British Rail Class 315

British Rail Class 315
Class 315 unit at Ilford
In service	1980 - Current
Manufacturer	BREL York
Refurbishment	All 61 National Express East Anglia sets 2006-present
Number built	61 trainsets
Formation	4 cars per trainset
Capacity	320 seats
Operator	National Express East Anglia
Specifications
Car length	19.80 m
Width	3.58 m
Height	2.82 m
Maximum speed	75 mph (121 km/h)
Weight	127.5 tonnes
Power output	656 kW
Voltage	25 kV AC Overhead
Gauge	Standard gauge (1,435 mm)

British Rail Class 315 alternating current (AC) electric multiple units (EMU) were built by BREL at York works from 1980 to 1981. They were the fifth and final variety of British Rail's then-standard 1972 design for suburban EMUs, which eventually encompassed 755 vehicles and five Classes (Class 313/314/315/507/508). Like the Glasgow-based Class 314 units, they are only able to operate from 25 kV overhead line current collection. The fleet works inner-suburban services on the Great Eastern Main Line run by the train operating company National Express East Anglia out of London Liverpool Street. Class 315s also work services from Liverpool Street to Chingford, Enfield Town, Hertford East and Cheshunt.

Workings outside of the normal area

In the Monday to Friday timetable, there are 3 booked workings of 315s outside of the normal area. These are the 06:29 Southend Victoria to London Liverpool Street, the 07:20 Southend Victoria to London Liverpool Street and the 17:49 London Liverpool Street to Southend Victoria.

The future of the 315s

It is expected that the class 315s operating on the Great Eastern Main Line will be required to work until 2018, when Crossrail is expected to take over, and the oldest units will be 40 years old. At this time, it is unclear whether units operating West Anglia routes will be withdrawn and scrapped before 2018, or simply cascaded on to the Great Eastern Main Line.