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Class 720 Aventra
Bombardier's Aventra in five-car form, built at Derby for Greater Anglia's commuter routes; c2c also has 12 of its own, from 2023. Greater Anglia ordered them in 2016, financed by Angel Trains: 665 cars, as 89 five-car and 22 ten-car trains. In 2020 the ten-car trains were dropped for 133 five-car units with the same number of cars. The first entered service on 26 November 2020, two units coupled on the 16:10 from Southend Victoria to Liverpool Street. c2c ordered six ten-car trains through Porterbrook on 18 December 2017, for £105 million; they were built as twelve five-car Class 720/6s, the first delivered in April 2022, and the first was named at Fenchurch Street on 27 September 2023. The 133 are numbered 720101-720144 and 720501-720589; c2c's are 720601-720612.
Shown
Scale
399 ft (121.68 m) (the cars’ lengths added)
Class 720 Aventra · schematic drawing GB Trains · gbtrains.uk/stock/720/ · CC BY 4.0
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Liveries 3
The same measured train in each livery, each drawn from a cited source. The drawing above shows the largest fleet’s.
Great British Railways720144 and 720501, since 16 July 2026 (GBR Anglia)The national livery. One entry for every operator that wears it: the region's name is lettering, and the double arrow and lettering stay off the site's drawings.Not drawn yet
Special liveries 3
- Pride, 720506 Unveiled 28 July 2023.
- Black History, 720110 Unveiled 18 October 2023; permanent.
- Lest We Forget (poppies), 720111 Since 8 November 2024; to stay year-round.
- Type
- Electric multiple unit
- Builder
- Bombardier Transportation (now Alstom), Derby
- Family
- Aventra, with Class 345, Class 710 Aventra, Class 701 Arterio, Class 730 Aventra
- Built
- 2018 onwards
- In service
- since 2020
- Operators
- Greater Anglia, c2c
- Formation
- 5 cars (DTSLW-MS3-MS2-PMSL-DMS)
- Trains in fleet
- 145: 133 for Greater Anglia and 12 for c2c
- Fleets
- c2c: 12; Greater Anglia: 133
- Top speed
- 100 mph (161 km/h)
- Power
- 25 kV AC overhead, 2,300 kW a five-car unit · how it works
- Bogies
- Bombardier FLEXX Eco bogies · drawn with the same bogie component as Class 345, Class 701 Arterio, Class 710 Aventra, Class 730 Aventra
- Train length
- 399 ft (121.68 m) (the cars’ lengths added)
- Coupled
- 2 × 5 cars, about 798 ft (243 m) (the units’ lengths added)
- Car height
- 12 ft 4 in (3.75 m)
- Car width
- 9 ft 1 in (2.77 m)
- Train weight (tare)
- 193.1 t (a five-car unit)
- Profile
- main-line
- Seats per train
- 544 (Greater Anglia's units)
- Total capacity
- 689 a unit (544 seated, 145 standing), with 2 wheelchair spaces: Greater Anglia's units (DfT's 2021 contract)
- Status
- In service: Greater Anglia's 133 (leased from Angel Trains) and c2c's 12 Class 720/6s (leased from Porterbrook). Both operators have been publicly owned since 2025 (c2c from 20 July, Greater Anglia from 12 October) and run together as GBR Anglia. Greater Anglia's 720s were approved to run on c2c's lines in July 2026, and units are being repainted in the Great British Railways livery. In October 2026 Alstom's maintenance of Greater Anglia's 133 at Seven Kings was extended for 15 years.
