The Bombardier Electrostar (sold as the ADtranz Electrostar until 2001) is a family of
electric multiple-unit (EMU) passenger trains manufactured by
Bombardier Transportation
Bombardier Transportation was a Canadian rolling stock and rail transport manufacturer, with headquarters in Toronto and Berlin. It was one of the world's largest companies in the rail vehicle and equipment manufacturing and servicing industry. ...
(formerly
Adtranz
Adtranz was a multi-national rail transportation equipment manufacturer with facilities concentrated in Europe and the US. The company, legally known as ABB Daimler-Benz Transportation, was created in 1996 as a joint venture between ABB and Daim ...
) at their
Derby Litchurch Lane Works
Derby Litchurch Lane Works, formerly Derby Carriage and Wagon Works, is a railway rolling stock factory in Derby, England. It is presently owned by the multinational transportation manufacturer Alstom.
Derby works originally commenced productio ...
in England between 1999 and 2017. It has become the most common new EMU type in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
since the
privatisation of British Rail
The privatisation of British Rail was the process by which ownership and operation of the Rail transport in Great Britain, railways of Great Britain passed from government control into private hands. Begun in 1994, the process was largely compl ...
with a number of variants. Electrostar trains are most common on high-volume suburban commuter routes around London; and on mainline services from London south to
Surrey
Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...
and the
south coast, east to
Essex
Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...
, and north to
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...
and
Stansted Airport
Stansted Airport is an international airport serving London, the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It is located near Stansted Mountfitchet, Uttlesford, Essex, northeast of Central London.
As London's third-busiest airport, Stan ...
.
The model shares the same bodyshell and core structure as the
Bombardier Turbostar which is the most common post-privatisation
diesel multiple unit (DMU) family; both evolved from the design by ADtranz. The Turbostar and Electrostar platforms are a modular design, sharing the same basic bodyshell and core structure, and optimised for speedy manufacture and easy maintenance. A common
underframe, created by
seam-welding a number of aluminium alloy
extrusion
Extrusion is a process used to create objects of a fixed cross section (geometry), cross-sectional profile by pushing material through a Die (manufacturing), die of the desired cross-section. Its two main advantages over other manufacturing pro ...
s, is covered by body panels and topped by a single piece roof, again made from extruded sections. Car ends (cabs) are made from
glass-reinforced plastic
Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass ( Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass c ...
and steel, and are bolted onto the main car bodies. Underframe components are collected in "rafts" which are bolted into slots on the underframe. The predominantly aluminium-alloy body gives light weight to help acceleration and energy efficiency.
Transport for London
Transport for London (TfL) is a local government body responsible for most of the transport network in London, United Kingdom.
TfL is the successor organization of the London Passenger Transport Board, which was established in 1933, and His ...
(TfL) announced in August 2006 that it had ordered 48 three- and four-car Electrostar trains for the new
London Overground
London Overground (also known simply as the Overground) is a Urban rail in the United Kingdom, suburban rail network serving London and its environs. Established in 2007 to take over Silverlink Metro routes, it now serves a large part of Greate ...
service. These were categorised by
Network Rail
Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and railway infrastructure manager, infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. ...
as , and entered service in 2009 to replace the and trains on the
North London Line and
West London Line, and to provide the opening service on the new
East London line extension in 2010.
In 2009, as part of the government's wider rolling stock plan, an order was placed for thirty four-car units intended for use by
National Express East Anglia (now operated by
Greater Anglia
Greater Anglia (legal name Transport UK East Anglia Limited) is a British train operating company owned as a joint venture by Transport UK Group and Mitsui & Co. It operates the East Anglia franchise, providing the commuter and inter-city se ...
) on the
Stansted Express and
West Anglia services. The first of these units entered passenger service on Thursday 3 March 2011.
Production of the trains ended in 2017 when unit number 387174 for
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, ...
was completed at
Derby Litchurch Lane Works
Derby Litchurch Lane Works, formerly Derby Carriage and Wagon Works, is a railway rolling stock factory in Derby, England. It is presently owned by the multinational transportation manufacturer Alstom.
Derby works originally commenced productio ...
. The family was superseded by the
Alstom Aventra.
The Electrostar was also selected for use on the
Gautrain
Gautrain is an Higher-speed rail, higher-speed Express train, express commuter rail system in Gauteng, South Africa, which links Johannesburg, Pretoria, Kempton Park, Gauteng, Kempton Park and O. R. Tambo International Airport. It takes 15 minu ...
system in South Africa, a new railway between
Johannesburg
Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...
,
Pretoria
Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country.
Pretoria strad ...
, and the
Johannesburg International Airport. The trains were assembled by
UCW Partnership in South Africa from components made in Derby.
Variants
Bombardier Electrostar routes
c2c

c2c uses Class 357 on services down the
London, Tilbury and Southend line
The London, Tilbury and Southend line, also known as Essex Thameside, is a commuter railway line on the Rail transport in Great Britain, British railway system. It connects Fenchurch Street railway station, Fenchurch Street station, in central ...
from and to .
Southeastern

The is the backbone of Southeastern's long-distance routes, seeing services on most of its lines originating from its London termini (, , and ) including;
*
Chatham Main Line
**
Maidstone East Line
*
Medway Valley Line
*
South Eastern Main Line
**
Hastings Line
**
Ashford to Ramsgate (via Canterbury West) line
**
Kent Coast Line
*
North Kent Line
The North Kent Line is a railway line which branches off the South East Main Line at St Johns junction west of Lewisham station in Greater London and runs to Rochester Bridge Junction near Strood, Medway where it links to the Chatham Main ...
*
Mid Kent Line
On the outer suburban portions of these above routes, the Class 377/5 Electrostars and the support the Class 375 ''Electrostars'', but they do not work in multiple together.

