British Rail Class 375

British Rail Class 375 "Electrostar"
330px Refurbished and repainted 375306 Sits in Strood.
330px The interior of a Refurbished Class 375
In service	April 2001 - Current
Manufacturer	ADtranz Derby (now Bombardier)
Family name	Electrostar
Replaced	Class 365 Class 411 Class 421 Class 423
Refurbishment	April 2015 - 2018
Number built	140 trainsets
Number in service	112 trainsets (28 trainsets Renumbered to Class 377/3)
Formation	375/3 - 3 carriages per trainset Others - 4 carriages per trainset
Capacity	176 seats (375/3) 236 seats (375/6/7/8) 273 seats (375/9)
Operator(s)	Southeastern
Specifications
Car length	20.4 m (66 ft 11 in)
Width	2.80 m (9 ft 2 in)
Height	3.78 m (12 ft 5 in)
Maximum speed	100 mph (161 km/h)
Weight	133.1 tonnes (131.0 long tons) (375/3 only) 173.6 tonnes (170.9 long tons) (others)
Power output	1 megawatt (1,300 hp) (375/3 only) 1.5 megawatts (2,000 hp) (others)
Electric system(s)	750 V DC 3rd rail 25 kV AC Overhead (375/6 only)
Coupling system	Dellner
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) Standard gauge

The British Rail Class 375 Electrostar electric multiple unit train was built by Bombardier Transportation (previously ADtranz) at their Derby Works, from 1999 to 2005. The Electrostar family, which also includes classes 357, 376, 377, 378, 379 and 387, is the most numerous type of EMU introduced since the privatisation of British Rail.

These units form the basis of Southeastern's mainline fleet.

Description

Driving cab of a Class 375

These trains are owned by Eversholt Rail Group (formerly HSBC Rail) and leased back to Southeastern for operation from London to Kent and parts of East Sussex.

The first batch of 30 trains (Class 375/6) were fitted with both a pantograph and third-rail shoes for dual voltage, where the remainder of these trains have one coach in each unit with a recess where the pantograph could be fitted, allowing for future conversion to run on AC power from overhead lines. Although the units are normally operated on 750 V DC lines only, the class is numbered in the 3xx series which usually refers to AC operation. The option is available for the 375/6 units to be leased to a network which operates on 25 kV AC overhead lines.

Southern's Class 375 units have since been converted to Class 377. The ex-375s, now Southern 377/3, have a mixture of grey, plum and blue seats as opposed to the 377/2 and 377/4 (there were two batches of the 377/1: 101-139 All have the mixed seating colours, whereas 140-169 have green uniformed seating). The 375/3, 375/6 and 375/7 types all have smaller headlight and a slightly different interior than the 375/8 and 375/9. The 375/3, 375/6 and 375/7 all have glass overhead racks, and the poles in the train bend straight down.

The class 375/8 and 375/9 have holes in the overhead racks, and the poles bend right the way around. Out of all the seating arrangements in 375s, the 375/9 stands out as it has 2+3 seating layout, unlike all other 375 series. The layout in the interior is also different. The chairs are more upright and not as comfortable as the 375/3, 375/6, 375/7 or 375/8, but the legroom is better. The 375/9 was designed with rush hour commuters in mind. On the exterior of a 375/8 and 375/9 there are a few small differences with the headlights. The 375/8 and 375/9 have bigger headlights and they are of the LED type which can change to white or red.

The Class 375 is the principal new train used by Southeastern, and has replaced the life expired slam door Mark 1 derived stock which came to an end of their useful lives on mainline services to Kent and East Sussex and which did not meet up with modern health and safety requirements. All the Southeastern units have also been converted from Tightlock to Dellner couplers, but unlike the Southern fleet, they have not been reclassified as 377s. The 375/8 and 375/9 sub-classes were built with Dellner couplers from new. The only noticeable difference from the class 377 is that none of the 375's have external CCTV.

The Class 375 has GPS-based Selective Door Opening (SDO), so if the train configuration is too long for a particular station, the doors which are overhanging the platform will not open. An example of this is at Rochester Station which can only hold 10 cars.

Interior prior to refurbishment

Exterior prior to refurbishment

From August 2011, Southeastern has begun a minor refresh of the interiors of the units, with a full re-trim of the seating in the company's new purple moquette (as seen on the refreshed 465/466 units) and the addition of new CCTV cameras. The seats in first class have now been fitted with larger, more prominent seat bolstering to distinguish them from the standard class seats and the first class areas have been re-carpeted.