Car types
| Code | Car | Length | Doors per side |
|---|---|---|---|
| DTSLW | Driving trailer, standard class, with the accessible toilet and wheelchair spaces (DTSLW) | 80 ft 6 in24.543 m | 2 double |
| MS3 | Motor, standard class (MS3) | 79 ft 5 in24.199 m | 2 double |
| MS2 | Motor, standard class (MS2) | 79 ft 5 in24.199 m | 2 double |
| PMSL | Pantograph motor, standard class, with toilet (PMSL) | 79 ft 5 in24.199 m | 2 double |
| DMS | Driving motor, standard class (DMS) | 80 ft 6 in24.543 m | 2 double |
Sources
How we source figures → · Spotted a mistake? Tell us → (opens in a new tab)
Show the 60 sources from Wikimedia Commons, Greater Anglia, Department for Transport and 14 more
- Class 720 Angel Trains133 five-car units, car length, width, formation, 100 mph (161 km/h)
- Better journeys for rail passengers and boost for Derby train industry as new East Anglia franchise announced Department for Transport, 10 August 2016ordered in 2016, financed by Angel Trains; built at Derby (its '660 carriages' a round figure)
- Abellio East Anglia Limited 2021: national rail contract Department for Transport, September 2021Class 720/5: 665 vehicles, 133 five-car units ('Original Rolling Stock' table); 544 seats, 145 standing and 2 wheelchair spaces a unit; leased from Angel Trains
- First Great British Railways trains for Anglia unveiled Greater Anglia, 16 July 2026Greater Anglia's 720s approved to run on c2c's lines; GBR Anglia, bringing c2c, Greater Anglia and Network Rail Anglia together; the Great British Railways livery to spread to more trains
- New train livery: Bombardier Aventra five-car side elevations and cab fronts Greater Anglia (artwork by Bombardier Transportation), 24 February 2017, p. single imageside elevations of all five cars (measured)
- New trains in a pandemic Rail Engineer, 15 February 2021train length 400 ft (122 m) nominal, formation (scale check); first in service on 26 November 2020; 100 mph (161 km/h); 193.1 t and 2,300 kW a five-car unit
- 720 101 Greater Anglia Bombardier Aventra EMU, Spellbrook (photograph, CC BY 2.0) Wikimedia Commons, 26 November 2024door spacing check; colours, cab livery and wheelchair marker of the drawing
- 720540 MSO (photograph, CC BY-SA 4.0) Wikimedia Commons (Peter Skuce), 18 September 2021door spacing check
- First Cl720 Aventra train enters passenger service with c2c Porterbrook, 9 October 2023c2c's 12 five-car Class 720/6s, leased from Porterbrook; the first named at Fenchurch Street on 27 September 2023
- First Class 720 train enters passenger service, honours c2c's former Managing Director c2c, 9 October 2023c2c's Class 720s in service, 2023
- FLEXX appeal: Bombardier's bogie family explained Rail Engineer, 10 October 2013the bogies: Bombardier's FLEXX Eco (the B5000 family), built into the Aventra
- Class 345 Stock information sheet, 1st edition (file "Class 345 Data Sheet ver 3", released under FOI-0416-2223) Transport for Londonthe bogie drawing's layout: the Class 345's bogies as its data sheet renders them (pp. 2-4)
- 730 235, Stafford (photograph, CC BY 4.0) Wikimedia Commons (kitmasterbloke), 8 October 2025the bogie drawing's layout: Aventra bogies at an angle (layout only)
- GA Class 720 (side view of a five-car Class 720 in Greater Anglia livery, CC BY-SA 4.0) Wikimedia Commons (WestRail642fan), 18 August 2018, revised to 14 January 2025the drawing's pantograph: its car, end and which way it folds (side diagram, layout only)
- River Stour Viaduct - Greater Anglia 720539 Ipswich train.JPG: a five-car 720 near side on, its pantograph raised (photograph, CC BY-SA 4.0) Wikimedia Commons (Geof Sheppard), 10 April 2024the drawing's pantograph: on the PMSL at its end next to MS2, the knee towards that end, the hinge over the first door (raised; photograph, layout only)
- Class 710 stock information sheet (released under FOI-0117-2425) Transport for London, p. 2the drawing's pantograph: the folded height and insulators (the Class 710's, another Aventra, measured)
