Rolling stock › In serviceData updated
Class 159 South Western Turbo
Class 158s finished for Network SouthEast with first class, for the West of England line from Waterloo to Salisbury and Exeter. They run as three, six or nine cars, sometimes with SWR's 158s.
Drawing to come
- Type
- Diesel multiple unit
- Builder
- BREL, Derby; finished as Class 159s at Rosyth Dockyard
- Built
- 1989–1992
- In service
- since 1993
- Operators
- South Western Railway
- Formation
- 3 cars
- Trains in fleet
- 29
- Fleets
- South Western Railway: 29
- Top speed
- 90 mph
- Power
- Diesel-hydraulic: a Cummins NTA855R3 engine (400 hp) with Voith transmission under each car
- Car height
- 3.73 m
- Car width
- 2.70 m
- Seats per train
- 169
- Total capacity
- SWR: 146 standard and 23 first class
- Status
- In service: 29 units at Salisbury. A £16 million overhaul with interior refurbishment is to keep them going until replacement in the mid-2030s.
Car types
| Code | Car | Length | Doors per side |
|---|---|---|---|
| DMCL | Driving motor composite with lavatory (DMCL) | 22.16 m | 2 double |
| MSL | Motor standard with lavatory (MSL) | 22.16 m | 2 double |
| DMSL | Driving motor standard with lavatory (DMSL) | 22.16 m | 2 double |
Sources
- Class 159 Diesel Multiple Unit (issue 01, revision A), Porterbrook Leasing, January 2013, pp. PDF pp. 8-9 (brochure pp. 14-17) (159/0 data: 22 units, converted from 158s at Rosyth; car lengths, width, height; Cummins NTA855R3 400 hp and Voith T211rz; 90 mph; four twin-leaf plug doors per car; seats per car in 2013; build year 1992; layout diagrams)
- Class 159 'South Western Turbo', South Western Railway, accessed 6 October 2026 (routes; 146 standard and 23 first-class seats; up to three units together)
- FOI2025/000335: stock lists of train fleet (reply and 'SWR Fleet Vehicle Numbers' spreadsheet), South Western Railway (released under FOI via WhatDoTheyKnow), 17 June 2025 (unit numbers in service and withdrawn (June 2025))
- Table 6314: rolling stock vehicles by traction type and operator, Office of Rail and Road, 20 November 2025 (SWR's 107 diesel vehicles at 31 March 2025)
- Report 12/2023: Collision between passenger trains at Salisbury Tunnel Junction, Rail Accident Investigation Branch, October 2023, p. 16 (built 1989-1992 by BREL at Derby; welded aluminium bodies; 159102 in the collision)
- Class 159s: 30 Years' Service (Mark V. Pike; publisher's description), Key Publishing, 2023 (rebuilt by Babcock Rail at Rosyth; launched 1992; full service July 1993)
- "An accumulation of failings": West of England Line problems laid bare, Rail, 18 February 2026 (£16m C6 overhaul and refurbishment; renewal planned for the mid-2030s)
unverified fleet: SWR's FOI list (June 2025) has 22 159/0s and 7 159/1s in service, with 159102 withdrawn (it was the train in the 2021 Salisbury collision); this matches ORR's 107 SWR diesel vehicles with ten two-car 158s. SWR's own page still says 32, car length: Porterbrook's 159/0 sheet gives 22.16 m; the site's Class 158 uses Angel Trains' 22.57 m for the same body. Check which basis each is on before drawing, the seven 159/1s were converted from Class 158s later (Wikipedia: 2006-07); Porterbrook's 2013 data covers the 159/0 only, first full service in July 1993 (Key Publishing); Wikipedia gives 10 June 1993