Refurbishment

In May 2015, unit 375301 was moved from Ramsgate Depot to Derby Litchurch Lane for a full refurbishment. On 16 May 2015, it was returned to the Kent depot wearing a new livery, similar to, but not based on the 'Highspeed' livery carried by the high speed Class 395 EMU, with a more vibrant shade of blue on the saloon doors and bolder stripes to highlight First Class and Disabled areas. Internally, the unit has received new carpets and lino flooring, new table top covers and the grab poles, side panels and table legs have been re-powdercoated. The existing seatcovers have been retained, but were dry cleaned to provide a brighter, cleaner interior. This work will also involve combining the two separate First Class sections on four car units into one section in the end of MOSL coach. It is intended for all class 375 units to receive this refurbishment between 2015 and 2018. The first 50 units (starting with 375/3s, then 375/6 & 375/7s) will be refurbished by Bombardier in Derby, before the work is transferred to Bombardier's Ilford works for the remaining units. On the 19th September 2015 the last 375/3 unit no 375310 went to Derby for refurbishment. The following week on the 26th September the first 375/6 went to Derby for refurbishment. While the Class 375/3's retain their First Class section at one end of the train, the 4-car 375's are expected to have a single First Class section in the middle of the train.

Accidents and incidents

• On 8 November 2010, a passenger train operated by unit 375 711 failed to stop at Stonegate station, on the Hastings Line in East Sussex, due to maintenance errors in respect of the train's sanding apparatus. The train overran the station by 2 miles 36 chains (3.94 km). Following the incident, Southeastern reduced the interval that the sand hoppers were to be refilled from seven days to five days.
• On 26 July 2015, unit 375 703 was in collision with a herd of cattle on the line between Wye and Chilham, Kent and was derailed. There were no injuries amongst the 70 passengers on board.

Class 375 routes

Main lines

• Charing Cross/Cannon Street – Tunbridge Wells and Hastings fast services
• Charing Cross/Cannon Street – Dover Priory and Canterbury West via Ashford International, with hourly extensions to Ramsgate

• Victoria – Ramsgate and Dover Priory via Chatham
• Cannon Street - Ramsgate/Broadstairs via Chatham (peak hours only)

Outer suburban

Electrostars also work the following outer suburban Southeastern routes interchangeably with Class 465/9 units:

• Charing Cross/Cannon Street – Tunbridge Wells
• Victoria – Ashford International, via Maidstone East,
• Victoria - Gillingham (Kent) via Swanley
• Victoria - Canterbury East/Faversham (Sundays only)

Medway Valley Line

Class 375/3 Units operate all services on the Medway Valley Line with the exception of high-speed services from London St Pancras during peak hours, 4-car Class 375's occasionally appear as well, as do Class 465 and 466 Networkers.

• Strood – Maidstone West/Paddock Wood/Tonbridge

Fleet details

Class	Type	Operator	No. Built	Year Built	Cars per Set	Unit nos.	Notes
Class 375/3	Express & Outer suburban	Southeastern	10	2001–2002	3	375301–310	28 trainsets Southern units reclassified as Class 377/3 in 2004. Refurbished Units:375301-375310
Class 375/6			30	1999–2001	4	375601–630	Dual-voltage units.. Refurbished Units 375605, 375616-375617, 375620,
Class 375/7			15	2001–2002		375701–715	-
Class 375/8			30	2004–2005		375801–830	-
Class 375/9			27	2003–2004		375901–927	3+2 seating in Standard Class

Named units

Unit	Name
375 304	Medway Valley Line 1856 - 2006 (Removed upon relivery)
375 608	Bromley Travelwise
375 610	Royal Tunbridge Wells
375 611	Dr. William Harvey (Removed)
375 619	Driver John Neve
375 623	Hospice in the Weald
375 624	White Cliffs Country (Removed upon Relivery)
375 701	Kent Air Ambulance Explorer
375 703	Dickens Traveller (Removed)
375 830	City of London

Note that unit 375 624 (White Cliffs Country) was re-liveried with the Southeastern trial livery and currently does not have its name displayed.

Also, 375 610 (Royal Tunbridge Wells) sports a livery with blue doors and a gold stripe.(stripe now removed)

Diagrams

A Diagram of a Class 375 in the new Southeastern 'Blue' livery, unveiled in May 2015.

A Diagram of a Class 375 in the new Southeastern Trial livery.

A diagram of a class 375 in the livery seen on 375/8s&/9s

A diagram of a class 375 in the livery seen on 375/3s/6s&/7s

Gallery

• 

  First Class accommodation of a Southeastern unit, showing the plum seat moquette trim

• 

  Standard Class accommodation of a Southeastern unit, showing the blue seat moquette trim

• 

  Former Connex South Eastern no. 375609 at London Victoria

• 

  Southeastern Class 375/7 No. 375710 at Canterbury West

• 

  Southeastern Class 375/8 No. 375812 at Ashford International

• 

  Southeastern Class 375/9 No. 375909 at London Bridge