- New train livery: Bombardier Aventra five-car side elevations and cab fronts Greater Anglia (artwork by Bombardier Transportation), 24 February 2017, pp. single image (DTSLW, car 1)the cab end: nose profile, red along the front edge and over the cab, black roof dome, cab door and its joint lines (measured, 11 October 2026)
- 720584 at Stratford station.jpg (photograph, Robert Cutter, CC BY-SA 4.0) Wikimedia Commons, 21 February 2026the cab end: the red clear of the cab side window; the cab door and its joint lines (photograph, layout only)
- 6th November 2023 Rivenhall 02.jpg (photograph of 720530, kitmasterbloke, CC BY 2.0) Wikimedia Commons, 6 November 2023the cab end: the red up the front edge and over the cab (photograph, layout only)
- 720602 - WFJ.jpg (photograph, SmoIchopper, CC BY 2.0) Wikimedia Commons, 4 April 2023c2c's livery: the magenta up the cab's front edge (photograph, layout only)
- New train livery: Bombardier Aventra five-car side elevations and cab fronts Greater Anglia (artwork by Bombardier Transportation), 24 February 2017, pp. single image (DTSLW, car 1)the thin orange line at the cantrail, across the red over the cab and along the cars (measured, set C720)
- 720584 at Stratford station.jpg (photograph, Robert Cutter, CC BY-SA 4.0) Wikimedia Commons, 21 February 2026the thin orange line at the cantrail and the dome's edge (photograph, layout only)
- British Rail Class 345 (infobox: wheel diameter 825-750 mm new-worn, wheelbase 2.25 m, citing Bombardier Transportation, 'Business Unit Bogies - Product Portfolio Presentation', January 2018) Wikipedia, read 11 October 2026the drawing's wheels: 2 ft 8 in (825 mm) new (Bombardier's figure, as Wikipedia gives it)
- New train livery: Bombardier Aventra five-car side elevations and cab fronts Greater Anglia (artwork by Bombardier Transportation), 24 February 2017the cab coupler's overhang, 265 mm ahead of the nose (the head itself is the Class 710's part, set C720K)
- 720584 at Stratford station.jpg (photograph, Robert Cutter, CC BY-SA 4.0) Wikimedia Commons, 21 February 2026the orange cantrail line meeting the dark roof directly (set AV; layout only)
- 720584 at Stratford station.jpg (photograph, Robert Cutter, CC BY-SA 4.0) Wikimedia Commons, 21 February 2026the cab coupler, close: no pin above the head, no bent rod (set AV fixes, Kyle's notes, 11 October 2026; layout only)
- 720584 at Stratford station.jpg (photograph, Robert Cutter, CC BY-SA 4.0) Wikimedia Commons, 21 February 2026the cab end's details: the nose panel's edge, the round cover, the cab door's rails and pockets (details follow-up, 11 October 2026)
- 720 101 Greater Anglia Bombardier Aventra EMU, Spellbrook (photograph, CC BY 2.0) Wikimedia Commons, 26 November 2024the gangways: the dark diaphragm between the cars to the roof's top (set AV, AV10; side on)
- 720540 MSO (photograph, CC BY-SA 4.0) Wikimedia Commons (Peter Skuce), 18 September 2021the gangway's diaphragm below the body foot and into the roof's curve (set AV, AV10; close, layout only)
- 720584 at Stratford station.jpg (photograph, Robert Cutter, CC BY-SA 4.0) Wikimedia Commons, 21 February 2026the cab coupler: the same Dellner coupler as the Class 710's (layout only)
- 720 606 of c2c.jpg (photograph, CC BY-SA 4.0) Wikimedia Commons (Hugh Llewelyn), 12 July 2025the open coupler under the cab nose (front three-quarter, layout only)
- 710 256 (photograph, CC BY-SA 2.0) Hugh Llewelyn, Flickr, 26 April 2022the Class 710's cab coupler, compared with 720584's: the same part (layout only)
- New train livery: Bombardier Aventra five-car side elevations and cab fronts Greater Anglia (artwork by Bombardier Transportation), 24 February 2017, pp. single image (DTSLW, car 1)the front and lower nose as one smooth curve fitted to the body shell, the wiper and coupler masked (set CA, ca720, reworked; measured)
- 720 101 Greater Anglia Bombardier Aventra EMU, Spellbrook (photograph, CC BY 2.0) Wikimedia Commons, 26 November 2024the front as one sweep from the roof to the lower nose; the lower nose's bottom and rear edge (set CA, ca720; layout only)
- Greater Anglia puts new trains into passenger service Rail Engineer, 27 November 2020first in passenger service, 26 November 2020: two units coupled, the 16:10 Southend Victoria to Liverpool Street
