#5882
British Rail Class 385
🇬🇧 United Kingdom ·built by Hitachi· from 2018· class of British electric multiple unit
2 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. Class 385 0 Glasgow: TriStateGuy· CC BY 4.0
- 2. British Rail Class 385s of Abellio ScotRail at Edinburgh Haymarket: Matt Buck· CC BY-SA 2.0
what is it?
The British Rail Class 385 eXpress is a type of electric multiple unit built by Hitachi Rail. Initially operated by Abellio ScotRail, and now its state-owned successor, a total of 70 units have been built, divided into 46 three-car and 24 four-car sets. Based on the design of the Hitachi A-train, they are part of the Hitachi AT200 product family and are branded as eXpress by Scotrail.
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 8 years ago, in 2018.
- 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.
- 23.6 m long: about 5 cars parked nose to tail.
- Seats 273: 5 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
- 2018
- in service from
- 2018
- status
- in service
- number built
- 46
- kind
- multiple unit
- traction
- electric
- origin
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- builders
- Hitachi Rail
- operators
- ScotRail Trains (2022-), Abellio ScotRail (2015-2022)
- top speed
- 161 km/h
- power
- —
- formation
- 3 cars per 385/0 unit:, DMSL, Driver's cab, Motor car, Standard class (open saloon), Lavatory-PTS, Trailer car, Pantogr…
- length
- 23.6 m
- capacity
- 273 passengers
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q22000471, Wikipedia: British Rail Class 385 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.