The Class 466 750 V DC

Direct current

Direct current is the unidirectional flow of electric charge. Direct current is produced by such sources as batteries, thermocouples, solar cells, and commutator-type electric machines of the dynamo type. Direct current may flow in a conductor such as a wire, but can also flow through...

 third rail

Third rail

A third rail is a method of providing electric power to a railway train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a railway track. It is used typically in a mass transit or rapid transit system, which has alignments in its own corridors, fully or almost...

 electric multiple unit

Electric multiple unit

An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages, using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a number of the carriages...

 (EMU) is a suburban EMU, which operates with Class 465

British Rail Class 465

The British Rail Class 465 Networker electric multiple units were built by GEC Alsthom and BREL between 1991 and 1993, and by ABB Rail between 1993 and 1994. They were brought into service from 1991 onwards. They are mostly used on suburban routes serving the South East of England, now operated by...

 EMUs in southeast London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 and Kent

Kent

Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

 on the Southeastern

Southeastern (train operating company)

London & South Eastern Railway Limited, trading as Southeastern is a train operating company in south-east England. On 1 April 2006 it became the franchisee for the new Integrated Kent Franchise , replacing the publicly owned South Eastern Trains on the former South East Franchise...

 network. It is a member of the Networker family

Networker (train)

The Networker is a family of trains which operate on the UK railway system. They were built in the late 1980s and early 1990s by BREL . The trains were built for the Network SouthEast sector of British Rail...

 of trains.

Description

There are just 43 units, numbered 466001 to 466043.

Class 466 units are used by Southeastern Railway' Metro routes in multiple with Class 465/0, Class 465/1, Class 465/2 and other Class 466 units. Additionally, Class 466 units are now also operating on outer suburban routes with Class 465/9 units, although quite a few routes are being replaced with Class 375

British Rail Class 375

The British Rail Class 375 Electrostar electric multiple unit train was built by Bombardier Transportation at their Derby Works, from 1999 to 2005...

 Electrostars. They are also used as individual units on rural routes, mainly the Sheerness Line

Sheerness Line

The Sheerness Line connects Sheerness on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent with Sittingbourne on the mainland, and with the Chatham Main Line for trains to London and elsewhere in Kent. It opened on 19 July 1860....

 between Sittingbourne and Sheerness, and the Medway Valley Line

Medway Valley Line

The Medway Valley Line is the name given to the railway line linking and the Medway Towns with and onward to , and London St Pancras International...

 from Strood to Maidstone West and Paddock Wood, displacing the Class 508/2s

British Rail Class 508

The British Rail Class 508 electric multiple units were built by BREL at York works in 1979-80. They were the fourth variety of BR's then-standard 1972 design for suburban EMUs, eventually encompassing 755 vehicles and five classes...

 which operated these branch lines.

These two-car EMUs are formed of a driving motor carriage (DMOS: Driving Motor Open Standard) and a driving trailer carriage (DTOSL: Driving Trailer Open Standard Lavatory); all on board seating is standard accommodation. A Solid State Traction Converter package controls 3-phase AC Traction motors, which allows for Rheostatic or Regenerative Dynamic braking

Dynamic braking

Dynamic braking is the use of the electric traction motors of a railroad vehicle as generators when slowing the Locomotive. It is termed rheostatic if the generated electrical power is dissipated as heat in brake grid resistors, and regenerative if the power is returned to the supply line...

. Primary braking system is electro-pneumatically

Electro-pneumatic brake system on British railway trains

The Electro-pneumatic brake system on British railway trains was introduced in 1950. The Southern Region of British Railways operated an intensive self-contained fleet of electric multiple units for suburban and middle distance passenger trains...

 actuated disc brakes, which is blended with the Dynamic brakes. Tachometers on every axle of the unit provide for Wheel Slip/Slide Protection

Wheel slide protection

Wheel slide protection and wheel slip protection are railway terms used to describe automatic systems used to detect and prevent wheel-slide during braking or wheel-spin during acceleration. Analogous to ABS and traction control systems used on motor vehicles....

. A solid state Auxiliary Converter

Voltage converter

A voltage converter changes the voltage of an electrical power source. It may be combined with other components to create a power supply.-AC and DC:...

 provides 110 V DC and 240 V AC supplies; this is the source of the loud buzzing noise which can be heard when the train is stationary. The Aux Converter is located on the driving trailer, along with the toilet. The units use air-operated sliding plug door

Plug door

A plug door is a door designed to seal itself by taking advantage of pressure difference on its two sides and is typically used on pressurised aircraft...

s.

