#5218· BR Class 220
British Rail Class 220
🇬🇧 United Kingdom ·built by ALSTOM Transportation Germany· from 2001· Diesel Electric Multiple Unit Train
3 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. Silk Mills - CrossCountry 220027 Leeds to Plymouth: Geof Sheppard· CC BY-SA 4.0
- 2. Class 220 Voyager at Kings Sutton: Tutenkhamun Sleeping· CC BY 2.0
- 3. CrossCountry 220009 Hixon: ElectronicsForDogs· CC BY-SA 4.0
what is it?
The British Rail Class 220 Voyager is a class of diesel-electric high-speed multiple unit passenger trains built in Belgium by Bombardier Transportation in 2000 and 2001. They were introduced in 2001 to replace the 20-year-old InterCity 125 and almost 40-year-old Class 47-hauled Mark 2 fleets operating on the Cross Country Route. They were initially operated by Virgin CrossCountry and since 2007 have been operated by CrossCountry.
who runs it
base stats
Bars compare against all trains: 600 km/h (maglev), 1,700 seats; power, weight and number built on a log scale up to 20 MW, 1,000 t and 20,000 built.
fun facts
- First built 25 years ago, in 2001.
- Top speed is 1.5× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
- At full speed it would cover Amsterdam–Utrecht (≈ 40 km) in 12 minutes.
- 559 kW is about 7 family cars (~85 kW each) flat out.
- Weighs about as much as 31 African elephants (~6 t each).
- 23.9 m long: about 5 cars parked nose to tail.
- Seats 200: 4 full city buses (~50 seats each).
- Still in service after 25 years.
multiple unit: A self-propelled train: motors are spread under the passenger cars, so no separate locomotive.
spec sheet
- built
- 2001
- in service from
- 2001
- status
- in service
- number built
- 34
- kind
- multiple unit
- traction
- diesel
- origin
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- builders
- ALSTOM Transportation Germany
- operators
- CrossCountry
- top speed
- 201 km/h
- power
- 559 kW
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
- wheel arrangement
- 1A′A1′+1A′A1′+1A′A1′+1A′A1′
- formation
- 4 cars per unit
- length
- 23.9 m
- weight
- 186 t
- capacity
- 200 passengers
- Dutch name
- BR Class 220
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q2000823, Wikipedia: British Rail Class 220 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.