–71449

Operations

Following 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 Class 315s were divided between First Great Eastern (43 units) and

West Anglia Great Northern West Anglia Great Northern, commonly shortened to ''WAGN'', was a train operating company in England. It operated the West Anglia Great Northern franchise between January 1997 and March 2004, as well as the Great Northern franchise between Apri ...

(18 units). The leasing company Eversholt Rail Group has owned the entire Class 315 fleet since privatisation.

One / National Express

From April 2004,

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 ...

(NXEA) ran the inaugural Greater Anglia franchise, which combined the previous operations of both First Great Eastern and West Anglia Great Northern and thus combined the two Class 315 fleets. The franchise was initially known as 'One' but was rebranded National Express East Anglia (NXEA) in February 2008. NXEA contracted with Bombardier to refurbish all 61 units at a cost of £60 million. This commenced in mid-2004 with the ex- First Great Eastern examples, and included the full replacement of door operating mechanisms, passenger windows, and seat covers, substantial replacement of floor coverings, and the installation of

CCTV Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly ...

Greater Anglia

The Class 315 fleet transferred to new operator

Abellio Greater Anglia Greater Anglia (legal name Abellio East Anglia Limited) is a train operating company in Great Britain owned as a joint venture by Abellio, the international arm of the state-owned Dutch national rail operator Nederlandse Spoorwegen, and the J ...

in February 2012. Abellio repainted the trains in its own livery and commissioned Bombardier to refresh the fleet, which included installation of a new passenger information system with electronic dot-matrix display screens, installation of bays for two wheelchairs and assistance intercoms for passengers in those areas, and accessibility changes to the handrails and inter-car gangways. Abellio used the fleet for local services between to on the

Great Eastern Main Line The Great Eastern Main Line (GEML, sometimes referred to as the East Anglia Main Line) is a major railway line on the British railway system which connects Liverpool Street station in central London with destinations in east London and the ...

(the 'Shenfield Metro' service), and between Liverpool Street and , , and on the

Lea Valley Lines The Lea Valley lines are two commuter lines and two branches in north-east London, so named because they run along the Lower Lea Valley of the River Lea. They were part of the Great Eastern Railway, now part of the ''Anglia Route'' of Network ...

. They were also used on the

Romford–Upminster line The Romford–Upminster line is a railway branch line in Greater London that connects , on the Great Eastern Main Line, to , on the London, Tilbury and Southend line and London Underground. The route is in length and there is one intermediate s ...

, alongside

Class 317 The British Rail Class 317 is an electric multiple unit (EMU) passenger train constructed by British Rail Engineering Limited in two batches, 48 sets being produced in 1981–82 and 24 sets in 1985–87. They were the first of several classes ...

units, as well as occasional peak-time services to destinations further from London on the Great Eastern and West Anglia Main Lines such as , , , and . Initially, the Shenfield Metro and Upminster branch line services used only units 315801–315843 and the Lea Valley Lines only 315844–315861, reflecting the allocations of the former franchises, but they were later operated interchangeably out of Ilford EMU Depot.

Elizabeth line

The remainder of the fleet was operated by MTR Elizabeth line, who used them for a small number of

Elizabeth line The Elizabeth line is a high-frequency hybrid urban–suburban rail service in London and its suburbs. It runs services on dedicated infrastructure in central London from the Great Western Main Line west of Paddington to and via Whitechapel ...

services on the

between

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 ...

and

Shenfield Shenfield is a commuter suburb of Brentwood, in the borough of Brentwood, Essex, England. In 2020, the suburb was estimated to have a population of 5,396. History The old village (now town), by the church and Green Dragon pub, lies along the ...

as a continuation of the previous TfL Rail operation. A farewell tour for the class organised by the Branch Line Society was announced in October 2022 and took place on 26 November. The last day of service for the Class 315 units was 9 December 2022.

Replacement

In July 2015, TfL confirmed that it would place a £260million order for 45 units of Class 710 ''Aventra'' trains, which would replace London Overground's Class 315. The Aventras would be introduced on the West Anglia routes in 2018, having taken these over from Abellio Greater Anglia in May 2015. The first units on the

Lea Valley lines The Lea Valley lines are two commuter lines and two branches in north-east London, so named because they run along the Lower Lea Valley of the River Lea. They were part of the Great Eastern Railway, now part of the ''Anglia Route'' of Network ...

entered service on 3 March 2020, after a first attempt on 24 February 2020. They replaced all Class 315s on both the

and the Romford to Upminster branch in October 2020. Additionally, TfL Rail Class 315 units were replaced by the new Class 345 ''Aventra'' from August 2017. On 20 October 2018, the first retired unit, 315850, was hauled to

C F Booth C F Booth Ltd is a family-owned scrap metal and recycling business based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. Operations Clarence Frederick Booth founded the business in 1920, as a metal purchaser and trader. Over the company's history, ...

Rotherham Rotherham () is a large minster and market town in South Yorkshire, England. The town takes its name from the River Rother which then merges with the River Don. The River Don then flows through the town centre. It is the main settlement of ...

to be scrapped. The last Elizabeth line unit in service was on 9 December 2022, after which all of the units had either been scrapped, stored or preserved.

Fleet details

Livery diagrams

Named units

The following units have carried names *315827 – Transport for London *315829 – London Borough of Havering Celebrating 40 years *315845 – Herbie Woodward *325857 – Stratford Connections

Preservation

On 23 July 2021, the Class 315 Preservation Society announced on their website that they had reached an agreement in principle with Eversholt Rail Group to acquire a Class 315 for preservation, and the sale was confirmed on 1 December 2022. The society had originally planned on acquiring unit 315820, but following the finalisation of the sale agreement stated that they had instead secured unit 315856.