British Rail Class 143
The British Rail Class 143 is a diesel multiple unit, part of the Pacer family of trains introduced between 1985 and 1986. They originally worked in the North-East of England but were later transferred to Wales and South-West England.
Operations
The Rail Vehicle Accessibility Regulations 2008 and the subsequent Persons of Reduced Mobility - Technical Specification for Interoperability require that all public passenger trains must be accessible by 1 January 2020. No Class 143 train currently meets this requirement. Porterbrook has proposed an extensive refurbishment of the Class 143 and 144 units in an attempt to meet this requirement although this would significantly reduce the number of seats.Great Western Railway are planning on withdrawing their eight by December 2019 with a cascade programme allowing them to be replaced with Class 150s.
The units are currently used on short distance services around Exeter. Previously they were common on services in the Bristol area.
On 31 December 2019, the Department for Transport issued a dispensation, allowing use of the Class 143 until 31 December 2020 by Great Western Railway.
Incidents
On 17 October 2004, Wessex Trains unit 143613, forming a service from to with 143621, caught fire between the site of the former Flax Bourton railway station and. Fire services took two hours to get the blaze under control. Of the 23 passengers and crew, three were treated on-site for the effects of smoke inhalation. One carriage was completely burnt out, and the other was badly damaged, causing the train to be written off. The line through Nailsea was closed until 03:30 the following morning, when the train was hauled to St Philip's Marsh depot for examination. The unit was later taken to Crewe Works where it was stored, then later to Cardiff Canton TMD where it was scrapped. The Rail Safety and Standards Board issued a report into the incident, concluding that the fire was caused by electrical arcing between the live starter motor cable and the unit's underframe, causing accumulated oily residues to ignite.On 16 January 2020, a Class 143 train had several windows smashed in by waves and sea debris while running along the sea wall at Dawlish during stormy weather, causing minor injuries to one passenger.
Fleet details
| Year | Quantity in service at start of year | Quantity withdrawn | Numbers |
| 2004 | 25 | 1 | 143613 |
| 2005 | 24 | 1 | 143615 |
Named units
Several units formerly had names:- 143609 - Sir Tom Jones
- 143617 - Bewick's Swan
- 143618 - Mute Swan
- 143619 - Whooper Swan
Preservation