British Rail Class 170

British Rail Class 170 Turbostar

Company type	Diesel multiple unit train
Industry	Rail transport
Predecessor	Networker Turbo (Classes 165 and 166)
Founded	1999
Founder	Adtranz (later Bombardier Transportation)
Headquarters	Derby , United Kingdom
Area served	United Kingdom
Products	Diesel multiple units
Owner	Porterbrook (majority), Eversholt Rail Group (some units)
Parent	Adtranz, later Bombardier Transportation

The British Rail Class 170 Turbostar represents a class of British diesel-hydraulic multiple units constructed for passenger service by Adtranz, which later became part of Bombardier Transportation, at the Derby Litchurch Lane Works facility.

Evolving from the and DMU series (known as Networker Turbos) introduced in the 1990s, the Class 170 began operating in 1999, shortly following the privatisation of British Rail. These trains are deployed on regional and longer-distance routes, with some serving suburban lines. A total of 139 sets were manufactured, with several subsequently modified into and versions. Presently, Class 170 units are in operation with CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, Northern Trains, and ScotRail.

Design

The Class 170 diesel multiple unit (DMU) builds upon the foundation established by the earlier and DMU models, collectively referred to as Networker Turbos, originally produced by British Rail Engineering Limited and subsequently ABB Transportation before Bombardier's acquisition.

Its construction features an aluminium alloy chassis, a Voith transmission system, and a body profile that resembles the cab ends of , yet differs from the design of Classes 165/166. The final drive mechanism is supplied by ZF, while powerplants are sourced from MTU.

Power units and transmissions are mounted beneath the floor, driving one bogie per carriage. Each coach within a trainset is powered; there are no unpowered trailer cars. These trains can be coupled for multiple working with 15X series trains (Sprinters and empty 14X Pacers) as well as other Class 170s, but compatibility does not extend to 16X series units due to differences in electrical wiring.

Seating arrangements vary between 2+1 in first class and 2+2 in standard class, with a three-car formation accommodating roughly between 100 and 200 seated passengers depending on operator configurations. Two-car variants are also operational.

Subclasses

The Class 170 fleet is categorized into six sub-classes (originally seven), primarily distinguished by interior seating layouts as specified by different operators. Variations in interior equipment lead to minor weight disparities, generally within approximately two tonnes.

All sub-classes were produced at Derby works under either Adtranz or later Bombardier Transportation management. Despite Bombardier's takeover of Adtranz in 2001, some early Bombardier-produced units retain ADtranz insignia due to utilization of pre-existing component inventories.

Current operations

The majority of Class 170 trains are owned by Porterbrook, while units numbered 170416 through 170424 belong to the Eversholt Rail Group. These trains are leased to various train operating companies.

ScotRail

ScotRail was previously the largest operator of Class 170 units, operating a peak fleet of 59 three-car sets; this number has since decreased to 34, all maintained at the Edinburgh Haymarket depot.

The initial batch of 24 units (170401–170424) was delivered for ScotRail (National Express) between 1999 and 2001. These featured first-class sections intended for ScotRail Express services such as Edinburgh–Glasgow Queen Street and Aberdeen/Inverness–Glasgow/Edinburgh routes. A further ten units (170425–170434) arrived during 2003–2004 to complete the transition from Class 158 to Class 170 on these corridors, by which time franchise control had shifted to First ScotRail.

In addition, two standard-class-only units were commissioned for Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) Glasgow Queen Street operations in 2001 (170470–170471), followed by seven more for SPT (170472–170478) and twelve for Edinburgh commuter services (170450–170461) during 2004–2005. Between 2008 and 2011, several of these sets underwent retrofitting to include first-class compartments.

In 2005, four three-car sets (170393–170396) featuring first class and 'mini-buffet' facilities were acquired from Hull Trains, expanding the fleet to a total of 59 sets. Initially deployed on Inverness ScotRail Express routes, these were later converted exclusively to standard class.

