British Rail Class 387

The British Rail Class 387 is a type of  electric multiple unit passenger train built by Bombardier Transportation, as part of the Electrostar family. A total of 107 units were built, with the first train entering service on Thameslink in December 2014. The trains are currently in service on Great Western Railway, Gatwick Express and Great Northern (the latter fleet having been transferred from Thameslink).

History 
The Class 387 is a variation of Bombardier’s  Electrostar with a higher maximum speed of  and unlike the 379, the 387 is dual voltage, which means this train can go into the Southern Region's Third Rail network.

Description

Class 387/1 
The first Class 387/1s were ordered for the Thameslink route, which enabled the existing s to be transferred to Northern Rail for use on the newly electrified Manchester Victoria to Liverpool via Newton-le-Willows route.

On behalf of the Department for Transport, Southern issued an OJEU notice in December 2012 with proposals received in January 2013. The invitation to tender for the fleet was released the following month with final offers being submitted by 18 June 2013. Southern announced it had signed a deal with Bombardier on 30 July 2013 for 29 four carriage units. The deal also included an option for 140 carriages which have since been taken up with 108 for Gatwick Express and 32 for Great Western Railway.

In October 2015, Porterbrook placed a speculative order for 80 carriages. Fifty-six were later leased to Great Western Railway and the remaining 24 to c2c as 387/3s.

Class 387/2 

As part of Govia's bid for the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern franchise, 27 four-carriage units were ordered to replace s on the Gatwick Express service, using some of the optional 140 extra carriages. The order was announced in November 2014 with the first units on test in July 2015 and they began to enter service on 29 February 2016. The deployment was disrupted by unionised drivers refusing to take passengers, claiming that the twelve coach Class 387 trains are not covered by their driver only operation agreement which is limited to ten coaches, and that running them without a conductor would be unsafe.

Class 387/3 
In April 2016, c2c announced that it would operate six Class 387s.

Current operations

Gatwick Express 
Class 387 units began to replace the  EMUs from mid-2016, until the final 442 ran on 10 March 2017. The Class 442s were then stored.

Great Western Railway 
The first Great Western Railway unit entered service on 5 September 2016 running between London Paddington and Hayes & Harlington in peak hours to relieve congestion on some of the country's most crowded trains. In January 2017 GWR began running a half-hourly Paddington to Hayes and Harlington service using pairs of these 387/1s.

On 22 May 2017 Class 387/1 EMUs began operating suburban services between London Paddington and Maidenhead.

On 1 January 2018, following further electrification work, Class 387/1 EMUs began operating suburban services between London Paddington and Didcot Parkway, replacing GWR  DMUs on these services. Due to electrification being suspended from Didcot Parkway to Oxford, the previous Oxford suburban service from London Paddington was cut back to Didcot Parkway to allow electric trains to operate this service. Oxford is still served by the fast services from London Paddington, and a DMU service from Didcot Parkway.

In January 2019, Class 387/1 EMUs began operating between Reading and Newbury after electrification works on the 
Reading to Taunton line had been finished.

c2c 
The first c2c Class 387 was delivered in October 2016 and entered service in November 2016.
These trains were built primarily as stock units; they were leased out to c2c which at the time was suffering with overcrowding. The units were leased pending delivery of newer rolling stock. They will be replaced by Class 720/6 in 2021.

Great Northern 
From late 2016, 29 of the Class 387/1s operating on Thameslink were displaced by the delivery of  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 be seen on other services. These units were delivered in a white livery, with Southern green doors and Southern moquette. Unit 387105 has been transferred to Gatwick Express on a permanent basis, but has not been relivered into Gatwick Express red. Great Northern Class 387s are allowed to be used at 110 mph but must observe the usual speed restrictions.

Future operations

Heathrow Express
In March 2018, it was announced that Heathrow Airport Ltd, the owner and operator of Heathrow Express, had come to an agreement with Great Western Railway for the latter to take over Heathrow Express' running of the service between London Paddington and Heathrow Airport, beginning in August 2018. From May 2020, GWR will then run the service using a dedicated pool of twelve modified Class 387 units from its own fleet. These Electrostar units will be modified at Ilford HM Depot by Bombardier Transportation.

Former operations

Thameslink 
The first Thameslink unit entered service in December 2014 with all in service by July 2015. They were operated by Thameslink on services between Bedford and Brighton. During Summer 2016, several of Gatwick Express’ 387/2 units entered service with Thameslink prior to introduction on Gatwick Express services due to the delay of the Class 700 units, although these returned to service with Gatwick Express after a few months. The 387/1s have now been transferred to Great Northern working services from Kings Cross to Peterborough and Cambridge/King's Lynn.

Accidents 
387 117 collided with the buffer stops on platform 9 at London King's Cross station, on 15 August 2017.
387 146 derailed near West Ealing railway station, on 27 November 2018.

Fleet details 

One unit so far has been named:
 387124 - "Paul McCann"

Liveries

Interiors

References

External links 

Category:Bombardier Transportation multiple units
387
Category:Train-related introductions in 2014