British Rail Class 360

The British Rail Class 360 is an electric multiple unit class that was built by Siemens Mobility on its Desiro platform between 2002 and 2005 for First Great Eastern and Heathrow Connect. The remaining members of the class are operated by East Midlands Railway.

Description

Class 360/1

File:Class 360 106 East Midlands Railway.jpg

East Midlands Railway Class 360 in ex-Greater Anglia livery

First Great Eastern ordered 21 four-car Class 360/1s to replace its slam-door Class 312 units. Built in Vienna, Austria, and Uerdingen, Germany<ref name="Factory"/> the units feature air conditioning, plug doors, CCTV, a wheelchair area, and first class at the cab ends. After being tested at the Wildenrath, Germany and Velim, Czech Republic test tracks, the first entered service in August 2003.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> In February 2004, unit 360115 returned to Wildenrath for tests aimed at improving pantograph performance.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

They were primarily used on Great Eastern Main Line services from London Liverpool Street to Clacton-on-Sea, Colchester Town and Ipswich. They also ran to Walton-on-the-Naze and the Mayflower line. They occasionally operated through to Norwich.<ref name="todays105">Template:Cite magazine</ref>

In April 2004, the Great Eastern franchise was merged into the Greater Anglia franchise that was awarded to National Express East Anglia. All passed with the franchise to Greater Anglia in February 2012. The Class 360s were not maintained by the franchisee, but under contract by Siemens at Ilford EMU Depot.<ref name="Ilford EMUD">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

All were replaced by Class 720s in 2020/2021 and moved to East Midlands Railway (EMR) to operate services on the Midland Main Line from London St Pancras to Corby from May 2021.<ref name="rail884">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name="railnews17jul">Template:Cite news</ref> They were modified to operate at Template:Cvt.<ref name="rail886">Template:Cite magazine</ref> They are now based at Bedford Cauldwell Walk depot.<ref name="todays214">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name="northants10nov">Template:Cite news</ref>

Beginning in June 2020, all were cycled through Siemens at Kings Heath Depot, Northampton to be modified for Template:Cvt operation.<ref name="rail908">Template:Cite magazine</ref> The first was transferred to EMR's Cricklewood Depot in November 2020,<ref name="modern867">Template:Cite magazine</ref> with all having transferred by February 2021.<ref name="Rail924">Template:Cite magazine</ref>

They entered service with East Midlands Railway on 16 May 2021 after the electrification 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;<ref name="emrconnect">Template:Cite news</ref> full-scale repainting of the fleet began in June 2021.<ref name="northants6may">Template:Cite news</ref>

Class 360/2

File:TfL 360205 at Paddington.jpg

TfL Rail Class 360 at London Paddington in July 2019

In June 2003, BAA plc ordered four Class 360 units for its Heathrow Connect service, which was designed to complement the non-stop Heathrow Express service by calling at a number of intermediate stations between London Paddington to Heathrow Airport.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name="railway1228">Template:Cite magazine</ref> Siemens fulfilled the order by rebuilding four Template:Brc units it had previously built in speculation of an order from Angel Trains. One of these, 350001, had already been delivered to England and was being used for training by South West Trains at Northam Traincare Facility, while the others remained at the Wildenrath test track in Germany.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

The first rebuilt unit arrived at Heathrow Connect's Old Oak Common depot in November 2004,<ref name="rail502">Template:Cite magazine</ref> and services commenced in June 2005.<ref name="rail516">Template:Cite magazine</ref> An additional unit was subsequently ordered; it arrived in England in November 2005 but did not enter service for a further 12 months.<ref name="todays50">Template:Cite magazine</ref> In 2007 five additional intermediate vehicles were procured and used to lengthen each unit to five carriages.<ref name="todays62">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name="rail559">Template:Cite magazine</ref> In 2010, one unit began operating a Heathrow Central to Heathrow Terminal 4 shuttle, with a new Heathrow Express livery.<ref name="railway1312">Template:Cite magazine</ref> In May 2018 TfL Rail inherited all five of Heathrow Connect's Class 360s, which were replaced by Class 345 units once problems with the European Train Control System in the Heathrow tunnel were resolved.<ref name="xr-under-pres">Template:Cite magazine</ref> 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.<ref name="modern30jul">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name="modern865">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

In February 2021, Rail Operations Group (ROG) purchased the five-strong fleet from Heathrow Airport Holdings. The fleet was moved to MoD Bicester for storage pending further use with the company, which potentially included conversion into "fast freight" units.<ref name="ROG">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name=":0">Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref name=":0" /> However, this did not occur, and on 23 August 2022 unit 360205 was taken to Sims Metal in Newport, South Wales, to be scrapped. Unit 360204 followed shortly thereafter.<ref name="RailExpressOctober2022">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

In October 2022, it was announced that the remaining three units had been acquired by the Global 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.<ref name="gcre first">Template:Cite news</ref>

Accidents and incidents

• On 25 May 2014, an empty 360 205 derailed as it entered Template:Rws due to bogie maintenance errors, exacerbated by a track defect.<ref name="RAIB032015">Template:Cite book</ref>

Fleet details

Class	Operator	Quantity	Year built	Cars per unit	Unit nos.
360/1	East Midlands Railway	21	2002–2003	4	360101–360121<ref name= "Rail924" />
360/2	Global Centre of Rail Excellence	3	2004–2005	5	360201–360203
	Scrapped	2			360204–360205<ref name= RailExpressOctober2022 />

References

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