Units operated under SPT bore SPT liveries, while others displayed First ScotRail branding; earlier deliveries carried National Express ScotRail colors. In 2008, Transport Scotland introduced a new blue livery adorned with white Saltire emblems for all ScotRail trains, including those serving SPT routes.

Following the franchise transfer in April 2015 from First to Abellio, nine Eversholt-owned units exited the lease arrangement. Five remained temporarily in Scotland before relocating to East Midlands Railway in 2020; four were converted into Class 171s for Southern operations.

The electrification of the Edinburgh–Glasgow Queen Street line completed in 2018 along with replacement of Aberdeen/Inverness services by High-Speed Trains displaced many Class 170s from primary routes. Further electrification projects affecting Glasgow Queen Street commuter lines and Edinburgh–Dunblane services will reduce their deployment as electric multiple units enter service. Surplus Class 170s are being reassigned within ScotRail’s network, replacing aging and stock. Additionally, sixteen units transferred to Arriva Rail North (numbers 170453–170461 and 170472–170478), with deliveries commencing in March 2018.

CrossCountry

CrossCountry manages a fleet of 29 Class 170 Turbostar trains, consisting of seven two-car and 22 three-car sets, operating on routes connecting Cardiff Central with Nottingham, Birmingham, Leicester, and Stansted Airport. These trains were originally inherited from Central Trains in 2007—initially comprising 13 two-car and 16 three-car formations—and underwent refurbishment in 2008. The exterior work was completed by Marcroft Engineering and EWS at Toton depot, while interior upgrades, including the introduction of first-class seating on select units, were carried out by Transys Projects.

In 2021, CrossCountry enhanced its fleet by transferring centre cars from six former three-car Class 170 units previously operated by West Midlands Railway. These centre cars were integrated into six of CrossCountry’s former two-car sets, converting them into three-car configurations. This modification altered the composition of the fleet from 13 two-car and 16 three-car units to seven two-car and 22 three-car units. The added centre cars were refurbished and repainted to ensure a consistent appearance with their new formations.

February 2025 marked the commencement of CrossCountry’s second mid-life refurbishment with unit 170101 being the first to receive these upgrades. The refurbishment includes a fresh exterior paint scheme, interior repainting, replacement of former first-class 2+1 seating with standard 2+2 seating arrangements, dedicated spaces for wheelchairs and bicycles, updated tables and carpeting, full-length installation of AC and USB power outlets, enhanced passenger information displays, new CCTV and passenger counting technology, as well as modernized toilet facilities. This program forms part of CrossCountry’s comprehensive strategy to renew its rolling stock.

Northern Trains

By January 2019, Arriva Rail North had taken over operation of sixteen three-car Class 170 units (numbers 170453-170461 and 170472-170478) previously run by Abellio ScotRail. These trains serve routes between Sheffield and Scarborough via Hull and also operate along the Harrogate Loop alongside Class 158 DMUs. Maintenance responsibilities are divided between Neville Hill TMD and Botanic Gardens TMD, with lighter servicing tasks conducted at Sheffield.

On 1 March 2020, operational control of these units was transferred to Northern Trains.

East Midlands Railway

East Midlands Railway holds the largest Class 170 fleet in operation, comprising 43 two- and three-car sets acquired since 2020.

The first two three-car units (170416 and 170417) were transferred from Abellio ScotRail to EMR starting on 23 March 2020. Unit 170417, named The Key Worker, began service on the Robin Hood line on 2 November 2020 as part of EMR’s gradual fleet introduction.

Further additions included units numbered 170418–170420 from ScotRail, alongside a batch of 23 units sourced from West Midlands Trains and another set of twelve from Transport for Wales Rail, all replacing older Class models.

In September 2022, EMR received three former Southern units (converted into three-car formations and renumbered as 170422–170424). Initially equipped with Dellner couplers incompatible with EMR’s existing fleet, these sets were temporarily assigned different unit numbers. By May 2023, after retrofitting BSI couplers, these trains were fully integrated into EMR’s operations.

EMR is actively conducting a refurbishment program for its Class 170 trains; the first refurbished unit has already re-entered service.

