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British Rail Class 395

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British Rail Class 395
File:395001 in shed.JPG
395001 at the Hitachi depot in Ashford
Constructed2007 - 2010
Class 395 interior
The Class 395 resembles the Japanese 885 Series narrow-gauge EMU also built by Hitachi

Class 395 is the designation[1] of new dual-voltage EMUs being built to operate new high speed domestic services on the High Speed 1 railway line in the United Kingdom. The trains will be the fastest operating domestic service trains in Britain, running at a maximum speed of 140 miles per hour (230 km/h) when they are introduced by operator Southeastern in 2009.

During the 2012 Summer Olympics, Class 395 trains will be used to provide the Javelin shuttle service for visitors to the Olympic Games' main venue in Stratford.[2]

Order

An order worth £250 million[3] was placed with Hitachi Europe for 28 high-speed ‘A-trains’ in 2004.[4] A twenty-ninth train was later added to the agreement in order to to provide additional capacity.

The first vehicle was delivered from Japan to Southampton Docks on 23 August 2007.[5][6] It was then hauled to Ashford in Kent for acceptance testing by Serco. Three more trains were delivered in 2007, with the remainder of the fleet intended to be delivered during 2008–2009.

The first of the trains to be delivered was present at the official opening of High Speed 1 and St Pancras station on 6 November 2007.

Operations

Southeastern will operate the Class 395 trains on commuter services between London St Pancras, Ashford and the Kent coast starting in December 2009,[1] running at speeds of up to 140 miles per hour (230 km/h) on High Speed 1 and 100 miles per hour (160 km/h) elsewhere. The trains are to be based at a £53m five-road depot in Ashford, Kent, and Ramsgate depot will also provide stabling.[7] The trains are owned by HSBC Rail, and leased by Southeastern.

Specifications

Power Supply (for 140 mph (225 km/h) on High Speed 1) 25 kV AC overhead lines
Power Supply (for 100 mph (160 km/h) on all other lines) 750 V DC third-rail power
Capacity 348 seated, 508 standing.[verification needed]
On-board systems The train will be equipped with GPS positioning equipment and a database to calculate the train’s exact position. The pressure-sealed doors on each car can only be opened with an exact alignment to the platform.
Signalling systems European Rail Traffic Management System ready. TVM430 (on High Speed 1), Train Protection & Warning System (on all other lines). The KVB system will be used at St Pancras station. This is the signalling system used by SNCF in France.
Safety The train is built to be lightweight using a technique known as friction stir welding, the first time such a technique has been used on a British main line. This was a technique recommended by the Ladbroke Grove Rail Crash enquiry to improve crash resistance. However, unlike TGV family of trains, it is not articulated.

Train formation

The 6-car trainsets consist of:

  • 2 Driving trailer cars each of length 20.65 meters
  • 4 Standard motor cars of length 20 meters

In total the train is 121.8 metres long over the couplings.[8] The train is unusual for a high speed train in that the doors and vestibules are not set at the ends over the bogies as on most long-distance trains (e.g. Mk 4 carriages), but in order to reduce dwell times (i.e. the waiting time at the station) they are set at approximately 1/4 and 3/4 along the carriage, which allows for faster loading and unloading, like most commuter trains (e.g. Electrostar); this means that the ride quality for passengers sitting over the bogies is diminished (due to transmission of vibration through the floor), though the quality of track on High Speed 1 is relatively high and the trains will not be used at speed on other lines.

The 395 has internally-hung sliding doors, rather than plug doors; this has meant the sacrifice of a smooth external profile. The door system is identical to that in use on the Japanese Shinkansen or bullet train and has over 40 years of operational experience and development. In service reliability was the reason for the choice of door system as UK plug doors have been notoriously complex and unreliable.[citation needed]

Fleet details

Class Operator No. Built Year Built Cars per Set Unit nos. Notes
Class 395 Southeastern 29 2007 - 2010 6 395001 - 395029 395005-029 to be delivered from 2009 onwards

References

  1. ^ a b "Southeastern completes its executive team and welcomes high-speed train experts". 2006-04-18.
  2. ^ "£20m bullet trains to serve Olympic Park". 28 October 2004. Retrieved 13 December 2008.
  3. ^ "News in Brief". Railway Gazette International. 2005-07-01.
  4. ^ "Hitachi preferred for CTRL domestic trains". Railway Gazette International. 2004-12-01.
  5. ^ "Hitachi Class 395 EMU arrives in Britain". Railway Gazette International. 2007-08-23.
  6. ^ "Japanese bullet train docks in UK". BBC News. 2007-08-23.
  7. ^ "At home with the High Speed 1 domestic stock". Railway Gazette International. 2007-10-30.
  8. ^ 'The Olympic Javelin', Modern Railways - September 2006 (Ian Allan Publishing), P36-37
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