#4161
British Rail Class 488
🇬🇧 United Kingdom ·built by British Rail Engineering Limited· from 1973· class of British electric multiple units
1 photo from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. 8313 at London Victoria: Original uploader was Our Phellap at en.wikipedia· CC BY-SA 3.0
what is it?
The British Rail Class 488 are unpowered trailer sets, converted from Mark 2F coaches for the Gatwick Express service from London Victoria to Gatwick Airport. The sets were converted from conventional locomotive-hauled coaching stock in 1983–1984, and were used in combination with Class 73 electro-diesel locomotives and Class 489 luggage vans. Two variations were converted: 2-car sets (containing first class accommodation) and 3-car sets (containing standard class accommodation only).
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 53 years ago, in 1973.
- Top speed is 1.1× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
- Weighs about as much as 18 African elephants (~6 t each).
- 20.1 m long: about 4 cars parked nose to tail.
- Still in service after 53 years.
multiple unit: A self-propelled train: motors are spread under the passenger cars, so no separate locomotive.
spec sheet
- built
- 1973
- in service from
- 1973
- status
- in service
- number built
- —
- kind
- multiple unit
- traction
- electric
- origin
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- builders
- British Rail Engineering Limited
- operators
- Network Rail, Ministry of Defence
- top speed
- 145 km/h
- power
- —
- formation
- 2-car (Class 488/2), 3-car (Class 488/3)
- length
- 20.1 m
- weight
- 105 t
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q4970823, Wikipedia: British Rail Class 488 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.