Class 444, no. 444023 at The acute end of the railway junction at Clapham Junction, facing east. ...Clapham Junction on 30th October 2004. This unit is painted in A Class 458 unit at Virginia Water station in April 2004. ...South West Trains express livery.

Class 444, no. 444016 passing non-stop through The acute end of the railway junction at Clapham Junction, facing east. ...Clapham Junction on 21st August 2004 with a service to Facade of Waterloo Station, London Waterloo is a major train station and transport interchange located in the Waterloo district of London, which was itself named after the Battle of Waterloo in which Napoleon was defeated near Brussels. ...London Waterloo.

The British Railways (BR), later rebranded as British Rail, ran the British railway system, from the nationalisation of the Big Four British railway companies in 1948 until its privatisation in stages between 1994 and 1997. ...British Rail Class 444 (or The Southern Railway created numbering and classification systems for its large fleet of Electric multiple units that were perpetuated by the Southern Region of British Rail until the early 1980s, when the impact of TOPS was felt. ...5Des) Desiro is a modular train series manufactured by Siemens of Germany. ..."Desiro" A multiple unit is a passenger train whose carriages have their own motors, either diesel (DMUs) or electric (EMUs), and do not need to be hauled by a locomotive. ...electrical multiple units were built by Siemens AG ( NYSE: SI) is the worlds largest electronics company. ...Siemens AG from 2003 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, and also: The International Year of Freshwater The European Disability Year Events January January 1 _ Luíz Inácio Lula Da Silva becomes the 37th President of Brazil. ...2003_ 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...04. Forty_five of these units were built for express services for A Class 458 unit at Virginia Water station in April 2004. ...South West Trains. The "Desiro" family also includes units of Classes 350, Current Operations First Great Eastern / One Railway First Great Eastern ordered 21 4-car units to replace their elderly Class 312 slam-door units. ...360 and Class 450 at Woking The British Rail Class 450 third rail DC EMU began service during 2004. ...450.

Description

At the dawn of the (20th century _ 21st century _ 22nd century _ other centuries) Definition In calendars based on the Christian Era or Common Era, such as the Gregorian calendar, the 21st century is the current century, as of this writing, lasting from 2000_2099. ...21st century, as part of its franchise agreement, A Class 458 unit at Virginia Water station in April 2004. ...South West Trains (SWT) was required to order new trains to replace the old slam_door stock of Classes Class 411 4Cep no. ...411, Class 411 4Cep no. ...412, Class 421/3, no. ...421 and Class 423, no. ...423. Therefore, in 2001 : January _ February _ March _ April _ May _ June _ July _ August _ September _ October _ November _ December Events: April 1: An EP_3E United States Navy plane collides with a Chinese Peoples Liberation Army fighter jet. ...April 2001 an order was placed with Siemens AG ( NYSE: SI) is the worlds largest electronics company. ...Siemens AG for 785 vehicles. This order was originally to be split as 100 four_car Class 450 at Woking The British Rail Class 450 third rail DC EMU began service during 2004. ...Class 450/0 outer_suburban units, 32 five_car Class 450/2 inner_suburban units and 45 five_car Class 444 express units.

The Class 444 fleet was built by Siemens at its This article is about the city and federal state in Austria. ...Wien plant in The Republic of Austria ( German: Republik Österreich) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. ...Austria. Before shipping to The word Britain is used to refer to the United Kingdom (UK) the island of Great Britain, which consists of the countries of England, Scotland, and Wales sometimes the Roman province called Britain or Britannia The word British generally means belonging to or associated with Britain in either of the...Britain via the Chunnel in cross section The Channel Tunnel, (French: le tunnel sous la Manche; often nicknamed the Chunnel in English) is a rail tunnel beneath the English Channel at the Straits of Dover, connecting Cheriton in Kent, England and Sangatte in northern France. ...Channel Tunnel, units were extensively tested at the test_track at Wildenrath. This extensive testing procedure was performed as in attempt to increase the speed at which trains could enter service, by ironing out any problems beforehand. Many other designs of new train, such as the This article is about the manufacturing company; for information on the military rank Bombardier, see Bombardier (rank). ...Bombardier Class 375/6, no. ...Class 375 and Categories: Corporation stubs | Companies of France ...Alstom Class 458, no. ...Class 458 units, had been plagued by problems and poor reliability. The "Desiro" fleet did enter service faster than its competitors, but units still suffered from teething problems.

Units are formed of five_cars, and are numbered in the range 444001_045. Each unit is formed of two outer driving motors, two intermediate trailers, and an intermediate buffet coach. The description of this formation is DMCO+TSO+TSO+TSRMB+DMSO. Individual vehicles are numbered as follows.

• 63801_63845 _ DMCO
• 67101_67145 _ TSO
• 67151_67195 _ TSO
• 67201_67245 _ TSRMB
• 63851_63895 _ DMSO

Units have end_gangways, which allows passengers to move between units when they are used in multiple on services. Trains are limited to a 10_coach length (i.e. 2 units) as longer trains cannot be accommodated in stations. The fleet is painted in SWT's express livery of white, with a blue window band, and red/orange swishes at the cab ends.

Operations

The first Class 444 units entered service with SWT in early 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...2004. As part of their launch into traffic, unit no. 444018 was named "The Fab 444" at a ceremony at Facade of Waterloo Station, London Waterloo is a major train station and transport interchange located in the Waterloo district of London, which was itself named after the Battle of Waterloo in which Napoleon was defeated near Brussels. ...London Waterloo.

The units were introduced on services from Facade of Waterloo Station, London Waterloo is a major train station and transport interchange located in the Waterloo district of London, which was itself named after the Battle of Waterloo in which Napoleon was defeated near Brussels. ...London Waterloo to This article is about the English city of Portsmouth. ...Portsmouth Harbour via the Portsmouth Direct Line. Units were also used on some services on the The South Western Main Line is the railway line from London Waterloo to Weymouth on the Dorset coast. ...South Western Main Line to This page discusses the English city of Southampton. ...Southampton, Bournemouth is a seaside resort in the county of Dorset on the south coast of England. ...Bournemouth and Weymouth Promenade in 1993 Weymouth is a coastal town in Dorset, England. ...Weymouth. This allowed the withdrawal of the final Class 411 4Cep no. ...4Cep units by mid_2004, and inroads were made to the Class 411 4Cep no. ...4Bep, Class 421/3, no. ...4Cig and Class 423, no. ...4Vep fleets.

It was originally hoped that the final slam_door units would be withdrawn by December 31 is the 365th day of the year (366th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ...31 December 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...2004. However, they are now expected to remain until Ongoing events • Bill C_38 ( Canada gay marriage) • Tsunami relief • Cedar Revolution in Lebanon • Kyrgyz revolution in Kyrgyzstan • German Visa Affair 2005 • Expo 2005 in Aichi, Japan • Fuel prices • Anti_Japanese textbook protests in China • Pope Benedict XVI. • Election of OAS Secretary General Upcoming events • April 24: 50th Bandung Conference...May 2005. Once the full Class 444 fleet is in service, it is planned that they will be primarily used on the Portsmouth direct services, allowing the Wessex Electric units to be used on the Weymouth line. Due to power limitations, the Desiros currently cannot operate in multiple west of Poole is a coastal town, port and tourist destination in the traditional county of Dorset in southern England. ...Poole.