The Class 466 EMUs were built between 1993 and 1994 by GEC Alsthom (Metro-Cammell) in Birmingham

Birmingham

Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

, for the Network SouthEast

Network SouthEast

Network SouthEast was one of three passenger sectors of British Rail created in 1982. NSE principally operated commuter trains in the London area and inter-urban services in densely populated South East England, although the network reached as far west as Exeter...

 sector of British Rail

British Rail

British Railways , which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was the operator of most of the rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages...

. They were inherited by Connex South Eastern

Connex South Eastern

Connex South Eastern was a train operating company in the United Kingdom. It was owned by the Connex Group and operated between 14 October 1996 and 9 November 2003. The company operated passenger services in South London and Kent...

 and its successors South Eastern Trains

South Eastern Trains

South Eastern Trains was a British train operating company, in public ownership, that provided train services in south east London and South East England from 9 November 2003 to 31 March 2006....

 and currently Southeastern

Southeastern (train operating company)

London & South Eastern Railway Limited, trading as Southeastern is a train operating company in south-east England. On 1 April 2006 it became the franchisee for the new Integrated Kent Franchise , replacing the publicly owned South Eastern Trains on the former South East Franchise...

. Each of these units is formed of 2 coaches that have dimensions of 20.89 metre and a top speed of 75 mph (120.7 km/h).

There are a total of 43 Class 466 EMUs on the UK rail network. These are all owned by Angel Trains

Angel Trains

Angel Trains is an English Rolling Stock Operating Company created in 1994 as part of the privatisation of British Rail. It was one of three ROSCOs...

, leased and operated by Southeastern Railway. All these units have recently been fitted with new information boards with automatic announcements.

Refurbishment

The Class 465/2s/9s & 466s are being repainted at Wabtec Rail, Doncaster into a variation of Southeastern's new livery, It is identical to the livery the 465/0s & /1s are receiving except the vinyl lower band has not been applied. The first 465/9 to be refreshed was 465906 but it was returned in an incorrect' livery of just fully painted yellow doors. Since then all units have returned in the correct livery. It seems the 465/2/9s have been put on hold (since April 2011), to allow Wabtec Rail to concentrate on repainting the 466s. The first 466s to be sent up were 466022 & 466039. 466022 returned one month later on its own and 466039 two months later. The 466s were sent up/returned as single units until recently when they have begun being sent up two at a time. Since March 2010 Wabtec Rail had been returning the 465s/466s on a monthly basis.

Production and numbering

Class	Introduced/Built	Manufacturer	Number Range	Comments
Class 466	1993-94	GEC Alsthom (Metro-Cammell)	466001-043	- Repainted units: 466003/005-006/022-023/026-027/032/034-035/038-039/042 (13 in total so far,2 Currently at Doncaster works (466027 & 466034))