Midland Mainline

Midland Mainline (MML) was the initial purchaser of Turbostar trains, receiving the first unit in November 1998 and commencing operations in May 1999. The Class 170/1 variants succeeded the units previously constructed for Chiltern Railways. MML placed an order for 17 two-car Class 170 sets; however, the initial ten were configured as three-car formations, numbered 170101–117. These trains served stopping routes connecting to , , and , along with seasonal summer Saturday services to —which later expanded to year-round operations with extensions reaching . Additionally, they provided direct connections between London St Pancras and , a service discontinued after being replaced by Class 222 Meridian units due to weight limitations on the Derwent Valley line.

In 2004, Midland Mainline phased in Class 222 Meridian trains, supplanting the Turbostars. The existing fleet was transferred to their affiliate Central Trains, consisting of ten three-car sets (170101–170110) and seven two-car sets (170111–170117). Initially equipped with first-class sections, these were subsequently downgraded.

Govia Thameslink Railway

In 2003, Southern procured six two-car Class 170/7 units alongside six four-car units to replace older slam-door and trains operating on the Marshlink Line and Oxted Line towards .

By March 2023, Southern had upgraded these trains with Dellner couplers compatible with Class 171s, leading to the reclassification of the two-car units as to facilitate emergency coupling with s.

Southern also integrated unit 170392 from South West Trains into its fleet as its tenth four-car set, renumbering it as 171730. This unit was originally delivered in Southern livery under the number 170727 but underwent relivery and renumbering at Ashford Chart Leacon Works before entering service.

Following the conclusion of the First ScotRail franchise in March 2015, units numbered 170416 to 170424 reverted to ownership by Eversholt Rail Group. Five remained leased to Abellio ScotRail until March 2020, while units 170421 through 170424 were moved to Wolverton Works for refurbishment and conversion into Class 171s for Southern. Due to challenges during conversion and reliability concerns, these were returned to Eversholt and subsequently leased to East Midlands Railway. Among them, two were converted into two-car Class 171/2s and two into four-car Class 171/4s. All four units came back under Eversholt's control in 2022 and were leased out again to East Midlands Railway. After being restored to their original three-car configurations, three units transferred in September 2022 for reconversion back into Class 170s retaining their original identities; the fourth unit remains subleased to Govia Thameslink Railway.

Hull Trains

Hull Trains commenced its London King's Cross to Hull route in September 2000 utilizing leased Turbostar trains. In 2004, it introduced four proprietary three-car Class 170/3 units and returned the previously leased sets. After acquisition by FirstGroup in 2005, Hull Trains transitioned to four new Pioneer units and reassigned their Turbostars to First ScotRail.

South West Trains

In 2000, South West Trains (SWT) acquired eight two-car Class 170/3 sets, later adding an ex-Southern unit, complementing its existing fleet. These operated on services including London Waterloo to Salisbury and Reading to Brighton. Most of these units were transferred in 2006 to First TransPennine Express as part of a swap involving Express Sprinters; one set was returned to Southern and reclassified as unit 171730.

Central Trains

Central Trains managed a fleet of 53 Class 170 units spanning several subclasses. Beginning in 1999, the company introduced twenty-three two-car Class 170/5 and ten three-car Class 170/6 units, which replaced aging rolling stock on longer-distance services.

Starting in late 2004, Central leased three Class 170/3 units from Porterbrook. These units originally included first-class sections that were downgraded to standard class due to franchise regulations. The interior designs differed between Central Trains and South West Trains configurations. When the franchise concluded in 2007, two of the three-car units were transferred to CrossCountry, while the two-car unit was returned to Porterbrook and subsequently leased to First TransPennine Express as unit 170309.

Key routes served by Central’s Class 170s included Birmingham New Street–Stansted Airport, Nottingham–Cardiff Central, and Birmingham–Leicester. Some of these services have since transitioned to Desiro trains.

