The British Rail Class 717 ''

Desiro City The Siemens Desiro (, , ) is a family of diesel or electric multiple unit passenger trains developed by Siemens Mobility, a division of the German Siemens AG conglomerate. The main variants are the Desiro Classic, Desiro ML, Desiro UK and the la ...

'' is an electric multiple unit passenger train built by

Siemens Mobility 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 ...

, currently operated by

Govia Thameslink Railway Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) is a train operating company that operates the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern (TSGN) rail franchise in England. Within the franchise, GTR runs the Thameslink, Great Northern, Southern and Gatwick Expr ...

on its Great Northern Hertford Loop and Welwyn stopping routes. Built to replace Class 313 trains on services into

Moorgate Moorgate was one of the City of London's northern gates in its defensive wall, the last to be built. The gate took its name from the Moorfields, an area of marshy land that lay immediately north of the wall. The gate was demolished in 1762, bu ...

, a total of 25 six-car units began entering regular service from March 2019. The units are stylistically similar to the Class 700s (in use with

Thameslink Thameslink is a 24-hour main-line route in the British railway system, running from , , , and via central London to Sutton, , , Rainham, , , , and . The network opened as a through service in 1988, with severe overcrowding by 1998, carrying ...

) and the Class 707s (in use with

Southeastern The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

and South Western Railway.)

History

Upon winning the

Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern franchise Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern (TSGN) is a management contract for the provision of passenger services on the Thameslink and Great Northern route, Great Northern routes to , , , , , , Moorgate station, London Moorgate, Sutton railway s ...

(GTR) announced that it would seek to replace the existing units (which were 40 years old in 2016) operating on services to and from

, with up to 25 six-car units intended to be procured. In December 2015, GTR announced that it had selected Siemens to provide this new fleet, originally designated Class 713, as a follow-on order from the main Class 700 order, with entry into service expected from March 2019. The order was finalised in February 2016. A significant difference between Class 717s and the earlier Class 700s is the provision of fold-down emergency doors at both ends of each train. These are required for emergency evacuation of passengers while inside the deep-level Moorgate tunnels. Siemens began testing the Class 717 units in Germany during June 2018.

Operation

The first unit operated a single preview service in late September 2018, with gradual introduction from the spring of 2019. The final Class 313 service on Great Northern ran in September 2019, completing the fleet replacement by Class 717 units.

In-cab signalling

In September 2021, 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 ...

installation aboard the Class 717 fleet was successfully tested on the

'core' route between St Pancras International and Blackfriars stations in central London. The success of the test allows

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...

to work towards upgrading the Northern City Line to ETCS in 2022, which will be followed by the decommissioning and removal of the existing conventional signalling system in 2023. Further testing and implementation on other lines and routes is planned.

Environment

Class 717 trains generate electricity through

regenerative braking Regenerative braking is an energy recovery mechanism that slows down a moving vehicle or object by converting its kinetic energy into a form that can be either used immediately or stored until needed. In this mechanism, the electric traction mo ...

. The trains are also 20% lighter than their predecessors, making them more energy efficient.

Fleet details

References

External links

Great Northern Rail
page about the introduction of the 717s {{British Rail EMU, state=collapsed 717 Siemens multiple units Train-related introductions in 2018 25 kV AC multiple units 750 V DC multiple units