British Rail Class 375

The British Rail Class 375 Electrostar electric multiple unit train was built by Bombardier Transportation (previously ADtranz) at their Derby Works, from 1999 to 2005. The Electrostar family, which also includes Classes 357, 376, 377, 378 and 379, is the most numerous type of EMU introduced since the privatisation of British Rail.

These units form the basis of Southeastern's mainline fleet.

Description
These trains are owned by Eversholt Rail Group (formerly HSBC Rail) and leased back to Southeastern for operation from London to Kent and parts of East Sussex.

The first batch of 30 trains (Class 375/6) were fitted with both a pantograph and third-rail shoes for dual voltage, where the remainder of these trains have one coach in each unit with a recess where the pantograph could be fitted, allowing for future conversion to run on AC power from overhead lines. Although the units are normally operated on 750V DC lines only, the class is numbered in the 3xx series which usually refers to AC operation. The option is available for the 375/6 units to be leased to a network which operates on 25kV AC overhead lines.

Southern's Class 375 units have since been converted to Class 377. The ex-375s, now Southern 377/3, have a mixture of grey, plum and blue seats as opposed to the 377/2 and 377/4 (there were two batches of the 377/1: 101-139 All have the mixed seating colours, whereas 140-169 have green uniformed seating). The 375/3, 375/6 and 375/7 types all have smaller headlight and a slightly different interior than the 375/8 and 375/9. The 375/3, 375/6 and 375/7 all have glass overhead racks, and the poles in the train bend straight down.

The class 375/8 and 375/9 have holes in the overhead racks, and the poles bend right the way around. Out of all the seating arrangements in 375s, the 375/9 stands out as it has 2+3 seating layout, unlike all other 375 series. The layout in the interior is also different. The chairs are more upright and not as comfortable as the 375/3, 375/6, 375/7 or 375/8, but the legroom is better. The 375/9 was designed with rush hour commuters in mind. On the exterior of a 375/8 and 375/9 there are a few small differences with the headlights. The 375/8 and 375/9 have bigger headlights and they are of the LED type which can change to white or red.

The Class 375 is the principal new train used by Southeastern, and has replaced the life expired slam door Mark 1 derived stock which came to an end of their useful lives on mainline services to Kent and East Sussex and which did not meet up with modern health and safety requirements. All the Southeastern units have also been converted from Tightlock to Dellner couplers, but unlike the Southern fleet, they have not been reclassified as 377s. The 375/8 and 375/9 sub-classes were built with Dellner couplers from new. The only noticeable difference from the class 377 is that none of the 375's have external CCTV.

The Class 375 has GPS-based Selective Door Opening (SDO), so if the train configuration is too long for a particular station, the doors which are overhanging the platform will not open. An example of this is at Rochester Station which can only hold 10 cars.

From August 2011, Southeastern has begun a minor refresh of the interiors of the units, with a full re-trim of the seating in the company's new purple moquette (as seen on the refreshed 465/466 units) and the addition of new CCTV cameras. The seats in first class have now been fitted with larger, more prominent seat bolstering to distinguish them from the standard class seats and the first class areas have been re-carpeted.

Main lines

 * Charing Cross/Cannon Street – Tunbridge Wells and Hastings fast services
 * Charing Cross/Cannon Street – Dover Priory and Canterbury West via Ashford International, with hourly extensions to Ramsgate


 * Victoria – Ramsgate and Dover Priory via Chatham
 * Cannon Street - Ramsgate/Broadstairs via Chatham (peak hours only)

Outer suburban
Electrostars also work the following outer suburban Southeastern routes interchangeably with Class 465/9 units:


 * Charing Cross/Cannon Street – Tunbridge Wells
 * Victoria – Ashford International, via Maidstone East,
 * Victoria - Gillingham (Kent) via Swanley
 * Victoria - Canterbury East/Faversham (Sundays only)

Medway Valley Line
Class 375/3 Units operate all services on the Medway Valley Line with the exception of high-speed services from London St Pancras during peak hours, 375/6/7/8/9s occasionally appear as well.
 * Strood – Maidstone West/Paddock Wood/Tonbridge

Named units
Note that unit 375 624 (White Cliffs Country) was re-liveried with the Southeastern trial livery and currently does not have its name displayed.

Also, 375 610 (Royal Tunbridge Wells) sports a livery with blue doors and a gold stripe.(stripe now removed)

Diagrams
A Diagram of a Class 375 in the new Southeastern Trial livery. A diagram of a class 375 in the livery seen on 375/8s&/9s A diagram of a class 375 in the livery seen on 375/3s/6s&/7s