British Rail Class 442

British Rail Class 442 Wessex Electric
442414 sweeps through Battersea Park in the Gatwick Express livery
In service	1988–2007, 2008–
Manufacturer	BREL
Built at	Derby Works
Family name	Mark 3-derived
Replaced	Class 432 Class 438
Number built	24 trainsets
Number in service	24 trainsets
Formation	5-car set: DTS-TSO-MLC-TSW-DTS
Capacity	SWT: 266 standard, 50 first GatEx: 322 standard, 24 first
Operator(s)	GTR Gatwick Express
Specifications
Car length	DTS - 23.15 m (75 ft 11.4 in) TSO/TSW/MLC - 23 m (75 ft)
Width	2.74 m (9 ft)
Height	3.81 m (12.5 ft)
Maximum speed
Weight	Trainset total 202.84 t (199.64 long tons; 223.59 short tons)
Traction system	4 x English Electric 546 of 300 kW (402.31 hp) each
Power output
Power supply	Third rail electric
Electric system(s)	750 V DC
Braking system(s)	Disc
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge

442402 "County of Hampshire" at Wool on 16 April 2004, with a South West Trains service from London Waterloo to Weymouth.

442407 "Thomas Hardy" at Moreton on 10 April 2006. This unit carries the revised South West Trains livery with differently coloured doors to conform with the Disability Discrimination Act.

The British Rail Class 442 Wessex Electric (or 5WES) electric multiple-unit passenger trains were introduced in 1988 on the South Western Main Line from London Waterloo to Southampton Central, Bournemouth, Poole and Weymouth. Twenty-four of these 5-car units were built in 1988/89 by BREL at its Derby works. Their introduction coincided with the completion of electrification from Bournemouth to Weymouth. Post-privatisation, the entire fleet was operated by South West Trains up until February 2007, when the Class 442 trains were replaced by Class 444 and Class 450 Desiros.

In 2008 Southern began refurbishing the units for the Gatwick Express service from Brighton to Gatwick Airport and London Victoria. The Southern refurbishment and overhaul programme meant that by September 2012 the fleet had replaced all the Class 460 Juniper units. This was a controversial move, because the Class 442s are older than the Class 460s and have lower acceleration, although they underwent an extensive refurbishment to give them the extra luggage space needed for airport rail links. They are due to be replaced on Gatwick Express services by 2016 with the new Class 387.

The class holds the world speed record for a third-rail train with 174 km/h (108 mph), attained on 11 April 1988.

Description

The Class 442 "5WES" or "Wessex Electric" is based on the British Rail Mark 3 carriage bodyshell, and has a number of features which distinguish it from the slam-door units it replaced:

• Vehicle length is 23 m (75 ft), as opposed to 20 m (66 ft).
• All vehicles are air-conditioned, and have powered internal doors and external plug doors.
• Units consist of five vehicles, and operate as 5-car or 10-car trains, replacing 4-car units which operated as 4-, 8- or 12-car trains.
• Maximum permitted speed is 100 mph (160 km/h).

As was common on the British Rail Southern Region, many electrical components – including traction motors and electrical control gear – were salvaged from the Class 432 units they replaced. For this reason the older 4REP and 4TC units had to be withdrawn before their replacements were built.

The Class 442 "Wessex Electric" was one of the first types to make extensive use of plastics in construction, and earned the nickname among staff and rail enthusiasts of "Pigs" or "Piggies". When they were first introduced the units were plagued by minor technical failures, but they have subsequently become among the most reliable EMUs operating in the UK.

Operations

British Railways and South West Trains

The units were initially used solely on the Weymouth line, but through the 1990s began to be used on the London Waterloo to Portsmouth direct line. The increased top speed of the Class 442, combined with timetable changes, resulted in some minor journey time improvements, for example a non-stop service reaching Southampton Airport Parkway from London Waterloo in 58 minutes, over a journey of around 70 miles (110 km). The timetable change of December 2004 meant that the down non-stop train from London Waterloo took an hour to reach Winchester.

Upon privatisation the whole fleet passed to the South West Trains franchise. Unit 442402 soon had an orange stripe added to its Network SouthEast livery, which looked very similar to Stagecoach Group's corporate image. From 1998 the units began to receive the new South West Trains Express livery of white, red and blue as they underwent overhaul at Crewe Works. Unit 442404 was the first to be so treated.

During the late 1990s and early 2000s the fleet continued to operate express services from London to Weymouth and Portsmouth. However, in 2004, when the Class 444 "Desiro" trains had been brought into service, the "Wessex Electrics" were again used solely on the Weymouth line.

In early 2006 the fleet began to receive overhauls, with units emerging in a slightly revised livery which conformed with the Disability Discrimination Act. By January 2007 14 of the 24 units had received overhauls.

Despite their recent overhauls, South West Trains withdrew the entire fleet in 2007. They replaced them with Class 444s, which were in turn replaced by Class 450s spare from the re-introduction of Class 458s into traffic after modifications to their destination displays.

The last class 442 Weymouth to London Waterloo operation was on 24 January 2007 with the final service on 3 February 2007. The lease expired on 4 February 2007 at 0200. The units were moved from Bournemouth Traincare Depot to Eastleigh Works for warm storage.

Southern

Southern originally leased 17 of these units to operate the extended Gatwick Express service which began in December 2008. Originally some units were kept out of service for spare parts. In October 2008 unit 442414 became the first unit to be fully refurbished inside and out, 442412 and 442421 following shortly afterwards.

The new extended Gatwick Express service was introduced on 15 December 2008. The new service, operating Monday to Friday, comprises six services in the morning from Brighton and six services to Brighton in the evening with an additional service terminating at Haywards Heath.

