The British Rail Class 332

electric multiple unit An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a number o ...

passenger trains were built between 1997 and 1998 by CAF, with traction equipment supplied by Siemens Transportation Systems. Fourteen units were built for dedicated use on

Heathrow Express Heathrow Express is a high-frequency airport rail link operating between London Heathrow Airport and . Opened in 1998, trains run non-stop, with a journey time of 15 minutes. The service is operated jointly by Great Western Railway (train operat ...

services between London Paddington and

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History

Following BAA being granted rights to operate services from London Paddington to

, 14 trains were ordered in July 1994 from Siemens Transportation Systems. They were built by CAF in

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, Spain. The first two were tested at the Velim railway test circuit and in Germany, while the next two were sent directly to England arriving at Old Oak Common TMD in March 1997. The units had

automatic train protection Automatic train protection (ATP) is the generic term for train protection systems that continually check that the speed of a train is compatible with the permitted speed allowed by signalling, including automatic stop at certain signal aspects ...

(ATP), one of the few fleets in the UK to do so. This was largely as a consequence of the Paddington-Heathrow route being mainly on the

Great Western Main Line The Great Western Main Line (GWML) is a main line railway in England that runs between London Paddington and . It connects to other main lines such as those from Reading to Penzance and Swindon to Swansea. The GWML is presently a part of t ...

, which was equipped with ATP in the early 1990s as part of a trial of the system by

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Comm ...

. The units were not fitted with

Train Protection & Warning System The Train Protection & Warning System (TPWS) is a train protection system used throughout the British passenger main-line railway network, and in Victoria, Australia. According to the UK Rail Safety and Standards Board, the purpose of TPWS is t ...

(TPWS). A derogation was issued in 2001, which exempted the class from mandatory TPWS installation, due to the fitment of the ATP. Given the lack of TPWS, the trains were not compatible for use elsewhere on the rail network. The units were maintained at a purpose-built depot at Old Oak Common. Following withdrawal of the units, the depot was demolished as part of the construction of

High Speed 2 High Speed 2 (HS2) is a high-speed railway which has been under construction in England since 2019. The line's planned route is between Handsacre – in southern Staffordshire – and London, with a Spur line, branch to Birmingham. HS2 is to ...

and Old Oak Common station.

Operator

The Class first entered service on 19 January 1998 when services commenced from London Paddington to Heathrow Junction. They operated through to Terminal 4 from May 1998 until March 2008, when the Heathrow Express was diverted to serve Terminal 5. The original order was for twelve three-car and two four-car sets. The twelve three-carriage sets were increased to four-car sets by the end of 1998. In 2002, five sets had a fifth car added.

2016 recall

On 29 February 2016, the entire class was withdrawn after a structural defect was found on the underside of a driving car of unit number 332014. They were replaced by Heathrow Connect Class 360s. The Class 332 trains were gradually returned to service from 11 March 2016 onwards.

Replacement

In March 2018,

Heathrow Airport Holdings Heathrow Airport Holdings is a company that operates and manages Heathrow Airport based in London, England. It was formed by the privatisation of the British Airports Authority as BAA plc as part of Margaret Thatcher's privatisation of governmen ...

announced that operation of the Heathrow Express was to be contracted to

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a History of rail transport in Great Britain, British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, ...

. However, in September 2019, Heathrow Express announced that Heathrow Airport Holdings were to continue owning Heathrow Express until at least 2028 and that instead, GWR would manage the introduction of the Class 387 to replace the Class 332. The first unit, 332014 was sent to be scrapped in November 2020 at Sims Metal,

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. The last day in service for the remaining Class 332 units was 28 December 2020. Apart from three carriages from 332001 that were retained by Siemens, the remaining sets were scrapped by Sims Metal, Newport in the first quarter of 2021.

Further use

Two cars from 332001 are now based at

Siemens Goole Siemens Goole is a train factory located in Goole, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. Siemens Mobility assessed several sites in the United Kingdom before settling on Goole with an intent to build the plant if it were successful in gaining order ...

for private use.

Fleet details

References

{{British Rail EMU, state=collapsed 332 CAF multiple units Train-related introductions in 1998 25 kV AC multiple units