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);
Number built	43
Number scrapped	41
Successor	Class 378 (London Overground); Class 466 (Southeastern); Class 777 (Merseyrail);
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; South Eastern Trains; 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) electric multiple unit (EMU) passenger trains were 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.