- First Class 720 vehicles shown at Derby (news) The Railway Magazine, 1 October 2018the 2016 order of 665 cars as 89 five-car 720/5s and 22 ten-car 720/1s; the first cars, of 720501, shown at Derby on 13 September 2018
- Greater Anglia amends Class 720 order from Bombardier to increase flexibility RailAdvent, October 2020 (last updated 8 October 2020)the 22 ten-car 720/1s cancelled in October 2020 and the five-car 720/5s raised from 89 to 133, the same 665 cars
- c2c orders ten-car Aventras in £105m deal RAIL magazine, 18 December 2017c2c's order: six ten-car Aventras through Porterbrook, £105 million, 18 December 2017
- c2c's first Class 720/6 arrives (news) Railcolor News, 29 April 2022c2c's order changed to twelve five-car Class 720/6s, built by Alstom at Derby; the first, 720602, at East Ham in April 2022
- c2c services transferred to public ownership Department for Transport (gov.uk), 20 July 2025c2c in public ownership from 20 July 2025
- Greater Anglia services transferred to public ownership Department for Transport (gov.uk), 12 October 2025Greater Anglia in public ownership from 12 October 2025
- Greater Anglia signs £800m deal to keep commuter trains running into the 2040s ianVisits (reporting Alstom's release of 15 October 2026), 16 October 2026Alstom, October 2026: all 133 of Greater Anglia's Class 720s operational
- Alstom signs £800 million 15-year maintenance extension with Greater Anglia for Class 720 Aventra fleet Global Railway Review, 19 October 2026Alstom's maintenance of Greater Anglia's 133 at Seven Kings extended for 15 years, October 2026 (status)
- British Rail Class 720 Wikipedia, read 13 October 2026the unit number blocks: 720101-720144, 720501-720589 and c2c's 720601-720612 (last resort)
- Parkeston Quay - Greater Anglia 720119.JPG (photograph) Wikimedia Commons, 4 February 2026720119 from the DMS end, about 26 degrees off its line: the pantograph raised on the PMSL at its MS2 end; the DMS's underframe cases (photograph; layout only, Top 25 review batch 4)
- 6th November 2023 Rivenhall 05.jpg (photograph of 720587) Wikimedia Commons, 6 November 2023720587 from the DTSLW end, from below: the cab door, the wheelchair marker, the trailer's separate underframe cases (photograph; layout only, Top 25 review batch 4)
- 720 101 Greater Anglia Bombardier Aventra EMU, Spellbrook (photograph, CC BY 2.0) Wikimedia Commons, 26 November 2024the DTSLW's underframe layout (rectified, about 26 degrees off square; layout and heights to about 300 and 100 mm)
- 6th November 2023 Rivenhall 05.jpg (photograph of 720587) Wikimedia Commons, 6 November 2023the DTSLW's underframe: the order and shapes of its cases, with daylight between (from below; layout only)
- Parkeston Quay - Greater Anglia 720119.JPG (photograph) Wikimedia Commons, 4 February 2026the DMS's underframe: the order and lengths of its cases, matching the Class 730's (rectified, about 26 degrees off square; layout only)
- 730 008 022 037 Birmingham New St 081025.jpg (photograph, CC BY 4.0) Wikimedia Commons, 8 October 2025 (the file name; the file's date field reads 10 October 2025)the DMS's underframe positions and heights: the Class 730's driving car, the same layout as 720119 shows, shifted 1 ft 2 in (360 mm) with the 720's bogies
- New train livery: Bombardier Aventra five-car side elevations and cab fronts Greater Anglia (artwork by Bombardier Transportation), 24 February 2017, pp. single image (cars 1-5)the roof fairings on every car: places along the car and height (measured, set T11, T1116)
- 720 101 Greater Anglia Bombardier Aventra EMU, Spellbrook (photograph, CC BY 2.0) Wikimedia Commons, 26 November 2024the roof fairings on the DTSLW and MS3, where the sheet puts them (layout only, set T11, T1116)
- 720611 + 720609 on a test run working 5Q91 Wembley Yard to Crewe passes South Kenton 01 02 23 (52663501278).jpg (photograph, CC BY-SA 2.0) Wikimedia Commons (Foulger Rail Photos from Basingstoke, UK), 1 February 2023the magenta band through the driving cars' first door (layout only)
