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British Rail Class 156The British Rail Class 156 "Super-Sprinter" is a diesel multiple unit. 114 of these units were built from 1987-89 by Metro-Cammell (now owned by Alstom) at their Washwood Heath Works in Birmingham. They were built to replace elderly 'heritage' DMUs and locomotive-hauled passenger trains. The units were all built as two-car sets, numbered 156401-514, with individual carriages numbered 52401-514 and 57401-57514. Current operations After privatisation, the Class 156 fleet was split between several franchises, which are described below. 'One' Railway In early 2005, 'one' Anglia started to receive several former Central Trains Class 156 units, which were exchanged for Class 150 units. The newer Class 156 units are more suitable for several of the longer-distance routes, and also provide extra passenger accommodation. The unit will be used on Norwich-Cromer-Sheringham, Norwich-Great Yarmouth/Lowestoft, Ipswich-Lowestoft/Felixstowe, Mark's Tey-Sudbury local services, as well as longer distance Norwich-Cambridge and Ipswich-Cambridge/Peterborough services. The first units to be tranferred to 'one' Anglia had already been refurbihsed and were therefore painted in either Central Trains's green livery or white undercoat. However, the later units were repainted into the distinctive 'one' "rainbow" livery as they passed through works for refurbishment. It is expected that 'one' will eventually have a fleet of between seven and ten units. Central Trains Central Trains inherited a fleet of 20 units, all based at Tyseley Depot in Birmingham. Central Trains quickly repainted its fleet from the original Provincial livery, to the more modern Express Regional Railways livery, since they were used on faster long-distance trains. The fleet was used on a wide variety of services including Cardiff to Nottingham, Birmingham to Cambridge, Liverpool to Norwich and Birmingham to Aberystwyth. However, from 1999, Central Trains introduced new Class 170 "Turbostar" units, which took over most long-distance trains. Therefore, the Class 156 fleet were mostly displaced onto shorter journies, such as Worcester to Nottingham, Birmingham to Leicester and Crewe to Skegness. Another new development was the introduction of the new Central Trains green livery. In 2003, Central Trains proprosed to swap it Class 156 fleet with ScotRail Class 158 units, which would be better suited to longer distance trains. However, this deal fell through, although one unit, no. 156402, was repainted in ScotRail livery without brandings. Since then, Central Trains have refurbished their fleet at Doncaster Works. In early 2005, a number of Central Trains Class 156 units were transferred to 'one' Anglia, in exchange for Class 150 units. Northern Rail Northern Rail, who in 2004 took over the franchises in the north of England from Arriva Trains Northern and First North Western, operate a large fleet of units. In the former Arriva Trains Northern area the units are based at either Neville Hill depot in Leeds, or Heaton depot in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and are used for longer-distance trains, such as Leeds to Carlisle, Newcastle-upon-Tyne to Carlisle, and York to Blackpool. In the former First North Western area, a small fleet remains on various routes including Barrow-in-Furness to Carlisle and Buxton to Manchester. ScotRail / First ScotRail / Strathclyde PTE First ScotRail operates the largest fleet of Class 156 units.
Fleet details | o. of units | align=left|Unit nos. | | entral Trains | align=center|17 | 156401/403-418 | | irst ScotRail | align=center|48 | 156430-437/439/442/445-447/449/450/453/456-458/462/465/467/474/476-478/485/492-496/499-514 | orthern Rail
- ex-Arriva Trains Northern
- ex-First North Western
| align=center|
28
18 |
156438/443/444/448/451/454/463/468-473/475/479-484/486-491/497/498
156420/421/423-429/440/441/452/455/459-461/464/466 | | One' Railway | align=center|3 | 156402/419/422 |
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