The British Rail Class 322 electrical multiple units were built by BREL in 1990. Five 4-car units were built for the dedicated Stansted Express service from London Liverpool Street to Stansted Airport. The units have since been transferred to other duties.

Description

In the late 1980s, British Rail was extending the electrification north from London Liverpool Street towards Cambridge. Included in this plan was the construction of new branch line, diverging from the mainline at Stansted Mountfitchet, to serve the newly built Stansted Airport, which opened in 1991. Therefore, BR decided to build a dedicated fleet of units to work the new Stansted Express service.

To reduce costs, the Class 322 units were built to the same design as the successful Class 321 units, which were still under construction for services on the GEML and WCML. Despite the Stansted route falling under the juridiction of Network SouthEast, the units were delivered into service in a special white livery with a broad green band, instead of the more usual NSE blue/red/white livery.

Five 4-car unit were built, numbered 322481-485. Each unit consisted of two outer driving trailers, an intermediate trailer, and an intermediate motor. The technical description of the formation of each unit is DTCO+TSO+MSO+DTSO. Individual vehicles are numbered as follows:

• 78163-78167 - DTCO
• 72023-72027 - TSO
• 63137-63141 - MSO
• 77985-77989 - DTSO

Current Operations

For the last few years, the Class 322 fleet has had a somewhat nomadic existence, being transferred between several different franchises. These are described below in chronological order.

West Anglia Great Northern

Following privatisation, the fleet passed into control of the West Anglia Great Northern (WAGN) franchise. In 1996, WAGN introduced a revised Stansted Express livery, which was still mainly white, but with a yellow stripe replacing the green. At the same time, services were rebranded as the Stansted Skytrain.

Units continued to be used on these services until 1997, when they became common user with the rest of the WAGN fleet. After this, it was common for units to turn up on London King's Cross to Peterborough services. Four of the five units were subsequently hired to North Western Trains , and two were painted in the company blue livery with gold stars. The other two units were frequently interchanged with the one remaining WAGN unit, and so were not repainted.

By 1999 the NWT units had returned to WAGN. They still did not have any specific duties to work, as dedicated rebuilt Class 317/7 units were introduced to the Stansted Airport services in 2000. The Class 322 fleet therefore remained non-standard in WAGN's fleet, so in 2001 all five units were hired to ScotRail, who operated similar Class 320 units. The class was transferred north to Scotland in two batches under their own power, routed via the West Coast Main Line.

North Western Trains

In the period 1997 to 1999, North Western Trains (NWT) hired four units from WAGN for a new Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston service. Two of the units, nos. 322484 and 322485, were repainted into NWT's blue and gold livery, whilst the other two unspecified units remained in the revised Stansted Skytrain livery.

These services did not last long, and by 1999 the units had returned to WAGN. One of the two NWT blue units, no. 322485, was repainted back into Stansted Skytrain livery.

ScotRail

In 2001, having been made redundant on WAGN services, the entire fleet was hired to ScotRail and they were transferred north to Scotland under their own power. They were put to work the Edinburgh to North Berwick service, which allowed the elderly incumbent Class 305 units to be withdrawn.

Despite the fact their use in Scotland was originally meant to be long-term, none of the units were repainted. Instead, the Stansted Skytrain branding was replaced with ScotRail logo. However, one unit, no. 322485, was named "North Berwick Flyer 1850-2000".

The units continued to be used on these services until mid-2004, when the hire period ended. They were transferred south in two batches, and were replaced on the North Berwick branch by EWS Class 90 electric locomotives hauling former Virgin Trains Mk.3 coaching stock. To enable trains to reverse, the locomotive operates in push-pull mode with a Driving Van Trailer. It is expected this arrangement will only be temporary, pending the construction of new Class 170 diesel multiple units.

'One' Railway

In June 2004, the fleet again transferred south to the newly formed 'One' Railway franchise in their old haunt of East Anglia. The units were used on peak London Liverpool Street to Witham and Clacton-on-Sea services, and allowed the final Class 312 slam-door units to be withdrawn. Since then, the units have been mostly confined to peak workings due to the condition of their interiors. Consequently, it is expected the unit will be refurbished in the near future.

Fleet Details