British Rail Class 745


The British Rail Class 745 is a class of electric multiple unit train, built by Stadler as part of the FLIRT family. The class is built for Greater Anglia for use on their inter-city services and the Stansted Express services. They first entered service on 8 January 2020, after being constructed between 2018 and 2020 in Switzerland.

History

In August 2016, Abellio Greater Anglia was awarded the East Anglia franchise with a commitment to replace all of the existing fleet. As part of this, an order was placed with Stadler Rail for twenty 12-carriage electric multiple units that would join the FLIRT family. These new trains are classified as Class 745s and are divided into two sub-classes: ten 745/0 units and ten 745/1 units. Alongside the related Class 755 units, also in the FLIRT family, the units will be maintained at Crown Point TMD.
The 745/0 units have now replaced the Class 90 locomotive, Mark 3 carriage and Driving Van Trailer loco-hauled sets on the inter-city London Liverpool Street to Norwich services.
The interiors of the units feature USB and plug points, air conditioning, free WiFi, passenger information screens, larger accessible areas, bicycle storage areas and include digital seat reservation displays. In comparison to the 745/1 units, the 745/0 units include First Class accommodation, a bistro and a lower floor making the train more accessible for wheelchairs and pushchairs. A trolley service also operates on certain trains.

Operation

The trains were first approved for passenger service in July 2019 and were expected to enter passenger service in late 2019. However, there was a delay in this as they were still missing their passenger information systems around the time they were due to enter service, which resulted in Greater Anglia having to seek derogation to operate the Class 90 + Mark 3 sets into 2020.
Following this, the first 745/0 unit finally entered service on 8 January 2020 on the Norwich to Liverpool Street route and, as of late March 2020, have now fully replaced the loco-hauled fleet. The first 745/1 unit entered service on 30 March 2020 and these are also being used on the Norwich to Liverpool Street route, with the first service on the Stansted Express starting on 28 July 2020.

Fleet details