Class 465/466: Kent Link Networker

All Class 465 units incorporated three-phase AC drive traction motors, external sliding-plug doors, and rheostatic and regenerative brakes. With reference to the latter, power would be fed back to the conductor rail when braking, which contributed towards the large percentage increase in energy efficiency over existing units. A modified Class 210 was used to test the ‘’Networker’’ traction equipment on 750Volts DC lines on the former Southern Region, for which the unit was re-designated as a Class 457 (No. 457001). It was then deployed on the former Great Eastern line to Clacton, where it was used to test traction equipment on routes equipped with overhead wires. For this it was re-designated again, this time to Class 316 No. 316999, and one of its trailers was replaced with a pantograph-equipped vehicle belonging to Class 313 No. 313034.

External sliding-plug doors allowed more room to be provided in the vestibule areas for standing passengers, and it was estimated that the capacity of a twelve-vehicle Class 465 formation was 1,410 passengers. This figure was 200 passengers higher than the equivalent twelve-vehicle EPB train as a result of the presence of large standing areas. However, gains in standing room meant losses in seat numbers: a twelve-vehicle EPB formation comprised 1176 seats, whilst the equivalent length ‘’Networker’’ had 1032 seats. Seating was arranged in the high-density 2+3 form for all units except for No. 465014, which comprised experimental 2+2 seating and red carpet. The new stock comprised chemical retention toilets – one within each four-car set – a public address system, internal electronic destination displays, emergency door release, and an emergency pull-chord facility which allowed passengers to communicate with the driver. In addition, each cab was equipped with a dot-matrix destination board, viewable to passengers on the platforms.

The introduction of new rolling stock also required extensive infrastructure projects along the routes for which the ‘’Networkers’’ were intended. Numerous stations were subject to platform lengthening – hitherto, they had only served a maximum of ten-vehicle EPB formations, these of which were to be replaced by twelve-car ‘’Networkers’’. In addition, the Class 465 units were to be ‘’driver only operation‘’, which negated the need for a guard – all train announcements and door operations would be undertaken by the driver. For the latter, the driver would be assisted by television screens situated at the ends of the platforms which, through a line of cameras, would provide a complete view along the side of the train. At Slade Green, the existing heavy repair shop of 1925 was completely rebuilt into a tailor-made ‘’Networker’’ depot and the lines between there and the carriage shed (the former SE&CR engine shed) re-laid. To control the complex array of depot lines, a new control room was opened, situated mid-way between the carriage shed and heavy repair shop.

The first Class 465 unit of the GEC order was scheduled for delivery in October 1991, and the first example of the BREL batch was expected to go to NSE on 25th of the following month. Delivery and construction of new rolling stock had been slower than expected and this, coupled with a lack of finance and ongoing platform extension work, brought alterations to the GEC part of the order. Now, part of the Class 465 batch was to be built as a fleet of 43 two-vehicle units, designated Class 466. These had been authorised on 13th May 1991, and allowed the new stock to immediately assume existing ten-vehicle diagrams on peak-time suburban services. The total vehicle order was reduced from 676 to 674. As it later transpired, twelve-vehicle ‘’Networker’’ formations were never authorised to run.

The first unit of the ‘’Networker’’ family formally unveiled was No. 165001, of the ‘’Networker Turbo’’ breed for the ‘’Chiltern’’ lines. This event took place at York Works. By the time this and the first Class 465 deliveries had begun, BREL had been privatised, and was jointly owned by ASEA-Brown Boveri (ABB), Trafalgar House, and a management buyout by the original British Rail employees. On 19th December 1991, the first Class 465 units were formally handed over to NSE. No. 465001 of the BREL batch was handed over with ceremony at York Works, whilst No. 465201 of the GEC-Alsthom batch was handed over on the same day at Washwood Heath, the former carriage works of Metro-Cammell. The journey was made by the NSE team between York and Birmingham on a pair of new Class 165 units, Nos. 165018 and 165019, which had just been completed and released from the BREL works. The first Class 465 units were dispatched to the Railway Technical Centre at Derby for testing, before being sent to NSE’s Strawberry Hill Depot for trial runs on the Shepperton branch. As stock deliveries gathered apace, the carriage shed at Clapham Junction became a temporary storage facility for new units.

In the meantime, a new Class 465 static driving simulator was ordered. BR awarded a contract to Paris-based ‘’Giravions Dorand Industries’’ to supply the simulator, which would initially be programmed to replicate the Charing Cross to Sevenoaks (Tubs Hill), Greenwich, and Sidcup lines through to Dartford and Gillingham. Destined for the London Waterloo Operations Training Centre, it was envisaged that it would be installed in August 1991. The simulator was eventually commissioned for use on 14th November of that year.

Class 465/466

Kent Link Networker

July 2002

27th December 2002

27th February 2004