#5992· Class 317
British Rail Class 317
🇬🇧 United Kingdom ·built by British Rail Engineering Limited· from 2022· class of 72 four-car electric multiple units
2 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. 317505 1 ARR LDN LVS: Peter Skuce· Public domain
- 2. 317348 at Cambridge North: Superalbs· CC BY-SA 4.0
what is it?
The British Rail Class 317 electric multiple unit (EMU) passenger trains were constructed by British Rail Engineering Limited in two batches: 48 sets were produced in 1981–1982 and 24 sets in 1985–1987. They were the first of several classes of British Rail EMU to be based on the all-steel Mark 3 bodyshell, departing from the PEP-aluminium design which had spawned the earlier Class 313 to Class 315, Class 507 and Class 508. The Mark 3 bodyshell was also the basis of Class 318, Class 455 and the diesel Class 150.
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 4 years ago, in 2022.
- Top speed is 1.2× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
- At full speed it would cover Amsterdam–Utrecht (≈ 40 km) in 15 minutes.
- Served for 39 years (1983–2022).
multiple unit: A self-propelled train: motors are spread under the passenger cars, so no separate locomotive.
spec sheet
- built
- 2022
- in service from
- 1983
- retired
- 2022
- status
- retired
- number built
- 72
- kind
- multiple unit
- traction
- electric
- origin
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- builders
- British Rail Engineering Limited, Holgate Road carriage works
- operators
- c2c, First Capital Connect, London Overground Rail Operations Limited, West Anglia Great Northern, National Express East Anglia, London Midland Region of British Railways, Network SouthEast, Thameslink, Govia Thameslink Railway
- top speed
- 161 km/h
- power
- —
- formation
- 4 cars per unit;, 317/6 units: DTSO, Driver's cab, Trailer car, Standard class, Open saloon-MSO, Motor car, Standard cl…
- Dutch name
- Class 317
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q665023, Wikipedia: British Rail Class 317 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.