British Rail Class 456
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The British Rail Class 456 was 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 numbe ...
passenger train introduced by
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 netwo ...
on inner-suburban services in South London to replace the elderly Class 416 2EPB units. Twenty-four two-car units were 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 pr ...
's York Carriage Works in 1990 and 1991. 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 industr ...
, the fleet was sold to
Porterbrook Porterbrook is a British rolling stock company (ROSCO), created as part of the privatisation of British Rail. Together with Angel Trains and Eversholt Rail Group, it is one of the three original ROSCOs. Porterbrook was established in March 19 ...
and operated by Southern up until late 2013, when they were transferred to
South West Trains Stagecoach South Western Trains Limited, trading as South West Trains (SWT), was an English train operating company owned by Stagecoach Group, Stagecoach, which operated the South Western franchise between February 1996 and August 2017. SWT op ...
and heavily refurbished. Routes that were operated by Class 456 units will operated by new Class 701 Bombardier Aventra units in the future.


Entry into service

While originally approved for use by
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 netwo ...
(NSE) on services out of Waterloo, the 24 two-car units were first accepted into traffic as direct replacements for the 2EPB units on the Central Division of the
Southern Region of British Rail The Southern Region was a region of British Railways from 1948 until 1992 when railways were re-privatised. The region ceased to be an operating unit in its own right in the 1980s. The region covered south London, southern England and the south ...
. Units were delivered into traffic painted in NSE blue, red and white livery with cabs based on the Class 321 units, and were initially based at
Selhurst depot Selhurst is an area in the London Borough of Croydon south-south-east of Charing Cross. Historically it lay in Surrey. The area is bounded to the west and south by Thornton Heath and Croydon and to the east and south by South Norwood and Woo ...
. Although Network SouthEast had shifted to units painted with pale grey, the Class 456s were introduced painted with a darker grey shade to match the livery of the Class 455 units they would be working with. Units were numbered in the range 456001–456024, each unit consisting of a driving motor (DMSO) and a driving trailer (DTSO). Entry into service for the Class 456 was originally planned for 18 March 1991, with trains to be driver-only operated (without the presence of a guard). This meant that the driver had to have a clear view of the platform with a bank of CCTV cameras mounted at the platform end for this purpose, however it was discovered that the position of the CCTV cameras on the platforms were not visible from the driver's position. To resolve this Selhurst depot designed a replacement fixing for the driver's seat so that it could slide sideways, allowing a good view of the CCTV units. The modified drivers' seats were installed at Fratton Depot with the work completed by the end of July 1991, and services with the new units commenced in September 1991.


Operations


Connex South Central and SouthCentral/Southern

When Britain's railways were privatised, the entire Class 456 fleet passed into the South Central franchise (later known as the Southern franchise), which was originally won by
Connex South Central Connex South Central was a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by Connex that operated the South Central franchise from 26 May 1996 until 25 August 2001. History On 26 May 1996, Connex commenced operating the Network SouthCent ...
. Only one unit, No. 456024, was repainted in white and yellow Connex livery, when it was named Sir Cosmo Bonsor after a chairman of the South Eastern Railway. The rest of the fleet had remained in
Network South East 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 networ ...
livery until summer 2006, when the fleet started to be repainted into Southern livery. In 2000, Connex lost the South Central franchise to the
Go-Ahead Group The Go-Ahead Group plc is a passenger transport company based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, with operations in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Singapore, Norway and Germany. Formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange, in 2022 it was purchased ...
, who rebranded the company as Southern in 2004. On 8 May 2012 it was announced by the
Department for Transport The Department for Transport (DfT) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland that have not been devolved. The d ...
that the entire fleet of 24 2-car Class 456s would transfer to
South West Trains Stagecoach South Western Trains Limited, trading as South West Trains (SWT), was an English train operating company owned by Stagecoach Group, Stagecoach, which operated the South Western franchise between February 1996 and August 2017. SWT op ...
(SWT) in 2014, to be used in conjunction with South West Trains’s fleet on London inner-suburban lines. The Southern services on the
South London Line The South London line is a railway line in inner south London, England. The initial passenger service on the route was established by the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway on 1 May 1867 when the central London terminal stations of Victoria ...
were withdrawn in 2012 and replaced by a new
London Overground London Overground (also known simply as the Overground) is a Urban rail in the United Kingdom, suburban rail network serving London and its environs. Established in 2007 to take over Silverlink Metro routes, (via archive.org). it now serves a ...
service, the East London Line, operated using new air-conditioned 5-car units. Southern also received 26 new 5 car Class 377/6 units and these entered service at the end of 2013, in place of 92 cascaded carriages promised for extra capacity. This gives a total of 50 replacement carriages in addition to the 92 carriages for extra capacity, leaving the 48 Class 456 carriages surplus to requirements at Southern.


