First Great Eastern ordered 21 four-car Class 360/1s to replace its slam-door Class 312 units. Built in Vienna, Austria, and Uerdingen, Germany[1] the units feature air conditioning, plug doors, CCTV, a wheelchair area, and first class at the cab ends. After being tested at the Wildenrath, Germany and Velim, Czech Republic test tracks, the first entered service in August 2003.[9][10] In February 2004, unit 360115 returned to Wildenrath for tests aimed at improving pantograph performance.[11]
Beginning in June 2020, all were cycled through Siemens at Kings Heath Depot, Northampton to be modified for 110 mph (177 km/h) operation.[18] The first was transferred to EMR's Cricklewood Depot in November 2020,[19] with all having transferred by February 2021.[20]
They entered service with East Midlands Railway on 16 May 2021 after the electrification of the Midland Main Line was complete in 2020 between Bedford and Corby. Two units had received a temporary application of the EMR Connect livery in time for this;[21] full-scale repainting of the fleet began in June 2021.[22]
The first rebuilt unit arrived at Heathrow Connect's Old Oak Common depot in November 2004,[27] and services commenced in June 2005.[28] An additional unit was subsequently ordered; it arrived in England in November 2005 but did not enter service for a further 12 months.[29] In 2007 five additional intermediate vehicles were procured and used to lengthen each unit to five carriages.[30][31] In 2010, one unit began operating a Heathrow Central to Heathrow Terminal 4 shuttle, with a new Heathrow Express livery.[32] In May 2018 TfL Rail inherited all five of Heathrow Connect's Class 360s, which were replaced by Class 345 units once problems with the European Train Control System in the Heathrow tunnel were resolved.[33] On 30 July 2020, Class 345 units began entering passenger service on the Heathrow branch, and the last Class 360 units were withdrawn on 13 September 2020.[34][35][36]
In February 2021, Rail Operations Group (ROG) purchased the five-strong fleet from Heathrow Airport Holdings. The fleet was moved to MoD Bicester for storage pending further use with the company, which potentially included conversion into "fast freight" units.[4][5] In August 2022, ROG stated that the units would not be repurposed due to technical issues, and that they wished the units to return to passenger service.[5] However, this did not occur, and on 23 August 2022 unit 360205 was taken to Sims Metal in Newport, South Wales, to be scrapped. Unit 360204 followed shortly thereafter.[37][38]
In October 2022, it was announced that the remaining three units had been acquired by the Global Centre of Rail Excellence (GCRE). The units will be used in the running-in process for the GCRE's infrastructure test track, as well as being made available to the railway industry as research and development test trains.[3]
Accidents and incidents
On 25 May 2014, an empty 360 205 derailed as it entered Paddington due to bogie maintenance errors, exacerbated by a track defect.[2]
^Trains - Reference List(PDF). Erlangen: Siemens Transportation Systems. 8 September 2006. pp. 37, 41. Archived from the original(PDF) on 6 October 2011. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
^"FGE Class 360 Desiro moves to Czech Republic for tests". Rail Magazine. No. 443. Bauer Consumer Media. 4 September 2002. p. 60.
^"Desiro makes its FGE debut run". Rail Magazine. No. 468. Bauer Consumer Media. 20 August 2003. p. 8.
^"FGE 360 Desiro returns to Germany". Rail Magazine. No. 483. Bauer Consumer Media. 17 March 2004. p. 31.
^"NXEA to clear Class 360s to Norwich". Today's Railways UK. No. 105. September 2010. p. 67.
^"Hitachi rumoured to have won EMR bi-mode deal". Rail Magazine. No. 884. Bauer Consumer Media. 31 July 2019. p. 28.
^"Greater Anglia Class 360/1s being readied for East Midlands switch". Rail Magazine. No. 908. Bauer Consumer Media. 1 July 2020. p. 26.
^"EMR 170 debuts on Robin Hood line". Modern Railways. No. 867. December 2020. p. 84.
^ ab"East Midlands Railway to introduce GA Class 360s prior to planned refurbishment". Rail Magazine. No. 924. Bauer Consumer Media. 10 February 2021. pp. 28–29.
