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. They were also the first British Rail units fitted with both a pantograph for 25 kilovolt AC overhead lines and shoegear for 750 volt DC third rail supply, and the first units in Britain to have Multi-Function couplers, which allow both physical coupling and also the connection of control electric and air supplies to be carried out without the need to leave the cab. After the withdrawal of most first-generation stock, they are now the oldest EMUs in regular service on the UK mainland's rail network; as of 2012, the youngest class 313 unit is now 35 years old.

Read more about British Rail Class 313:  Description, Operations, ERTMS Trials On The Hertford Loop, Fleet Details, Gallery

Famous quotes containing the words british, rail and/or class:

    The inhabitants of St. John’s and vicinity are described by an English traveler as “singularly unprepossessing,” and before completing his period he adds, “besides, they are generally very much disaffected to the British crown.” I suspect that that “besides” should have been a “because.”
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    We rail at trade, but the historian of the world will see that it was the principle of liberty; that it settled America, and destroyed feudalism, and made peace and keeps peace; that it will abolish slavery.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    A theory of the middle class: that it is not to be determined by its financial situation but rather by its relation to government. That is, one could shade down from an actual ruling or governing class to a class hopelessly out of relation to government, thinking of gov’t as beyond its control, of itself as wholly controlled by gov’t. Somewhere in between and in gradations is the group that has the sense that gov’t exists for it, and shapes its consciousness accordingly.
    Lionel Trilling (1905–1975)