#5973
British Rail Class 442
🇬🇧 United Kingdom ·built by British Rail Engineering Limited· from 2021· Electric multiple-unit train
_(XAM-E1).jpg)
5 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. 442403 and 442408 pass Surbiton 20th January 2020: The Basingstoker· CC BY-SA 2.0
- 2. 48141767263 d56509e0e2 o (442403 near Shawford) (XAM-E1): CA850 (with cropping, alignment, and exposure alterations by XAM2175 )· CC BY-SA 2.0
- 3. BR 442 410: Murgatroyd49· CC BY-SA 4.0
- 4. British Rail Class 442 442418: train_photos· CC BY-SA 2.0
- 5. SEG "The Ruby Rover" Class 442 Railtour 24: The Basingstoker· CC BY-SA 2.0
what is it?
The British Rail Class 442 (5-WES) Wessex Electrics were electric multiple unit passenger trains introduced in 1988 by Network SouthEast on the South West Main Line from London Waterloo to Weymouth to coincide with the electrification of the line from Bournemouth. Twenty-four five-car units were built by British Rail Engineering Limited's Derby Litchurch Lane Works. Following the privatisation of British Rail, the fleet was sold to Angel Trains and operated by South West Trains up until February 2007, when they were replaced by Class 444 and Class 450s.
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 5 years ago, in 2021.
- 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 32 years (1988–2020).
multiple unit: A self-propelled train: motors are spread under the passenger cars, so no separate locomotive.
spec sheet
- built
- 2021
- in service from
- 1988
- retired
- 2020
- status
- retired
- number built
- —
- kind
- multiple unit
- traction
- electric
- origin
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- builders
- British Rail Engineering Limited
- operators
- South West Trains, Southern, South Western Railway
- top speed
- 161 km/h
- power
- —
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q4970813, Wikipedia: British Rail Class 442 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.