British Rail Class 380 Desiro

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This week let’s look at another Desiro trainset designed for operations in the UK. We’ve talked about two series used in the UK so far, the Class 350 for London Midlands, and the 185 Pennine Desiro. This week feature is the Class 380, used in Scotland by First ScotRail. The Class 380 was intended to be used on the Glasgow Airport Rail Link, but due to public spending cuts, the line was canceled and the Desiros have been dispatched onto the Ayrshire Coast Line, Inverclyde Line, and the North Berwick Line all linking Glasgow Central.

Class 380 featured at Railfest 2012
Two flavors of the Class 380 are currently available, one with a 3-car consist, and one with 4-car. A total of 38 sets have been purchased, all of which have been built between 2009 and 2011 at Siemens’ plant in Krefeld, Germany. Like the other Desiro series trains in the UK, the top speed of the Class 380 in service is 100 mph.

Very nice and modern looking cabin

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