South West Trains and South Western Railway

The units transferred to
South West Trains Stagecoach South Western Trains Limited, trading as South West Trains (SWT), was an English train operating company owned by Stagecoach Group, Stagecoach, which operated the South Western franchise between February 1996 and August 2017. SWT op ...
following their career with Southern, as their operations on its Metro routes were replaced by the class 455s, later to be replaced by the class 377/6 units. South West Trains used the 456s to enhance peak-hour Metro services through Wimbledon from 8 to 10 coaches and to provide two additional morning peak services from Raynes Park to Waterloo. These changes took place from December 2014. Class 456s were repainted in the red "Metro" version of South West Trains livery to match the and were refurbished to have a similar interior to the Class 455 before entering service between March 2014 and December 2014. On their transfer, their standard traction equipment was retained, leaving them as the only fleet on South West Trains to be powered by conventional DC traction gear. The first units entered service with South West Trains on 23 March 2014 between Ascot and Guildford, replacing Class 458 trains with toilets and air conditioning. They initially ran in pairs (i.e. 2 x 2 car) still in Southern's green livery, but without fleet names. 10 units were required to provide the half-hourly service. The one train per day from Clapham Junction (07:45) to Guildford via Ascot was also operated by two 456s, but the trains that ran through to Waterloo during the peak periods continued to be operated by Class 458 trains. The Class 456 trains were the main units on the line for a short time, but sets now operate alone on the line. All units were refurbished by South West Trains. In August 2017, all 456 units transferred to the new South Western franchisee, South Western Railway. South Western Railway withdrew the Class 456 fleet from service on 17 January 2022.


Refurbishment

In March 2005, No. 456006 was hauled away to Wolverton where it was studied for corrosion assessment. This caused some doubt as to whether they would be refurbished.Southern's 456 Overhauls and Refreshing
– Southern Electric Group. Retrieved 21 May 2011.
However, in a statement in April 2006 Southern said the class would receive a 'refresh', which meant they would not receive a refurbishment as major as the 455s, since the 456s are 10 years newer and already have high-backed seats (although of a different design). Also, new CCTV cameras and flooring were installed; this was not mentioned on the original refurbishment plan. All units were instead 'refreshed' and were painted into Southern green colours. No. 456006 was completed in a one-off promotional livery for rail safety on the Southern network. 456013 had an experimental cab-cooling system installed and 456022 had some experimental air-conditioning fitted, in an effort to make drivers' jobs more comfortable. Southern removed the
toilets A toilet is a piece of sanitary hardware that collects human urine and feces, and sometimes toilet paper, usually for disposal. Flush toilets use water, while dry or non-flush toilets do not. They can be designed for a sitting position popul ...
from the trains, to provide more capacity. Despite this the Class 456 EMU trains lost two seats from each pair, due to a space being cleared for wheelchairs and pushchairs. After the units transferred to
South West Trains Stagecoach South Western Trains Limited, trading as South West Trains (SWT), was an English train operating company owned by Stagecoach Group, Stagecoach, which operated the South Western franchise between February 1996 and August 2017. SWT op ...
, a full refurbishment commenced in Wolverton where Class 456s received a new exterior livery and also a refurbished interior with new seating.


Accidents and incidents

*On 15 August 2017, unit 456015 was damaged in a collision with an engineers train at
Waterloo station Waterloo station (), also known as London Waterloo, is a central London terminus on the National Rail network in the United Kingdom, in the Waterloo area of the London Borough of Lambeth. It is connected to a London Underground station of t ...
,
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
. The cause was a wiring error in the signalling which meant that a set of points not correctly set was not detected. This was introduced as part of the testing of the temporary changes to the signalling during a major works programme at Waterloo. This allowed the signalling logic to detect that a set of points was correctly set when in reality, the points were mid-way between either of the correct positions. A false proceed signal was shown to the driver when it should not have been possible.


Fleet details


Livery Details


References

{{British Rail EMU 456 456 Train-related introductions in 1991 750 V DC multiple units