British Rail Class 720

The British Rail Class 720 Aventra is a class of electric multiple units built by Bombardier for Greater Anglia and c2c.[4] They will be operated on suburban lines out of London Liverpool Street (Greater Anglia and c2c) and London Fenchurch Street (c2c).[5] All 133 of the Greater Anglia units had started to be introduced from 26 November 2020 starting on the London Liverpool Street to Southend Line.[5] The c2c units are currently planned to enter service in 2021.[6]

Cab interior of a class 720

British Rail Class 720 Aventra
Greater Anglia 720545 on test at Wolverton in September 2020
Interior of a Greater Anglia unit
In serviceGreater Anglia: 26 November 2020
c2c: 2021 (planned)
ManufacturerBombardier Transportation
Built atDerby Litchurch Lane Works
Family nameAventra
Replaced
Constructed2018 – present
Number under constructionGreater Anglia: 133 units
c2c: 6 units
FormationGreater Anglia:
133 x 5 cars
c2c:
6 x 10 cars
Capacity5-car: 540 seats, 145 standing
10-car: 1,100 seats, 290 standing[1][2]
Operator(s)c2c
Greater Anglia
Specifications
Train length5 cars - 122 m (400 ft 3 in)
10 cars - 243 m (797 ft 3 in)
DoorsPlug
Maximum speed100 mph (161 km/h)
Electric system(s)25 kV AC (OHLE)
Current collection methodPantograph
BogiesFlexx-Eco[3]
Coupling systemDellner
Track gauge1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge

Description

The units will be fully air conditioned, seat back tables and power sockets, passenger-loading / capacity indicators in passenger information system with on-train Wi-Fi and toilets.[5] The seating will be in a 3+2 arrangement, and cantilevered off the floor to create more space for bags.[7] Each five car unit will be 122 m long and provide 540 standard class seats, and ten car units will be 234 m long, and provide 1,100 standard class seats. There will be no first class accommodation in any Class 720 train.[2][8] Similarly to London Overground units, trains will have through gangways to encourage passengers to spread out across the train.[5] In September 2017, Greater Anglia first unveiled a mockup of the interior on-board the trains and following a consultation which solicited 1,000 responses from members of the public, some changes are to be made to the interior. This includes replacing the originally intended Fainsa seating with softer seating from Kiel as well as the addition of seat back tables.[5] The units will also feature underfloor heating (the first of any train on the British railway system).

History

Greater Anglia

In August 2016, 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 Bombardier for 111 electric multiple units that would join the Aventra family.[9][10] These new trains were designated as the Class 720 and are divided into two sub-classes; 89 five-carriage 720/5 units and 22 ten-carriage 720/1 units. They are to replace the Class 317 and 321 units, together with the more modern 360 and 379 fleets currently used on Outer suburban services on the West Anglia and Great Eastern Main Lines.[11] They will be built at Derby Litchurch Lane Works and financed by Angel Trains.[12][13][14] However in October 2020, Greater Anglia amended its order to increase the quantity of the Class 720/5s to 133 and increasing flexibility by cancelling all orders of 720/1s, which will give the same amount of carriages, a total of 665. [15]

c2c

In 2017, c2c announced it had reached an agreement with Bombardier to obtain 60 vehicles from its Aventra product range, formed into six 10-car trains, to enter service in approximately 2021.[6] They will be classified as the Class 720/6, having originally been designated as the Class 711.[16][17] The new ‘Aventra’ trains will replace the six four-car Class 387s currently running along side the 357s. They will be financed by Porterbrook.[18]

Operation

Greater Anglia

Production of the first unit for Greater Anglia began in February 2018 and was completed in September 2018.[19][20] The units were initially due to enter service in 2019, but this has now been delayed to some point in 2020.[21] After this delay was announced, the testing of the first unit finally began on 17 March 2020 on the London Liverpool Street to Southend Line.[22] On 26 November 2020, the first 2 units started passenger service on the London Liverpool Street to Southend Line. [23] On the 16th December 2020, they started service on the Braintree branch [24] On the 23rd December 2020, The class 720's were rolled out on Southminster services [25]

Fleet details

The units resemble that of the Class 345 and Class 710 built for Crossrail and London Overground respectively. However, owing to the services that they will operate, the 720s will be built with a higher top speed of 100 mph (161 km/h), and will be fitted with a more appropriate interior.

