British Rail Class 508

British Rail Class 508

The British Rail Class 508 electric multiple units ("EMUs") were built by BREL at York works in 1979-80. They were the fourth variant of BR's then-standard 1972 design for suburban EMUs, eventually encompassing 755 vehicles and five classes (313/314/315/507/508). They have mostly worked on the Merseyrail network since 1983, and continue to do so, now refurbished by Alstom's Eastleigh Works. The fleet is ageing, and Southeastern and London Overground have completely replaced them; as of 2012, the youngest Class 508 unit is now 32 years old, making them among the oldest units still in service on the UK mainland rail network, after the Class 313.

Read more about British Rail Class 508:  Description, Current Operations, Past Operations, Fleet Information, Liveries, Naming, Plans For Replacement

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

    There’s nothing the British like better than a bloke who comes from nowhere, makes it, and then gets clobbered.
    Melvyn Bragg (b. 1939)

    If goodness were only a theory, it were a pity it should be lost to the world. There are a number of things, the idea of which is a clear gain to the mind. Let people, for instance, rail at friendship, genius, freedom, as long as they will—the very names of these despised qualities are better than anything else that could be substituted for them, and embalm even the most envenomed satire against them.
    William Hazlitt (1778–1830)

    We are the party of all labor.
    The whole earth shall be ours to share
    And every race and craft our neighbor.
    No idle class shall linger there
    Like vultures on the wealth we render
    From field and factory, mill and mine.
    Tomorrow’s sun will rise in splendor
    And light us till the end of time.
    Eugène Pottier (1816–1887)