Rolling stock › In serviceData updated
Class 318
British Rail's three-car electric of 1986 for Glasgow's suburban lines, refurbished with power sockets, wifi and an accessible toilet. It works with the Class 320s.
Scale
about 199 ft (61 m) over couplers (added up as drawn)
Class 318 · schematic drawing GB Trains · gbtrains.uk/stock/318/ · CC BY 4.0
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Liveries
Former liveries 2
Orange and black (Strathclyde Transport)Ran as SPTFormer1986 to c1997Not drawn yet
SPT carmine and cream / 'SPT Rail'Former1997 to 2013Not drawn yet
- Type
- Electric multiple unit
- Builder
- BREL
- In service
- since 1986
- Operators
- ScotRail
- Formation
- 3 cars (DTSL-PMS-DTS)
- Fleets
- ScotRail: 21
- Top speed
- 90 mph (145 km/h)
- Power
- 25 kV AC overhead · how it works
- Bogies
- BREL BT13 trailer bogies (Class 318), drawn as the T3: the photographs show the same arrangement; BREL BP20 motor bogies (Class 318), drawn as the P7: the photographs show the same arrangement
- Train length
- about 199 ft (61 m) (added up as drawn)
- Profile
- main-line
- Seats per train
- 206
- Total capacity
- 206 seats and 2 tip-up
- Status
- In service: 21 three-car units.
Car types
| Code | Car | Length | Doors per side |
|---|---|---|---|
| DTSL | Driving trailer standard with toilet (DTSL) | 65 ft 1 in19.83 m | 2 double |
| PMS | Pantograph motor standard (PMS) | 65 ft 4 in19.92 m | 2 double |
| DTS | Driving trailer standard (DTS) | 65 ft 1 in19.83 m | 2 double |
Sources
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Show the 14 sources from Wikimedia Commons, Wikipedia, Eversholt Rail and 6 more
- Class 318 Eversholt Rail21 three-car units; BREL; in service 1986; formation; seats; 90 mph (145 km/h); 25 kV AC; refurbishment; works with the 320s
- Vehicle Diagram Book No. 210 for Electric Multiple Units (including A.P.T.), with the Class 318 (EE227, EE228, EC207; October 1986), Class 319 (EE233, EE234, EC209, EH234; January 1988) and Class 321 (EE236, EC210; October 1988) diagrams British Railways Board, Mechanical & Electrical Engineering Department (PDF copy by J. D. Faulkner, 2012, from the book lent by Eddie Knorn; copyright BRB Residuary Ltd), 1986-1988, pp. EE227, EE228, EC207; EC210the drawing: the Class 318's dimensioned diagrams (DTS(A), DTS(B), MS), measured; the Class 321 PMS as a cross-check of the MS
- Identity Guidelines for Scotland's Railway, version 1.1: Rolling stock (pp. 14-36), with ScotRail's train outlines (livery sheets) and decals Transport Scotland, 2023, pp. 15-17, 19the drawing's livery: the rules for colours, arrows, vignettes and the margin round the doors, and the Class 314 sheet they are measured from
- ScotRail Saltire photographs, side-on or nearly ('Abellio ScotRail class 380 "Electrostar" EMU 380014 at Largs', 2021-06-21; 'Largs - ScotRail 380020 Glasgow service', 2025-06-08; 'Eastfield - ScotRail 385014 and 385111', 2025-06-09; 'Scotrail Train at Falkirk Grahamston (47738786752)', 2019; 'British Rail Class 385s - Abellio ScotRail 385123 (3)', 2020-01-31; 'Motherwell - ScotRail 320316 Dalmuir service', 2025-06-07; 'Glasgow Queen Street - ScotRail 153377 West Highland Explorer', 2025-06-09; 'ScotRail Class 156 DMU in 2022', 2022-10-06; '318261 in saltire livery at Gourock', 2019-10-29) Wikimedia Commons (Matt Buck, CC BY-SA 2.0; Geof Sheppard, CC BY-SA 4.0; Daniel from Glasgow, CC BY 2.0; Kevin.B, CC BY-SA 4.0; Coopydood, CC BY-SA 4.0; dave souza, CC BY-SA 4.0), 2019-2025the Saltire's dots: where the arrows and vignettes sit, and the dots a row and rows a field (layout and count only)
- Class 318 and 320 photographs ('Dalmuir - Scotrail 318257+318269.JPG', 'Shields - Scotrail 320309.JPG') Wikimedia Commons (Geof Sheppard, CC BY-SA 4.0), 2025-2026the drawing: the front without its gangway, the livery's layout and the cantrail line
- Class 318 and 320 underframes: 'Rail vehicle 18909 320316 (7489953436).jpg' (320 316 at Doncaster, 2012, CC BY-SA 2.0), 'General Railway Pictures 2017 324.jpg' (318 265 at Partick, 2017, CC BY-SA 2.0), 'Partick - Abellio 318265+320308 Balloch service.JPG' (2016, CC BY-SA 4.0) Oxyman and Geof Sheppard, via Wikimedia Commons, 2012-2017the drawing: layout of the underframe equipment (photographs; the motor car's partly seen)
