The 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...

 Class 508 electric multiple units ("EMUs") were built 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...

 at York

York

York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...

 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 (313

British Rail Class 313

British Rail Class 313 electric multiple units were built by BREL at York Works between February 1976 and April 1977 and were the first second-generation EMUs to be constructed for British Rail...

/314

British Rail Class 314

British Rail Class 314 alternating current electric multiple units were built by BREL at York works in 1979. They were the third variety of British Rail's then-standard 1972 design for suburban EMUs, which eventually encompassed 755 vehicles and five classes...

/315

British Rail Class 315

British Rail Class 315 alternating current electric multiple units were built by BREL at York works from 1980 to 1981. They were the fifth and final variety of British Rail's then-standard 1972 design for suburban EMUs, which eventually encompassed 755 vehicles and five Classes...

/507

British Rail Class 507

British Rail Class 507 electric multiple units were built by BREL at York works in two batches from 1978 to 1980. The first thirty sets were constructed from September 1978 to mid-1979 and a further three were added during 1980...

/508). They have mostly worked on the Merseyrail

Merseyrail

Merseyrail is a train operating company and commuter rail network in the United Kingdom, centred on Liverpool, Merseyside. The network is predominantly electric with diesel trains running on the City Line. Two City Line branches are currently being electrified on the overhead wire AC system with...

 network since 1983, and continue to do so, now refurbished by Alstom's Eastleigh Works.
The Class 508 EMUs were developed for Merseyside following extensive trials and testing of the 4Pep/2Pep

British Rail Class 445

The PEP Stock were prototype electric multiple units used on British Rail's Southern Region during the early 1970s. They were forerunners of the BR Second Generation electric multiple unit fleet. Three units were built, one two-car unit , and two four-car units...

 stock built in the early 1970s.