| British Rail Class 360 Desiro | |
|---|---|
 East Midlands Railway Class 360 atKettering in 2022 | |
 Interior of aAbellio Greater Anglia Class 360/1 | |
| In service | 12 August 2003 – present |
| Manufacturer | Siemens Mobility |
| Built at | |
| Family name | Desiro |
| Replaced | |
| Constructed |
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| Number built |
|
| Number in service | 21 |
| Number scrapped | 2 |
| Successor | |
| Formation | |
| Fleet numbers |
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| Capacity |
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| Owners |
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| Operators | |
| Depots | |
| Specifications | |
| Car body construction | Aluminium |
| Car length | 20.34 m (66 ft 9 in) |
| Width | 2.80 m (9 ft 2 in) |
| Height | 3.95 m (13 ft 0 in) |
| Maximum speed |
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| Weight |
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| Traction motors |
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| Power output | 1,550 kW (2,080 hp) (at wheels) |
| Acceleration | 0.98 m/s2 (3.2 ft/s2) |
| Electric system(s) | 25 kV 50 Hz ACoverhead |
| Current collection | Pantograph |
| UIC classification |
|
| Bogies | Siemens SGP SF5000 |
| Braking system(s) | Air,regenerative |
| Safety system(s) | |
| Coupling system | Dellner 12 |
| Multiple working | Within subclass |
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)standard gauge |
| Notes/references | |
| Sourced from[8] except where otherwise noted. | |
TheBritish Rail Class 360 is anelectric multiple unit class that was built bySiemens Mobility on itsDesiro platform between 2002 and 2005 forFirst Great Eastern andHeathrow Connect. The remaining members of the class are operated byEast Midlands Railway.
First Great Eastern ordered 21 four-car Class 360/1s to replace its slam-doorClass 312 units. Built inVienna,Austria, andUerdingen,Germany[1] the units feature air conditioning, plug doors, CCTV, a wheelchair area, and first class at the cab ends. After being tested at theWildenrath, Germany andVelim, Czech Republic test tracks, the first entered service in August 2003.[9][10] In February 2004, unit 360115 returned to Wildenrath for tests aimed at improving pantograph performance.[11]
They were primarily used onGreat Eastern Main Line services fromLondon Liverpool Street toClacton-on-Sea,Colchester Town andIpswich. They also ran toWalton-on-the-Naze and theMayflower line. They occasionally operated through toNorwich.[12]
In April 2004, the Great Eastern franchise was merged into theGreater Anglia franchise that was awarded toNational Express East Anglia. All passed with the franchise toGreater Anglia in February 2012. The Class 360s were not maintained by the franchisee, but under contract by Siemens atIlford EMU Depot.[6]
All were replaced byClass 720s in 2020/2021 and moved toEast Midlands Railway (EMR) to operate services on theMidland Main Line fromLondon St Pancras toCorby from May 2021.[13][14] They were modified to operate at 110 mph (177 km/h).[15] They are now based atBedford Cauldwell Walk depot.[16][17]
Beginning in June 2020, all were cycled through Siemens at Kings Heath Depot,Northampton to be modified for 110 mph (177 km/h) operation.[18] The first was transferred to EMR'sCricklewood Depot in November 2020,[19] with all having transferred by February 2021.[20]
They entered service with East Midlands Railway on 16 May 2021 after theelectrification of the Midland Main Line was complete in 2020 between Bedford and Corby. Two units had received a temporary application of the EMR Connect livery in time for this;[21] full-scale repainting of the fleet began in June 2021.[22]
In June 2003,BAA plc ordered four Class 360 units for itsHeathrow Connect service, which was designed to complement the non-stopHeathrow Express service by calling at a number of intermediate stations betweenLondon Paddington toHeathrow Airport.[23][24] Siemens fulfilled the order by rebuilding fourClass 350/0 units it had previously built in speculation of an order fromAngel Trains. One of these, 350001, had already been delivered to England and was being used for training bySouth West Trains atNortham Traincare Facility, while the others remained at the Wildenrath test track in Germany.[25][26]
The first rebuilt unit arrived at Heathrow Connect'sOld Oak Common depot in November 2004,[27] and services commenced in June 2005.[28] An additional unit was subsequently ordered; it arrived in England in November 2005 but did not enter service for a further 12 months.[29] In 2007 five additional intermediate vehicles were procured and used to lengthen each unit to five carriages.[30][31] In 2010, one unit began operating aHeathrow Central toHeathrow Terminal 4 shuttle, with a newHeathrow Express livery.[32] In May 2018TfL Rail inherited all five of Heathrow Connect's Class 360s, which were replaced byClass 345 units once problems with theEuropean Train Control System in the Heathrow tunnel were resolved.[33] 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.[34][35][36]
In February 2021,Rail Operations Group (ROG) purchased the five-strong fleet fromHeathrow Airport Holdings. The fleet was moved toMoD Bicester for storage pending further use with the company, which potentially included conversion into "fast freight" units.[4][5] 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.[5] However, this did not occur, and on 23 August 2022 unit 360205 was taken toSims Metal in Newport, South Wales, to be scrapped. Unit 360204 followed shortly thereafter.[37][38]
In October 2022, it was announced that the remaining three units had been acquired by theGlobal Centre of Rail Excellence (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.[3]
| Class | Operator | Quantity | Year built | Cars per unit | Unit nos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 360/1 | East Midlands Railway | 21 | 2002–2003 | 4 | 360101–360121[20] |
| 360/2 | Global Centre of Rail Excellence | 3 | 2004–2005 | 5 | 360201–360203 |
| Scrapped | 2 | 360204–360205[37] |
