British Rail Class 376

The Class 376 Suburban Electrostar is a model of electric multiple-unit passenger train manufactured by Bombardier Transportation. It is part of the Electrostar family, which are the most common EMUs introduced since the privatisation of British Rail. The units were ordered by Connex South Eastern, introduced by South Eastern Trains, and are now operated by Southeastern.

Design

It is a derivative of the Class 375 Electrostar designed specifically for use on the high-volume metro routes running south-east from London, England. The changes are mostly focussed on increasing the trains’ capacity and decreasing the time they must spend stopped in station. The Class 376’s doors are wider to allow more passengers to board at once, and are metro-style sliding doors which are faster and more reliable than the Class 375’s plug doors, although they do not provide as much insulation for heating and cooling purposes. Also, no air conditioning is provided, with hopper style windows available for ventilation. In order to provide more standing room, the trains also have fewer seats, more handrails, and no on-board toilets (South Eastern promised to provide additional facilities in their stations to compensate) and are limited to 57 minutes on any single passenger journey as a result.

Class 376 units are five carriages long, and unlike the Class 375, have full-width cabs instead of gangways at the ends of the train; it is therefore not possible to walk between two coupled Class 376...
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