Rolling stock › In serviceData updated 7 October 2026

Class 333

Siemens and CAF's electric train for West Yorkshire's Airedale and Wharfedale lines out of Leeds and Bradford Forster Square, based on the Heathrow Express Class 332. Ordered by Angel Trains in 1998 to replace Class 308s, the 16 were built as three-car units and later lengthened to four.

Drawing to come

Type

Electric multiple unit

Builder

Siemens Transportation Systems (main contractor) and CAF, which built the bodies and assembled the trains at Zaragoza

Built

2000 (as three-car units); a fourth car added to each later

In service

since 2001

Operators

Northern

Formation

4 cars (DMSO-PTSO-TSO-DMSO); built as three-car units and lengthened with a trailer

Trains in fleet

16

Fleets

Northern: 16

Top speed

100 mph

Power

25 kV AC overhead: Siemens three-phase (IGBT) traction, four motors on each driving car, 1,400 kW in all, with regenerative braking

Car width

2.75 m

Profile

main-line

Air-conditioned

Yes

Seats per train

360

Total capacity

360 seats and 107 standing, 467 in all (Northern's 2022 contract): the three-car units' 260 seats, in rows of 3+2, and the added trailer's 100

Status

In service with Northern: 16 four-car units, between Leeds, Bradford Forster Square, Skipton and Ilkley. Northern plans to replace them in the second phase of its new-train programme.

Car types

Sources

How we source figures →

• Class 333, Angel Trains, accessed 7 October 2026 (Siemens/CAF; 16 four-car units; DMSO 23.74 m, trailers 23.35 m; width 2.75 m; 100 mph; DMSO-PTSO-TSO-DMSO; Siemens traction motors)
• Class 333 makes its debut, Railway Gazette International, 1 May 2000 (ordered by Angel Trains in April 1998 (£58.3m); Siemens main contractor, CAF bodies and assembly at Zaragoza; based on the Class 332; three-car, 260 seats in 3+2; pantograph, transformer and accessible toilet on the centre trailer; twin-leaf doors 1.2 m wide; 23,739 and 23,140 mm over couplers; 1,400 kW; regenerative braking; plan for a 100-seat trailer; maintained by Siemens at Neville Hill)
• Trains: Reference List (issue September 2006), Siemens Transportation Systems, September 2006, p. 13 (entered service in 2001, replacing Class 308s on the Airedale and Wharfedale lines; 16 built; three-car; 1,400 kW; 160 km/h; air-conditioned; IGBT three-phase traction)
• Suburban train, Northern Spirit (project page), CAF, accessed 7 October 2026 (16 trains bought by Angel Trains from CAF between 2000 and 2002, later new intermediate cars; train length 68,750 mm (three cars))
• DfT OLR Holdings Limited and Northern Trains Limited 2022: services contract (public register copy, version 1.1x), Department for Transport, 24 February 2022, pp. 145-146 (Appendix 1 to Schedule 1.6, Table 1) (16 four-car units (64 vehicles); 360 seats and 107 standing)
• Our fleet: now and into the future (Stakeholder Conference presentation), Northern (Northern Trains Limited), November 2025 (Class 333s in Northern's fleet; to be replaced in the programme's second stage)
• British Rail Class 333, Wikipedia, accessed 7 October 2026 (first service 12 January 2001; built to 2003 (cross-check))

unverified the fourth cars: Railway Gazette (2000) reported a plan to add a 100-seat trailer to eight units; CAF says only that new intermediate cars were bought later; Wikipedia gives construction to 2003. Angel Trains lists all 16 as four-car, trailer length: Angel Trains gives 23.35 m for both trailers; Railway Gazette (2000) gave 23,140 mm over the couplers for the original centre trailer, top speed: Angel Trains gives 100 mph and Siemens 160 km/h; Railway Gazette (2000) printed 150 km/h, first service: Siemens says 2001; Wikipedia gives 12 January 2001, car height: not found in a published source, so none is shown, the toilet: Railway Gazette (2000) puts it in the centre trailer, which carries the pantograph and transformer