#5737· BR type 387
British Rail Class 387
🇬🇧 United Kingdom ·built by ALSTOM Transportation Germany· from 2014· class of British ‘Electrostar’ electric multiple units
3 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. 387164 at Didcot Parkway: Vanmanyo· CC BY-SA 4.0
- 2. Class 387 at Luton: HMIAN· CC BY-SA 4.0
- 3. Debris camera 387120: train_photos· CC BY-SA 2.0
what is it?
The British Rail Class 387 Electrostar is a type of electric multiple unit passenger train built by Bombardier Transportation. They are part of the Electrostar family of trains. A total of 107 units were built, with the first train entering service with Thameslink in December 2014.
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 12 years ago, in 2014.
- Top speed is 1.4× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
- At full speed it would cover Amsterdam–Utrecht (≈ 40 km) in 14 minutes.
- 1.7 MW is about 20 family cars (~85 kW each) flat out.
- 20.4 m long: about 5 cars parked nose to tail.
multiple unit: A self-propelled train: motors are spread under the passenger cars, so no separate locomotive.
spec sheet
- built
- 2014
- in service from
- 2014
- status
- in service
- number built
- 107
- kind
- multiple unit
- traction
- electric
- origin
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- builders
- ALSTOM Transportation Germany
- operators
- Gatwick Express, Greater Thameslink Railway, Great Western Railway, Heathrow Express, Southern, Thameslink, c2c, Govia Thameslink Railway
- top speed
- 177 km/h
- power
- 1.7 MW
- electric system
- Overhead line, overhead | collectionmethod = {{ubl
- formation
- 4 cars per unit:, DMSO, Driver's cab, Motor car, Standard class, Open saloon-MSO, Motor car, Standard class, Open saloo…
- length
- 20.4 m
- Dutch name
- BR type 387
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q16846943, Wikipedia: British Rail Class 387 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.