#5912
British Rail Class 397
🇬🇧 United Kingdom ·built by Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles· from 2019· British electric multiple-unit (EMU) train built by CAF
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3 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. 397007 at Wigan North Western 28 03 25 (54422231999): Foulger Rail Photos from Basingstoke, UK· CC BY-SA 2.0
- 2. Transpennine Express 397003 at Wigan North Western April 2019: Michael McNiven· CC BY-SA 4.0
- 3. Class 397 Nova 2 EMU: Samson Ng . D201@EAL· CC BY-SA 4.0
what is it?
The British Rail Class 397 Civity is a class of electric multiple unit built by Spanish rolling stock manufacturer CAF for lease to TransPennine Express by Eversholt Rail Group. A total of twelve five-car units were built to operate services on TransPennine North West services between Liverpool Lime Street/Manchester Airport and Edinburgh Waverley/Glasgow Central. TransPennine Express has branded all of their new fleet under the general name Nova, with the Class 397 units branded as Nova 2.
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 7 years ago, in 2019.
- 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.
- 118 m long: about 26 cars parked nose to tail.
- Seats 288: 6 full city buses (~50 seats each).
multiple unit: A self-propelled train: motors are spread under the passenger cars, so no separate locomotive.
spec sheet
- built
- 2019
- in service from
- 2019
- status
- in service
- number built
- 12
- kind
- Electric multiple unit
- traction
- electric
- origin
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- builders
- Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles
- operators
- TransPennine Express
- top speed
- 201 km/h
- power
- —
- formation
- 5 cars per unit:, DMFLW, Driver's cab, Motor car, First class (open saloon), Lavatory, Wheelchair space-PTS1, Pantograp…
- length
- 118 m
- capacity
- 288 passengers
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
family
Sources: Wikidata Q28154367, Wikipedia: British Rail Class 397 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.