- 720603 - WFJ.jpg (photograph, SmoIchopper, CC BY 2.0) Wikimedia Commons, 4 April 2023magenta only up the cab's front edge; the cab side white up to the black dome and its orange line (set AV; layout only)
- 720 610 of c2c.jpg (photograph, Hugh Llewelyn, CC BY-SA 4.0) Wikimedia Commons, 12 July 2025magenta only up the cab's front edge (set AV; layout only)
- Greater Anglia unveils special Pride livery train Greater Anglia, 28 July 2023the Pride livery on 720506, unveiled 28 July 2023
- Greater Anglia celebrates Black History Month Greater Anglia, 19 October 2023the Black History livery on one of the Class 720s, unveiled at Liverpool Street on 18 October 2023; permanent
- Greater Anglia launches second “Lest we forget” poppy train livery Greater Anglia, 8 November 2024 (updated 11 November 2024)the poppy livery on 720111, from 8 November 2024, to stay year-round (Greater Anglia's second; the first was on a Class 755)
- First Great British Railways-liveried fleets unveiled for Anglia region RAIL magazine, July 2026357020 the first painted; the 357s and 720s as units pass through maintenance
- 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
- Built: the first cars, of 720501, were shown at Derby on 13 September 2018; when the last was finished isn't published (c2c's 720/6s were delivered from April 2022, and Alstom said in October 2026 that all 133 of Greater Anglia's were in service)
- The drawing: Bombardier's 2017 livery drawing prints no dimensions; scaled to Angel Trains' 79 ft 5 in (24.2 m) car (the train comes to 399 ft (121.7 m) against 400 ft (122 m) nominal); the front is one smooth curve fitted to it (within 11 mm on average, 47 at worst), compared with photographs of 720101, 701008 and 710377 for its shape only (all three are a little oblique)
- Car height 12 ft 4 in (3.75 m): measured off the same drawing (12 ft 4 in (3,748 mm) to the cab cap and roof fairings), not published
- The driving cars' length in the car table, 80 ft 6 in (24.543 m): measured off the same drawing (the 78 ft 6 in (23,920 mm) body, the coupler's 265 mm ahead of the nose and half the 2 ft 4 in (716 mm) gap between cars), not published; Angel Trains gives 79 ft 5 in (24.2 m) a car
- Colours: sampled from a photograph of 720101; no paint references have been published
- The c2c Class 720/6s are drawn on Greater Anglia's measured body: built at Derby to the same design (RAIL, 2017; Railcolor News, 2022), and their photographs show the same doors, windows and cab; no drawing or level side-on photograph of a 720/6 has been found
- C2c's 720/6s are fitted differently and seat fewer; no published figure found (about 460 a unit in trade-press reports)
- The drawing's pantograph: placed from one near side-on photograph of 720 539 (to about 1 ft 8 in (0.5 m)); a Commons diagram drawn before the trains were built puts it about 8 ft 2 in (2.5 m) nearer the car's end; its folded height is the Class 710's (TfL's sheet), another Aventra
- Wheels 2 ft 8 in (825 mm) new: Wikipedia's Class 345 page, citing Bombardier's 2018 bogie portfolio presentation (not seen), taken for every FLEXX Eco Aventra
- The cab coupler (set AV): measured on Bombardier's design-stage side view (about 7.6 mm a pixel) and seen in front three-quarter photographs only; its make isn't published
- The driving cars' underframe: no level square-on photograph exists; the DTSLW from two oblique photographs (about 1 ft 0 in to 1 ft 4 in (300-400 mm) along the car, heights about 100 mm, its rail hidden), the DMS from the Class 730's measured layout where 720119 shows the same items; the middle cars' layout is unchecked
- The number blocks are from Wikipedia; Greater Anglia's releases confirm units in both, such as 720111 and 720506
- The roof fairings: their places along each car and their 95 mm height are measured off Bombardier's 2017 sheet; 720101 (from a little above) confirms the places to about 0.3 m, but no level photograph shows their height or the shape of their ends
- Black History, 720110: the unit, 720110, is from Wikipedia alone: Greater Anglia's release doesn't name it
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