Up and down the country, there are countless people who like to spend time heading out to their local railway lines in order to spot specific trains that have a special meaning to them. For the people of Surrey, the classic red trains have served the local commuters for more than four decades, but their time is being brought to a close at the end of the year. As a result, the residents of Guildford and other local towns are being encouraged to host a party in order to bid goodbye to the trains before they hit the tracks for the final time, replaced by a new fleet of alternatives.
The Class 455 Trains
The British Rail Class 455 train is a type of electric multiple unit passenger train that was built by British Rail Engineering Limited between 1982 and 1985. Operated on suburban services in Greater London and Surrey, the trains became an important part of the lives of commuters in the area when they started to ferry people back and forth to the capital. Boasting the same bodyshell as the Class 317 and the Class 318, the Class 455 removed the first-class seating as well as both the air conditioning and the toilets, on account of their use for inner suburban routes.
In all, 505 carriages were built by BREL, added to 43 existing trailers from Class 508 trains in order to make up 137 sets of four-car offerings. In the February of 1996, all of the 455s that were based in the south west were transferred to become part of the South West Trains network, which led to them being branded for Stagecoach a few months later. It was in the November of 2004 that the predominantly red livery was put on the trains, which has remained in place since and became a familiar sight to the area’s numerous commuters and shoppers heading into London.
What Is Happening
The red trains that became so beloved of the locals in the south west of England, taking people from the likes of Guildford, Woking and Windsor into London Waterloo, are being retired. That is thanks to the fact that Bombardier Transportation and Alstom have built British Rail Class 701 Arterio to replace them. Having been ordered in 2017, the original idea was that they would enter service in the middle of 2019, but countless delays meant that South Western Railway didn’t take delivery of the new trains until the December of 2023, when 50 units were accepted by the company.
The phased entry of the trains began in the January of 2024, allowing for the gradual withdrawal of the Class 455 units. As a result, the old trains will be entirely removed from the tracks by the end of this year, with the Engineering and Infrastructure Director for South Western Railways, Neil Drury, saying,
While customers are getting used to the many benefits of our new fleet of Arterio trains, we know there are a lot of enthusiasts out there who will be sad to see our classic red trains go. The farewell tour will be a fitting tribute to these trains, which have been a staple of our railway and worked incredibly hard for more than four decades.
A Party for the Trains
Whilst many commuters might well associate the trains with the misery of having to go to work regardless of the weather conditions, numerous people will be keen to bid them a proper goodbye. So it is that the ‘Class 455 Farewell Tour’ is being planned, taking in some familiar routes and locations before time is called. There will be 400 tickets sold at a cost of £45.50, with three specially selected charities being chosen to benefit from the money raised. The charities are The Alex Wardle Foundation, Macmillan and The Railway Children for the event that is planned for the 21st of December.
Interestingly, the 90 Arterio trains will have to pick up the 300 services per day that the Class 455 fleet currently cover, doing so with some creature comforts returned. That is thanks to the fact that there are accessible toilets on every train, as well as air conditioning and charging points for every seat. The 10-car trains will serve 98 stations, boasting a capacity of 50% more than the Class 455s were able to manage. Whether the party is to bid goodbye to the old trains, therefore, or welcome in the new ones will doubtless depend on the point of view of those in attendance.