British Rail Class 360

The British Rail Class 360 electric multiple units were built by Siemens in two sub-types from 2002–2003 and 2004-2005. These units are part of the Siemens Desiro family.

The Siemens "Desiro UK" family also includes units of Classes 185, 350, 380, 444 and 450.

Description
Unlike the South West Trains and West Coast Main Line Desiros, the Class 360 lacks inter-unit gangways. This was a late design change, as the Health and Safety Executive was not happy with the driver's visibility with the previous design's gangway cab for Driver Only Operation

The Class 360 is a modern unit with air conditioning, rapid acceleration technology with a top speed of 100 mph.

The Class 360 will do 0 - 60 mph in about 45 seconds, making it the fastest accelerating train in the Abellio Greater Anglia fleet.

Abellio Greater Anglia
First Great Eastern ordered 21 4-car units to replace their elderly Class 312 slam-door units. They entered service in August 2003, and by mid-2004 had completely replaced the old trains. They are primarily used on London Liverpool Street to Clacton-on-Sea, Ipswich, and Colchester services and Manningtree to Harwich services, usually running as 4 carriages to Harwich and 8-12 carriages to Clacton-on-Sea and Ipswich. They also run to Walton on the Naze at peak times.

They do not run to Southend, Upminster, and Southminster due to restrictions and driver knowledge, they run to Braintree only in the morning, also rarely are seen on the branch in the day. In April 2004 First Group lost the franchise to the National Express Group, who operated the Great Eastern routes as part of their National Express East Anglia franchise. The franchise is now operated by Abellio Greater Anglia. Though operated by Abellio Greater Anglia, the Class 360 is not maintained by the franchise but is under contract from Siemens for routine maintenance at Ilford Depot near London.

All trains retain the blue First Group livery with vinyls removed. A white stripe was added in 2008 when the franchise was rebranded from One to National Express. 360115 was re-liveried into National Express livery by application of a vinyl wrap, this was removed by Abellio Greater Anglia in May 2012.

The toilets are being re-fitted with new flooring and repainted panels. All 21 360s were overhauled beneath the solebar at Northampton Depot.

Heathrow Connect
Heathrow Connect runs five 5-car units operating London Paddington-Heathrow Airport stopping trains. They entered service on 12 June 2005. These units were originally intended as Class 350s for prospective spot hire. In 2010, one unit (360205) was transferred to Heathrow Express to operate its Heathrow Terminal 4 shuttle service.