In addition some Peak Hour services to/from London Bridge to Brighton and Eastbourne are operated by pairs of Class 442s.

In April 2009 Southern took an extra two units from Eastleigh Works to make up for the shortfall in units caused by their use on other services.

When Govia retained the Southern franchise, it was announced that the off-lease 442s would come back into use after mechanical overhaul as well as internal and external refurbishment. In turn, Southern began withdrawing its Class 460 units from service, the last unit being withdrawn after the London 2012 Olympics.

Since 2012 the branding on the units has been modified to read simply 'Express' rather than 'Gatwick Express' to avoid passenger confusion when used on fast Brighton Main Line services that do not call at Gatwick.

Future

Govia has announced that, in addition to the new Thameslink trains, it will order new trains for the Brighton and Gatwick Express routes; 108 carriages are expected. These will be classed as Class 387/2s. There is a franchise commitment to replace the Class 442 in 2016. Angel is now assessing the future of the Class 442.

Govia Thameslink Railway will retain six 442 units (all coupled to a partner unit to form three 10 coach trains) until 2018.

The Department for Transport has included the Class 442 as an option for the TransPennine Express franchise.

Fleet details

Units are numbered 442401–424 and are formed of two outer driving trailers, two intermediate trailers, and an intermediate motor vehicle. In accordance with Southern Region practice, the units only carried the last four digits of their unit numbers when in service with South West Trains. Units refurbished for Southern now carry the full six digits.

Individual vehicles are numbered as follows:

• 77382–77405 - DTS - Driving Trailer Standard (formerly DTFo (Driving Trailer First Semi-open) )
• 71818–71841 - TSO - Trailer Standard Open
• 62937–62960 - MLC - Motor Luggage Composite (formerly MBLS (Motor Buffet Lounge Standard) )
• 71842–71865 - TSW - Trailer Standard Wheelchair
• 77406–77429 - DTS - Driving Trailer Standard

Class 442 in original Network South East livery

The motor buffet vehicles were all modernised in a works programme at Crewe in 1997/98. At the same time units were repainted from their original Network SouthEast livery into South West Trains' Express livery. During 2006 South West Trains sent some units to Bombardier at Ilford, where the livery was modified to make it Disability Discrimination Act friendly; however, not all trains were modified as it was later announced that the trains were to be withdrawn from service. In 2008, units started to go to Wolverton works for refurbishment. The refurbishment included the removal of the buffet from the motor coach, all new seats, and the removal of first class from the front of the train to the motor coach. Door controls were also placed in the driving cabs so doors could be released and closed by the driver, although Gatwick Express intends to use this only for door release.

The description of this formation is DTS+TSO+MLC+TSW+DTS.

During the years of Network SouthEast and South West Trains, various units have received names. Most of these were towns or places along the routes that they worked, but a few were for publicity purposes. When the South West Trains lease expired all nameplates were removed.

The complete fleet list is shown below, with details of vehicle numbers, former names and livery.

Unit number	Former name (Removed after the South West Trains lease expired)	Livery	Individual coach numbers					Date withdrawn (SWT)
			DTS	TSO	MLC	TSW	DTS
442401	Beaulieu	Gatwick Express	77382	71818	62937	71842	77406	22 January 2007
442402	County of Hampshire	Gatwick Express	77383	71819	62938	71843	77407	16 February 2007
442403	The New Forest	Gatwick Express	77384	71820	62941	71844	77408	17 January 2007
442404	Borough of Woking	Gatwick Express	77385	71821	62939	71845	77409	15 January 2007
442405	City of Portsmouth	Gatwick Express	77386	71822	62944	71845	77410	15 February 2007
442406	Victory	Gatwick Express	77389	71823	62942	71847	77411	15 January 2007
442407	Thomas Hardy	Gatwick Express	77388	71824	62943	71848	77412	22 January 2007
442408	County of Dorset	Gatwick Express	77387	71825	62945	71849	77413	17 January 2007
442409	Bournemouth Orchestras	Gatwick Express	77390	71826	62946	71850	77414	12 January 2007
442410	Meridian Tonight	Gatwick Express	77391	71827	62948	71851	77415	24 January 2007
442411	The Railway Children	Gatwick Express	77392	71828	62940	71858	77422	29 January 2007
442412	Special Olympics	Gatwick Express	77393	71829	62947	71853	77417	12 February 2007
442413		Gatwick Express	77394	71830	62949	71854	77418	02 February 2007
442414		Gatwick Express	77395	71831	62950	71855	77419	24 January 2007
442415	Mary Rose	Gatwick Express	77396	71832	62951	71856	77420	10 November 2006
442416	Mum in a Million 1997 - Doreen Scanlon	Gatwick Express	77397	71833	62952	71857	77421	31 December 2006
442417	Woking Homes	Gatwick Express	77398	71834	62953	71852	77416	19 January 2007
442418	Wessex Cancer Trust	Gatwick Express	77399	71835	62954	71859	77423	24 January 2007
442419	BBC South Today	Gatwick Express	77400	71836	62955	71860	77424	12 February 2007
442420	City of Southampton	Gatwick Express	77401	71837	62956	71861	77425	12 January 2007
442421		Gatwick Express	77402	71838	62957	71862	77426	26 January 2007
442422	Operation Overlord	Gatwick Express	77403	71839	62958	71863	77427	11 January 2007
442423	County of Surrey	Gatwick Express	77404	71840	62959	71864	77428	18 April 2007
442424	Gerry Newson	Gatwick Express	77405	71841	62960	71865	77429	22 January 2007

External links

• Class 442, Gatwick Express