Fleet details

Specification	Sub-class
	465/0	465/1	465/2	465/9	466
Currently owned by:	Eversholt Rail Group	Eversholt Rail Group	Angel Trains Angel Trains Angel Trains is an English Rolling Stock Operating Company created in 1994 as part of the privatisation of British Rail. It was one of three ROSCOs...	Angel Trains Angel Trains Angel Trains is an English Rolling Stock Operating Company created in 1994 as part of the privatisation of British Rail. It was one of three ROSCOs...	Angel Trains Angel Trains Angel Trains is an English Rolling Stock Operating Company created in 1994 as part of the privatisation of British Rail. It was one of three ROSCOs...
Operated by:	Southeastern Southeastern (train operating company) London & South Eastern Railway Limited, trading as Southeastern is a train operating company in south-east England. On 1 April 2006 it became the franchisee for the new Integrated Kent Franchise , replacing the publicly owned South Eastern Trains on the former South East Franchise...
Routes used on:	Metro	Metro	Metro	Outer Suburban	Metro and Outer Suburban
Built:	1991–1993 by BREL BREL British Rail Engineering Limited , was the railway systems engineering division of British Rail, until the design and building of trains in the UK was privatised in 1993. On 31 October 1969, the company was incorporated as British Rail Engineering Limited.-Main products:The vast majority of BREL's... , York	1993–1994 by ABB, York	1991–1993 by GEC Alsthom (Metro-Cammell), Washwood Heath	1991–1993 by GEC Alsthom (Metro-Cammell), Washwood Heath	1993–1994 by GEC Alsthom (Metro-Cammell), Washwood Heath
Formation:	DMOS(A)-TOS-TOSL-DMOS(B)			DMOC(A)-TOS-TOSL-DMOC(B)	DMOS-DTOSL
Construction:	Welded aluminium alloy
Doors:	Sliding plug
Gangways:	Within 4-coach unit only				Within 2-coach unit only
Electrical Equipment:	GTO inverters
Traction motors:	Four Brush Brush Traction This article is about a British rail-locomotive maker. For the Detroit auto-maker, see Brush Motor Car CompanyBrush Traction is a manufacturer and maintainer of railway locomotives, part of the FKI group , based at Loughborough in Leicestershire, England situated alongside the Midland Main Line.-...  TIM970 three-phase induction motors of 280 kW		GEC-Alsthom G352AY three-phase induction motors of 280 kW
Couplers:	Tightlock
Bogies:	BREL BREL British Rail Engineering Limited , was the railway systems engineering division of British Rail, until the design and building of trains in the UK was privatised in 1993. On 31 October 1969, the company was incorporated as British Rail Engineering Limited.-Main products:The vast majority of BREL's...  P3/T3		SRP BP62/BT52		BREL P3/T3
Maximum speed:	75 mph (120.7 km/h)
Dimensions Dimensions Dimensions is a French project that makes educational movies about mathematics, focusing on spatial geometry. It uses POV-Ray to render some of the animations, and the films are release under a Creative Commons licence.... :	20.89 or × 2.82 metre
Train brakes Brake (railway) Brakes are used on the cars of railway trains to enable deceleration, control acceleration or to keep them standing when parked. While the basic principle is familiar from road vehicle usage, operational features are more complex because of the need to control multiple linked carriages and to be... :	Primary: Disc Disc brake The disc brake or disk brake is a device for slowing or stopping the rotation of a wheel while it is in motion.A brake disc is usually made of cast iron, but may in some cases be made of composites such as reinforced carbon–carbon or ceramic matrix composites. This is connected to the wheel and/or... , Secondary: Rheostatic (and Regenerative Regenerative brake A regenerative brake is an energy recovery mechanism which slows a vehicle or object down by converting its kinetic energy into another form, which can be either used immediately or stored until needed...  capable but currently not used)
Mass Mass Mass can be defined as a quantitive measure of the resistance an object has to change in its velocity.In physics, mass commonly refers to any of the following three properties of matter, which have been shown experimentally to be equivalent:... :	28.6–38.9 t (28.1–38.3 )
Multiple working Multiple working Multiple working is a term used on the UK rail network to describe the practice of having more than one diesel or electric locomotive hauling a train under the control of one driver.-Terminology:... :	Within Class 365 British Rail Class 365 The British Rail Class 365 "Networker Express" are dual-voltage 25 kV AC and 750 V DC) electric multiple units built by ABB at York from 1994 to 1995. These were the last units to be built at the York factory before it closed... , Class 465 British Rail Class 465 The British Rail Class 465 Networker electric multiple units were built by GEC Alsthom and BREL between 1991 and 1993, and by ABB Rail between 1993 and 1994. They were brought into service from 1991 onwards. They are mostly used on suburban routes serving the South East of England, now operated by...  and Class 466. Additionally Class 319 British Rail Class 319 The British Rail Class 319 dual-voltage electric multiple units were built by BREL York in two batches in 1987–88 and 1990. The trains were introduced for new north-south cross-London services from Bedford to Brighton, and since privatisation these services have been operated by Thameslink and... by use of Coupling Changeover Switch for Assistance/Rescue purposes in the Thameslink corridor only.

February 2007 Collision

From the RAIB report (Crown copyright 2007):

On 5 February 2007 a bridge inspection unit working on the M20 was deployed over a railway bridge between Maidstone Barracks and Aylesford stations. The gantry on the bridge inspection unit was struck by a scheduled passenger train, causing significant damage to the leading carriage and wrecking the gantry. The train driver and the sole passenger were slightly injured. Nobody was on the gantry at the time.


At 22:25 hrs on 5 February 2007 Southeastern train 2T83, the 21:57 hrs Paddock Wood to Gillingham (Kent) struck the "Moog" gantry which was foul of the up line. The train was a 2 car electric unit of class 466 (466041) and was carrying a driver and one passenger.
The collision speed was 65 mph (29 m/s). The leading carriage suffered substantial damage to the cab and forward saloon areas. The driving cab roof was ripped open at the right hand side.