Bombardier Electrostar


The Bombardier Electrostar is a family of electric multiple-unit passenger trains manufactured by Bombardier Transportation at their Derby Litchurch Lane Works in England between 1999 and 2017. Since the privatisation of British Rail, it has become the most common new EMU type in the United Kingdom, where different variants referred to as Class 357, Class 375, Class 376, Class 377, Class 378, Class 379 and Class 387. Electrostars are most common on the high-volume suburban commuter routes in North, South and East London, and mainline services south of London to the Surrey, Sussex, Kent & South Essex coasts and north to Cambridge and Stansted Airport. It shares the same bodyshell and core structure as the Bombardier Turbostar, which is in turn the most common post-privatisation diesel multiple unit family, and both evolved from the Class 168 Clubman design by ADtranz.
The Turbostar and Electrostar platforms are a modular design, which share the same basic design, bodyshell and core structure, and are optimised for speedy manufacture and easy maintenance. They consist of a common underframe, which is created by seam-welding a number of aluminium alloy extrusions, upon which bodyside panels are mounted followed by a single piece roof, again made from extruded sections. The car ends are made from glass-reinforced plastic and steel, and are huck-bolted onto the main car bodies. Underframe components are collected in ‘rafts’, which are bolted into slots on the underframe extrusion. The mostly aluminium alloy body gives light weight to help acceleration and energy efficiency.
The Electrostar was also selected for use on the Gautrain system in South Africa, a new railway between Johannesburg, Pretoria, and the Johannesburg International Airport. The trains were assembled by UCW Partnership in South Africa from components made in Derby.
Transport for London announced in August 2006 that it had ordered 48 three- and four-car Electrostar trains for the new London Overground service. These were categorised by Network Rail as Class 378, and entered service in 2009 to replace the Class 313 and Class 508 on the North London Line and West London Line, and to provide the opening service on the new East London line extension from 2010.
In 2009, as part of the government's wider rolling stock plan, an order was placed for thirty four-car Class 379 Electrostar units intended for use by National Express East Anglia on the Stansted Express and West Anglia services. The first of the new Class 379 units entered passenger service on Thursday 3 March 2011 running the 20:10 Stansted Express from London Liverpool Street to Stansted Airport and the 21:15 return service.
Production of the trains ended in 2017 when unit no. 387174 for Great Western Railway was completed at Derby and was superseded by the Bombardier Aventra.

Electrostar variants

Bombardier Electrostar routes

c2c

c2c uses Class 357 and Class 387 units on services down the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway line from Shoeburyness and Southend to London Fenchurch Street.

Southeastern

The Class 375 is the backbone of Southeastern's long-distance routes, seeing services on most of its lines originating from its London termini including;
On the outer suburban portions of these above routes, Class 465/9 Networkers support the Electrostars, but they do not work in multiple together.
The Class 376 operates on the metro routes in suburban London, in conjunction with the Class 465 and Class 466 Networkers, operating over the London portion of the above lines from the London Termini ;
This leaves the Bromley North Line and Sheerness Line, both operated by Class 466s which also used to operate on the Medway Valley Line prior to the May 2012 Timetable Changes.

Southern

Southern's Class 377 fleet is found on all parts of the network apart from the non-electrified routes. They also now run frequently in metro routes alongside the Class 455s and used to run alongside the Class 456s until their transfer to South West Trains in 2014.

Main lines

Often found on
operates Class 378s over five lines around London:
The sixth major route it's responsible for is the unelectrified Gospel Oak to Barking Line. For this, London Overground obtained Class 172 Turbostar DMUs and have been replaced by new Class 710 Aventra EMUs.

Gautrain (South Africa)

On 8 June 2010, the route between Sandton and OR Tambo International Airport in South Africa opened in time for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The rest between Johannesburg Park Station and Rosebank was to be completed in 2011. This section was actually opened 7 June 2012, the delay caused by work to resolve a water-seepage problem in the single-track tunnel section between Rosebank and Park. Although railways in South Africa use the Cape gauge, Gautrain is built to the more expensive standard gauge of. According to the Gautrain planning and implementation study, this is done for several reasons, including that standard gauge is safer and more comfortable to passengers. The rolling stock is also easier, quicker and less expensive to obtain than Cape Gauge rolling stock, and standard gauge is also less expensive to maintain as it is more tolerant of track imperfections than Cape Gauge. Standard gauge allows for travel at Gautrain's required speed of.

Greater Anglia

From March 2011 National Express East Anglia introduced 30 x 4 car Class 379s on Stansted Express and West Anglia Main Line services. These incorporate some features of Bombardier's planned 'Aventra' Mark 2 Electrostars.
All units had entered service by mid-August 2011, two months ahead of schedule. A major timetable update in December 2011 entailed the introduction of 12-car trains on some peak workings to and from Cambridge.
These trains are now operated by Greater Anglia as of 5 February 2012.
All of Greater Anglia's units will be replaced in 2020 by Class 745s on the Stansted Express route and Class 720s on the Cambridge route.

Great Western Railway

From September 2016 Great Western Railway introduced 45 4 car Class 387/1s on peak services between London Paddington and Hayes & Harlington. They currently replace the Class 165s and the Class 166s on the Thames Valley services and now operate between London Paddington and Reading, Didcot Parkway and Newbury.
GWR announced in 2018 that they will modify 12 units to be used on Heathrow Express due to the Class 332s no longer having a depot.
From December 2019, services to Reading have mainly transferred to TfL Rail as part of the Elizabeth Line.

Great Northern

From late 2016, 29 of the Class 387/1s operating on Thameslink were displaced by the delivery of Class 700 Desiro City units, and were transferred to Great Northern. They operate mostly on the Kings Cross-Cambridge-King's Lynn route, though they can also been seen on other services. These units were delivered in the livery of Southern, with green doors and Southern upholstery.