Following franchise reorganisation, 23 of these units were allocated to London Midland for West Midlands operations, and 29 moved to CrossCountry, operating routes such as Cardiff-Birmingham-Nottingham and Birmingham-Leicester-Stansted Airport. One unit (170399) was transferred to First TransPennine Express. Despite assuming control of the Liverpool-to-Norwich route previously served by Central Trains, East Midlands Trains did not receive any Class 170s; this route is now operated with refurbished units.

First TransPennine Express

Between late 2006 and 2016, First TransPennine Express ran nine Class 170 units on the to corridor. Although initially more units were planned, restrictions on the Selby to Hull Line due to weight limits, combined with overcrowding issues and decreased government subsidies, led to the deployment of Class 170 trains.

First TransPennine Express acquired eight Turbostars (units 170301–308) from South West Trains between late 2006 and early 2007, followed by unit 170399 from Central Trains in November 2007, which was renumbered as 170309.

From September 2009 onward, two Class 170s operated on the Cleethorpes–Manchester Airport service from Sundays through Thursdays. Maintenance responsibilities were handled by Bombardier Crofton. The fleet underwent refurbishment by Transys at Clacton-on-Sea, which included installation of CCTV systems, power outlets, new carpeting and seat upholstery, as well as reducing first-class seating to increase overall passenger capacity.

In March 2014, it was announced that all nine Turbostars would be transferred to Chiltern Railways. MP Stephen Hammond confirmed that five units would move in May 2015, with the remaining four staying until the franchise concluded in July 2016. At Brush Traction, these trains were modified for compatibility with Chiltern’s existing fleet and reclassified as Class 168/3s, numbered from 168321 to 168329.

In November 2018, TransPennine Express arranged a daily lease of one Class 170 from Northern for local services between Manchester/Leeds and Huddersfield. This allowed more Class 185 trains to be allocated to busier routes until the Nova fleets entered service in 2019. This leasing agreement ended in May 2019 when Northern’s subleased Class 185s were returned to TPE.

Greater Anglia and predecessors

Anglia Railways placed orders for two batches of Turbostar trains. The initial batch consisted of eight three-car Class 170/2 units constructed between 1999 and 2000 for services including , , , and , supplementing existing locomotive-hauled trains. Between 2002 and 2004, four of these units were leased to Hull Trains before Hull obtained its own Turbostars.

Additional units—such as spot-hire set 170399—were deployed on the short-lived Norwich to 'London Crosslink' service. In 2002, Anglia launched a direct route from to Norwich supported by four two-car units acquired specifically for this service.

In 2004, National Express subsidiary One secured the Greater Anglia franchise; it was rebranded as National Express East Anglia in 2008 and later transferred to Abellio Greater Anglia in 2012. Since then, two-car Turbostars have operated on the Cambridge-Norwich line and new through services via Ipswich extending to Bury St Edmunds, , and Lowestoft. However, all London-based Class 170 services ceased in December 2010, replaced by branch line connections feeding into GEML expresses.

The original three-car sets featured a buffet area and an expanded first-class section; these facilities were removed later to increase seating capacity.

By late 2019, these Turbostars had been superseded by s and were transferred to Transport for Wales by February 2020.

West Midlands Railway/London Midland

In 2017, West Midlands Trains (WMT) inherited twenty-three Class 170 Turbostar units from its predecessor, London Midland, deploying them on routes between Birmingham and Hereford via Bromsgrove, as well as Birmingham to Shrewsbury through Telford Central.

Starting in late 2022, WMT phased out all Class 170 units, replacing them with 26 modern Civity trains. Nevertheless, the transfer of these Turbostars to East Midlands Railway (EMR) commenced earlier, in February 2021, with the last four former WMT units moving to EMR by May 2023.

Among the 23 units managed by WMT, seventeen were two-car 170/5 variants and six were three-car 170/6 variants. Prior to their complete handover to EMR in 2021, the centre cars from the six three-car sets were reassigned to CrossCountry to extend their two-car formations. As a result, EMR took possession of all ex-WMT units configured as two-car 170/5s and leased only the driving cars, while CrossCountry’s extended sets were reclassified from 170/5 to 170/6.

