The British Rail Class 380 ''Desiro'' is a type of

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 train that operates on the

National Rail National Rail (NR) is the trading name licensed for use by the Rail Delivery Group, a group representing passenger train operating companies (TOCs) of England, Scotland, and Wales. The TOCs run the passenger services previously provided by ...

network in

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, for

ScotRail ScotRail Trains Limited, trading as ScotRail (), is a Scottish train operating company that is publicly owned by Scottish Rail Holdings on behalf of the Scottish Government. It has been operating the ScotRail franchise as an operator of las ...

. The Class 380 operates various routes out of Glasgow Central.

History

The trains operate

services in the Ayrshire and Inverclyde regions of Scotland and had originally been intended for the cancelled

Glasgow Airport Rail Link The Glasgow Airport Rail Link (GARL) is a proposed link between Glasgow City Centre and Glasgow Airport. The original plans for an airport rail link were proposed during the 2000s to directly link Glasgow Central railway station, Glasgow Centr ...

. The contract was awarded to

Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational technology conglomerate. It is focused on industrial automation, building automation, rail transport and health technology. Siemens is the largest engineering company in Europe, and holds the positi ...

and announced by

Transport Scotland Transport Scotland () is the national transport agency of Scotland. It was established by the Transport (Scotland) Act 2005, and began operating on 1 January 2006 as an executive agency of the Scottish Government. Transport Scotland, an execut ...

on 11 July 2008. A total of 38 units were ordered, comprising 22 three-car and 16 four-car units. All 38 units are owned by

Eversholt Rail Eversholt Rail Group is a British rolling stock company (ROSCO). Together with Angel Trains and Porterbrook, it is one of the three original ROSCOs created as a result of the privatisation of British Rail. Eversholt was established in March 199 ...

, a

rolling stock company A rolling stock company (ROSCO) or rolling stock leasing company owns and maintains railway engines and carriages which are leased to train operating companies who operate the trains. Rolling stock companies have been criticised as rentier capit ...

(ROSCO) that leases them to ScotRail. Stations along the

Ayrshire Coast Line The Ayrshire Coast Line is one of the lines within the Strathclyde suburban Railway, rail network in Scotland. It has 26 stations and connects the Ayrshire coast to Glasgow. There are three branches, to , and , all running into the high leve ...

and

Inverclyde Line The Inverclyde Line is a railway line running from Glasgow Central station through Paisley (Gilmour Street) and a series of stations to the south of the River Clyde and the Firth of Clyde, terminating at Gourock and Wemyss Bay, where it conn ...

underwent platform extension works to allow the use of the longer trains. The trains were specified to have full access for disabled people and to have streamlined end corridor connections. On the unveiling of the first completed vehicle, it was announced that the fleet would be divided into two sub-groups, with the three-car units Class 380/0 and the four-car as Class 380/1. The first unit to be delivered arrived in the UK in August 2010. In September 2010, commissioning of the fleet was suspended by ScotRail due to technical issues with the trains. The reliability issues and extended commissioning period resulted in an initially reduced service on parts of the ScotRail network, including the newly re-opened Airdrie-Bathgate line. The fleet is based at

Glasgow Shields Road TMD Glasgow Shields Road ETD is a railway electric traction depot in Glasgow, Scotland. The depot is located on the south side of the Glasgow Central to Paisley lines, adjacent to Shields Junction and close to the site of the former station. ...

. Introduction of the fleet resulted in the cascading of the Class 334 "Juniper" and fleet which previously operated the

and

. The fleet also allowed the fleet that operated on the

North Berwick Line The North Berwick Branch is a short railway branch line built by the North British Railway to connect North Berwick, in East Lothian, Scotland to the East Coast Main Line (at Drem). It was built as a tactical means of excluding competitors ...

to be withdrawn and transferred to

Northern Rail Northern Rail, branded as Northern, was an English train operating company owned by Serco-Abellio that operated the Northern Rail franchise from 2004 until 2016. It was the primary passenger train operator in Northern England, and operated the ...

. The Class 334 "Juniper" units were cascaded onto the

North Clyde Line The North Clyde Line (defined by Network Rail as the ''Glasgow North Electric Suburban'' line) is a suburban railway in West Central Scotland. The route is operated by ScotRail. As a result of the incorporation of the Airdrie–Bathgate rail ...

to , and the Class 318s were cascaded onto the

Argyle Line The Argyle Line is a suburban railway located in West Central Scotland. The line serves the commercial and shopping districts of Glasgow's central area, and connects towns from West Dunbartonshire to South Lanarkshire. Named for Glasgow's Arg ...

Operations

Wemyss Bay - Abellio 380016 Glasgow service

, the Class 380 operates trains between Glasgow Central and Ayr, Largs, Ardrossan, Gourock, Wemyss Bay, Neilston, Newton, Barrhead and Cathcart Circle. In addition, they also operated trains between Edinburgh and Glasgow Queen Street via Falkirk Grahamston, North Berwick and Dunbar for a time whilst awaiting the Class 385 introduction to service. The fleet was introduced into public service in December 2010. In November 2012, the Class 380 started operating services on the Paisley Canal Line following the line's electrification. Following the December 2014 timetable change, with the electrification of the

Whifflet Line The Whifflet Line is one of the lines within the Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, Strathclyde suburban Railway, rail network in Scotland. History The line was built between 1863 and 1865 as the Rutherglen and Coatbridge Railway, part of ...

, services to

Lanark Lanark ( ; ; ) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, located 20 kilometres to the south-east of Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Hamilton. The town lies on the River Clyde, at its confluence with Mouse Water. In 2016, the town had a populatio ...

were re-routed into Glasgow Central High Level. Alongside the usual Class 318 and Class 320 units, the Class 380 has been used on the route. The Class 380 operated some services on the recently electrified line between

Glasgow Queen Street Glasgow Queen Street () is a passenger railway terminus serving the city centre of Glasgow, Scotland. It is the smaller of the city's two mainline railway terminals (the larger being Glasgow Central) and is the third-busiest station in Scotland ...

and Edinburgh Waverley via Falkirk from December 2017, due to the late arrival of the units. From December 2023, Class 380 trains began operating on the Glasgow South Western Line from Glasgow Central to Barrhead following electrification of the route.

Fleet details

References

{{British Rail EMU

380 Year 380 ( CCCLXXX) was a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Augustus and Augustus (or, less frequently, year 1133 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 380 for t ...

Siemens multiple units Rail transport in Scotland Train-related introductions in 2010