Class Operator No. Built Year Built Cars per Set Unit Nos.
Class 720/5 Greater Anglia 44 TBC 5 720101–720144[26]
89 2018- 720501–720589
Class 720/6 c2c 6 TBC 10 720601–720606

References
  1. "EAST ANGLIA FRANCHISE AGREEMENT" (PDF). p. 178. Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 December 2020. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  2. UK, Archant Community Media. "Why Paul Geater is giving nine out of ten to new Greater Anglia commuter trains". Ipswich Star. Retrieved 14 September 2018.
  3. Bednall, Joe (June 2010). "A low impact commuter train". Rail Professional (159). p. 27. Archived from the original on 10 October 2012. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
  4. https://uk.linkedin.com/in/james-o-sullivan-05ba857b
  5. "GA shows off Aventra mock-up". Modern Railways. October 2017. p. 13.
  6. "Bombardier to supply Aventra EMUs to c2c". Railway Gazette. 14 December 2017. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
  7. "On board a Greater Anglia Aventra". www.railstaff.uk. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
  8. UK, DVV Media. "Greater Anglia reveals interior of Aventra commuter train fleet". Railway Gazette. Archived from the original on 17 December 2020. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
  9. 2016-08-10T08:45:00+01:00. "Stadler and Bombardier to supply trains for Abellio East Anglia franchise". Railway Gazette International. Archived from the original on 17 December 2020. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
  10. "Bombardier to supply 665 Aventra trains for Abellio". railway-technology.com. 4 October 2016. Archived from the original on 17 December 2020. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
  11. Clinnick, Richard (3 April 2017). "Greater Anglia seeks passenger views on new fleet designs". Rail Magazine. Archived from the original on 17 December 2020. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
  12. "Angel Trains to finance Aventras" Rail Magazine issue 811 12 October 2016 page 18
  13. "The New Face of Rail in Anglia" Modern Railways issue 818 November 2016 page 12
  14. "Angel secures funding to refinance Greater Anglia Aventra rolling stock". www.railtechnologymagazine.com. Archived from the original on 17 December 2020. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
  15. "Greater Anglia amends Class 720 order from Bombardier to increase flexibility". RailAdvent. 8 October 2020. Archived from the original on 17 December 2020. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  16. @c2c_Rail (11 July 2019). "The Class 711 carriages are 4 metres longer then either our Class 357 or Class 387 carriages" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  17. @c2c_Rail (5 September 2019). "The 387's will be returned when the [Class 711]'s come in to service. The 357s will be staying with us throughout" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  18. "c2c Signs major deal for brand-new British trains | Trains to/from London, Southend & Essex with c2c Rail". c2c. 14 December 2017. Archived from the original on 17 December 2020. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
  19. "Bombardier starts assembling Aventra EMUs for Greater Anglia". International Railway Journal. 21 February 2018. Archived from the original on 17 December 2020. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  20. Barrow, Keith (13 September 2018). "Bombardier rolls out first Aventra EMU for Greater Anglia". International Railway Journal. Archived from the original on 17 December 2020. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
  21. "Bombardier Class 720s to enter Greater Anglia service late". 5 September 2019.
  22. "Greater Anglia's new electric trains complete test run". www.railtechnologymagazine.com. Archived from the original on 17 December 2020. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
  23. "Greater Anglia Class 720 Aventra EMUs enter service". www.railwaygazette.com. Archived from the original on 17 December 2020. Retrieved 27 November 2020.
  24. "New-trains-in-passenger-service-Braintree-branch". www.greateranglia.com. Archived from the original on 17 December 2020. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
  25. "New-trains-in-passenger-service-Southminster-line". www.greateranglia.com. Archived from the original on 23 December 2020. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
  26. Numbers for extra 5 car units confirmed Todays Railways Uk issue 227 23 December 2020 page 69
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