British Rail Class 508

British Rail Class 508
British Rail Class 508
	Merseyrail Class 508 at Hightown
	The interior of a Merseyrail-refurbished Class 508 unit
In service	17 December 1979 – 16 January 2024
Manufacturer	British Rail Engineering Limited
Order no.	30979 (DMSO vehicles); 30980 (TSO vehicles); 30981 (BDMSO vehicles);
Built at	Holgate Road Works, York
Family name	BREL 1972
Replaced	Class 503
Constructed	1979–1980
Refurbished	2002–2004 at Alstom Eastleigh (27 Merseyrail units only); 2007–2008 at Wabtec Doncaster (6 Southeastern units only);
Scrapped	2020-2024
Number built	43
Number scrapped	41
Successor	Class 378; Class 466; Class 777;
Formation	As built, 4 cars per unit:; DMSO-TSO-TSO-BDMSO; After 3-car conversion:; DMSO-TSO-BDMSO;
Diagram	DMSO vehicles: EA208; TSO vehicles: EH218; BDMSO vehicles: EI203;
Design code	4PER
Fleet numbers	508/0: 508001–508043; 508/1: 508101–508143; 508/2: 508201–508212;
Capacity	As built: 320 seats; As three-car: 234 seats; Three-car modified: 222 seats; 508/2 units: 219 seats; As refurbished: 192 seats;
Owners	Angel Trains
Operators	British Rail; Connex South Eastern; London Overground; Merseyrail; Southeastern; Silverlink;
Depots	Birkenhead North (Wirral); Gillingham (Kent); Hall Road (Blundellsands; Kirkdale (Liverpool);
Lines served	Wirral line; Northern line;
Specifications
Car body construction	Steel underframe and body frame, aluminium body and roof
Car length	DM vehs.: 19.800 m (64 ft 11.5 in); Trailers: 19.920 m (65 ft 4.3 in);
Width	2.820 m (9 ft 3.0 in)
Height	3.582 m (11 ft 9.0 in)
Floor height	1.146 m (3 ft 9.1 in)
Doors	Double-leaf pocket sliding, each 1.288 m (4 ft 2.7 in) wide (2 per side per car)
Wheelbase	Over bogie centres:; 14.170 m (46 ft 5.9 in)
Maximum speed	75 mph (120 km/h)
Weight	DMSO vehicles: 36.15 t (35.58 LT; 39.85 ST); TSO vehicles: 26.72 t (26.30 LT; 29.45 ST); BDMSO vehicles: 36.61 t (36.03 LT; 40.36 ST);
Traction motors	8 × GEC G310AZ; or 8 × Brush TM61-53; (82 kW (110 hp) each, 4 per motor car);
Power output	656 kW (880 hp)
HVAC	Electric heating (ducted warm air)
Electric system(s)	750–850 V DC third rail
Current collector(s)	Contact shoe
UIC classification	Bo′Bo′+2′2′+Bo′Bo′
Bogies	BREL BX1
Minimum turning radius	70.4 m (231 ft 0 in)
Braking system(s)	Electro-pneumatic (disc) and rheostatic
Safety system(s)	AWS; TPWS;
Coupling system	Tightlock
Multiple working	508/3: within subclass, and with Class 313; Others: within class, and with Class 507;
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Notes/references
	Specifications as at August 1982 except where otherwise noted. The additional TSO vehicles, removed as part of three-car conversion, were inserted into Class 455/7 units.

The British Rail Class 508 (4PER) was a type of electric multiple unit (EMU) passenger train built by British Rail Engineering Limited, at Holgate Road carriage works, York, in 1979 and 1980. They were a variant of British Rail's standard 1972 design for suburban EMUs, eventually encompassing 755 vehicles and five classes (313/314/315/507/508). They mostly worked on the Merseyrail network from 1982 until withdrawal on 16 January 2024.

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