Transport for Wales

Transport for Wales began operating Class 170/2 units in September 2019 after acquiring three from Greater Anglia and promptly initiating driver training. By early 2020, the fleet had grown to a total of twelve units—comprising eight three-car and four two-car trains—delivered over several months. These marked the first deployment of Class 170s within the Wales & Borders franchise, servicing routes between Cardiff/Bridgend and Ebbw Vale, as well as connections from Maesteg to Cheltenham and Gloucester.

Passenger operations commenced in December 2019, with full fleet availability achieved by April 2020. Although initially planned to remain under Transport for Wales for the duration of the franchise, a strategic decision led to their subsequent transfer to East Midlands Railway. The two-car units were relocated first, followed by the three-car sets; unit 170208 was the final one to depart on 29 January 2024.

Fleet details

Class	Operator	Qty.	Built	Cars per unit	Unit numbers	Notes
170/1	CrossCountry	10	1998–1999	3	170101–170110
		7		2	170111–170117
170/2	East Midlands Railway	8	1999	3	170201–170208
			2002	2	170270–170273
170/3	Converted to Template:Brc	9	2000		170301–170309
	Converted to Template:Brc	1			170392
	ScotRail	4	2004	3	170393–170396
	CrossCountry	2	2002		170397–170398
170/4	ScotRail	17	1999–2001		170401–170415, 170470–170471
	East Midlands Railway	8			170416–170420, 170422–170424	Units 170422–170424 were formerly Southern Template:Brcs
	Converted to Template:Brc	1			170421	To remain with Govia Thameslink Railway as Template:Brc
	ScotRail	10	2003–2004		170425–170434
		3	2004–2005		170450–170452
	Northern Trains	16					170453–170461, 170472–170478
170/5	East Midlands Railway	23	1999–2000	2	170501–170517, 170530–170535
170/6	CrossCountry	10		3	170618–170623, 170636–170639
170/7	Converted to Template:Brc	6	2003-2004	2	170721–170726

Named units

A number of units have been officially designated with names:

• 170398: Turbostar Partnership 300
• 170407: University of Aberdeen
• 170417: Key worker#The Key Worker
• 170622: Pride of Leicester

Accidents and incidents

• On 13 November 2005, unit 170207 was involved in a collision with a car at a level crossing in Swainsthorpe, Norfolk, along the Great Eastern Main Line. This accident resulted in the death of the car driver and caused fire damage to the front of the train.
• Unit 170431 struck a landslide near Moy on the Highland Line on 26 November 2005, leading to derailment and damage to the leading coach. Six passengers, as well as the driver and conductor, sustained injuries.
• On 12 September 2006, unit 170206 derailed while traversing a level crossing at Croxton, Norfolk on the Breckland Line. The incident was caused by a displaced panel obstructing both the railway and roadway.
• Unit 170393 derailed after passing over faulty points close to Edinburgh on 27 July 2011; only two crew members were aboard and neither was harmed.
• On 14 July 2013, unit 170272 collided with a car towing a trailer at a level crossing in Woodbridge, Suffolk, situated on the East Suffolk Line.
• A collision between unit 170204 and an agricultural tractor occurred at a level crossing in Roudham on the Breckland Line on 10 April 2016. The tractor operator suffered serious injuries, while the train driver and some passengers received minor injuries. The tractor had authorization to cross at that location.
• Unit 170272 struck a car on a level crossing at , East Suffolk Line, on 15 October 2017; the car driver required airlifting to hospital.
• On 10 October 2018, unit 170402 derailed at Stonehaven along the Aberdeen to Dundee route.
• Unit 170520 collided with a fallen tree between Lydney and Gloucester on 3 March 2019, causing derailment and extensive damage to the front cab.
• On 23 March 2020, unit 170107 was involved in a collision with locomotive 66057 at , after the locomotive passed through a buffer stop and obstructed the running line. No injuries were reported. Subsequently, the locomotive driver was convicted under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and received an eight-month suspended prison sentence.