The operates on the metro routes in suburban London, in conjunction with the
Desiro Cities, Class 465 and
''Networker''s, operating over the London portion of the above lines from the London Termini (including ) out to and ):
*North Kent Line (to Gravesend)
*
Bexleyheath Line (to Dartford)
*
Dartford Loop Line (to Dartford)
*South Eastern Main Line (to Sevenoaks)
*
Hayes Line
This leaves the
Bromley North Line, operated by (4 car Networkers). The
Bromley North Line,
Sheerness Line and
Medway Valley Line used to be operated exclusively by the (2 car Networkers) prior to the introduction of accessibility regulations in January 2020.
Southern

Southern's fleet is found on all parts of the network apart from the non-electrified routes. They frequent metro routes, formerly alongside the , until the latter's withdrawal in 2022, and until they transferred to
South West Trains
Stagecoach South Western Trains Limited, trading as South West Trains (SWT), was an English train operating company owned by Stagecoach, which operated the South Western franchise between February 1996 and August 2017.
SWT operated the majori ...
in 2014.
Main lines
*
Brighton Main Line
The Brighton Main Line is a railway line in southern England linking London to Brighton. It starts at two termini in the capital, and , and the branches from each meet at , from where the route continues southwards via to the coast. The line ...
(Victoria–Gatwick and Brighton)
*
East Coastway (Brighton–Eastbourne, Hastings and Ore)
*
West Coastway (Brighton–Portsmouth and Southampton)
*
Arun Valley Line (Victoria–Horsham, Littlehampton and Chichester)
*
West London Line (Clapham Junction–Watford Junction) (Using Class 377/2 or Dual Voltage Class 377/7)
Outer suburban
*London Victoria–Horsham via Dorking
*London Victoria–East Grinstead
*London Bridge–Horsham via East Croydon
*London Victoria-Reigate
*Redhill-Tonbridge
Suburban
Often found on
*London Victoria–Dorking via Sutton
*London Victoria–Epsom Downs
*London Bridge-London Victoria via Sydenham
*London Bridge-Caterham
*London Victoria-Caterham
*London Victoria-Epsom
*London Bridge-Tattenham Corner
London Overground
London Overground
London Overground (also known simply as the Overground) is a Urban rail in the United Kingdom, suburban rail network serving London and its environs. Established in 2007 to take over Silverlink Metro routes, it now serves a large part of Greate ...
operates over four lines of its six around London:
*
North London Line (Richmond–Stratford via Willesden Junction)
*
West London Line (Clapham Junction–Willesden Junction via West Brompton, and continuing on the North London Line to Stratford)
*
East London Line (Crystal Palace, New Cross or West Croydon–Dalston Junction and Highbury & Islington via Canada Water)
*
South London Line (Clapham Junction–Peckham Rye, and continuing on the East London Line to Dalston Junction)
Gautrain (South Africa)
On 8 June 2010, the route between
Sandton
Sandton is a financial, commercial and residential area, located in the northern part of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality. Formerly an independent municipality, Sandton's name came from the combination of two of its suburbs, Sa ...
and
OR Tambo International Airport
O. R. Tambo International Airport is an international airport serving the twin cities of Johannesburg and the main capital of South Africa, Pretoria. It is situated in Kempton Park, Gauteng. It serves as the primary airport for domestic and ...
in South Africa opened in time for the
2010 FIFA World Cup
The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...
. The rest between
Johannesburg Park Station and
Rosebank was to be completed in 2011. This section was actually opened 7 June 2012, the delay caused by work to resolve a water-seepage problem in the single-track tunnel section between Rosebank and Park. Although railways in South Africa use the Cape gauge, Gautrain is built to the more expensive
standard gauge
A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), international gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge in Europe, and SGR in East Africa. It is the ...
of . According to the Gautrain planning and implementation study, this is done for several reasons, including that standard gauge is safer and more comfortable to passengers. The rolling stock is also easier, quicker and less expensive to obtain than Cape Gauge rolling stock, and standard gauge is also less expensive to maintain as it is more tolerant of track imperfections than Cape Gauge. Standard gauge allows for travel at Gautrain's required speed of .
Great Western Railway
From September 2016
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, ...
introduced 45 4 car on peak services between London Paddington and . They replaced the and the on the Thames Valley services and now operate between London Paddington and , and .
GWR announced in 2018 that they will modify 12 units to be used 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 ...
due to the depot closing.
Great Northern
From late 2016, 29 of the Class 387/1s operating on Thameslink were displaced by the delivery of units, and were transferred to Great Northern.
They operate mostly on the King's Cross-Cambridge-King's Lynn route, though they can also been seen on other services. These units were delivered in the livery of
Southern, with green doors and Southern upholstery.
See also
*
Bombardier Turbostar
References
External links
*
{{British Rail EMU
Bombardier Transportation multiple units
Adtranz multiple units
British Rail electric multiple units
Train-related introductions in 2000
Electric multiple units of South Africa
750 V DC multiple units
25 kV AC multiple units