Portal:Trains/Selected article/Week 15, 2019

The British Rail Class 458 is an electric multiple-unit passenger train built by Alstom at Washwood Heath between 1998 and 2002 for South West Trains. They were the first new fleet of trains to be delivered following the privatisation of British Rail. The fleet of 30 four-car trains was ordered in 1997, with the first train delivered in October 1998. The trains entered passenger service between 2000 and 2003 and are maintained at Wimbledon depot. They form part of Alstom's Juniper family of trains, which also includes Classes 334 and 460. Between 2013 and 2016, they were merged with the mechanically similar Class 460 fleet and reconfigured into 36 five-cars units, designated Class 458/5, to improve capacity. The trains are now used by South Western Railway.