- British Rail Class 318 Wikipedia, accessed 9 October 2026bogie types: BREL BP20 (motor) and BT13 (trailer), uncited
- Greater Anglia 321314: 'Greater Anglia 321314 (62988, motor bogie).JPG' and 'Greater Anglia 321314 (78062, non-powered bogie).JPG' (photographs, 17 September 2023, CC BY-SA 4.0) Geof Sheppard, via Wikimedia Commons, 2023the bogies: the P7-4 motor and T3-7 trailer bogies' layout (a Class 321's, near side on; photographs, layout only), and the cab-door steps on the driving trailer's cab-end bogie (78062's: two treads about half the cab door's width, 0.30 to 0.79 of it behind its front edge, on an upright post from the bogie frame), which the 318's own photographs match as far as they can be read
- BREL Mark 3 EMU cab ends in photographs: 'Greater Anglia Class 321 (321301).jpg' (2015; CC BY-SA 4.0, Samson Ng), 'ScotRail Class 320 No. 320416 at Partick.jpg' (2017; CC BY-SA 4.0, ScottD2998) and 'Royal Mail Class 325 325001 (40897762764).jpg' (2018; CC BY 2.0, Kat's Transport Photography) Wikimedia Commons, 2015-2018cross-check of the cab-door steps (photographs, layout only; none resolves them)
- Bedford railway station MMB 19 319365.jpg and MMB 20 319365.jpg (photographs: 319365's raised pantograph against the sky from the platform, near side on; CC BY-SA 3.0) mattbuck, via Wikimedia Commons, 11 June 2011the pantograph's insulators hidden in the well, the base frame on the roof line (track level, layout only)
- 318261 in saltire livery at Gourock.jpg (photograph, CC BY-SA 4.0) Wikimedia Commons (dave souza), 29 October 2019the cab coupler: its kind, heads and heights (set BC4, 20 October 2026; layout only for photographs)
- Northern Rail class 769 at Stalybridge in 2024 (photograph, 1 June 2024, CC BY 4.0) Wikimedia Commons (Vanmanyo), 1 June 2024the cab coupler: its kind, heads and heights (set BC4, 20 October 2026; layout only for photographs)
- British Rail Class 318 Wikipedia, read 13 October 2026the livery's name, who ran it and its years (no colours taken)
- A Guide to Overhead Electrification (132787-ALB-GUN-EOH-000001, rev 10) Network Rail (prepared by Alan Baxter), February 2015, p. 39the contact wire in the In operation drawing: 15 ft 5 in (4.7 m) above rail, Network Rail's normal height
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unverified
- The drawing's wheels and wheelbase: the diagrams draw them inconsistently (wheels 2 ft 9 in to 3 ft 0 in (830-925 mm), wheelbase 8 ft 5 in to 8 ft 11 in (2,570-2,720 mm)); drawn at their means
- The drawing's livery: the arrows and vignettes follow the guidelines' rules and their Class 314 sheet (the vignettes' dots measured on it, the arrows' at the Class 380 sheet's figures), and the cantrail line's height (about 10 ft 5 in (3.18 m)) and the grey roof's edge (about 11 ft 0 in (3.35 m)) are estimated from a photograph
- The drawing's windows: from diagrams of 1986 and 1988; the accessible toilets fitted in the 2018-2020 upgrades may have changed the windows of one driving car
- The drawing's front: the diagrams show the 1986 front with its gangway, removed in 2005-2007; drawn as the body's front without it
- The drawing's cab side window: drawn as the 1986 diagrams draw it (6 ft 8 in to 9 ft 3 in (2.04-2.83 m) above rail); photographs of 318257 (2026) show it deeper since the cab was rebuilt, to about 5 ft 7 in (1.7 m)
- The drawing's bogies: laid out from photographs of a Class 321's P7-4 and T3-7 bogies (layout only; the diagrams draw only the wheels), scaled by the drawing's wheels and wheelbase; the underframe equipment is a plain schematic, not drawn from a source
- The bogie types: BREL BP20 (motor) and BT13 (trailer), from Wikipedia without a citation; drawn as the 319's P7 and T3, which the 318's photographs (318 265, 320 316's train) match as far as they can be read; no close photograph of a BP20 or BT13 was found
- The years of the former liveries come from Wikipedia's class article and the other sources listed, and haven't been checked against a second source.
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