#3296
General utility van
🇬🇧 United Kingdom ·built by Doncaster Works· from 1956· bogie rail vehicle with end doors
🚃 carriage / wagon ✓ in service
1 photo from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. BR Mk1 GUV: Dave coxon at English Wikipedia· Public domain
what is it?
A general utility van (GUV) is a type of rail vehicle built by British Rail primarily for transporting mail and parcels. They were used by both Rail Express Systems and Railtrack. Colas Rail and some train operating companies still use them.
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 70 years ago, in 1956.
- Top speed is 1.1× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
- Weighs about as much as 5 African elephants (~6 t each).
- 17.4 m long: about 4 cars parked nose to tail.
- Still in service after 70 years.
carriage / wagon: Unpowered passenger coaches or freight wagons, pulled by a locomotive.
spec sheet
- built
- 1956
- in service from
- 1956
- status
- in service
- number built
- 907
- kind
- carriage / wagon
- origin
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- builders
- Doncaster Works, Pressed Steel Company
- operators
- British Rail, Rail Express Systems, Railtrack, Great Western Railway, FM Rail, Colas Rail
- top speed
- 145 km/h
- power
- —
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
- length
- 17.4 m
- weight
- 30 t
- capacity
- 14 passengers
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q5532273, Wikipedia: General utility van (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.