Rolling stock › In serviceData updated
Class 717 Desiro City unverified
Siemens' six-car Desiro City for Great Northern's routes into Moorgate from Welwyn Garden City, Hertford North and Stevenage. The 25 trains replaced the 1970s Class 313s from 2019. Every car has two pairs of wide sliding doors on each side, and there's a door in the cab front so that passengers can get out in the Moorgate tunnels.
- Type
- Electric multiple unit
- Builder
- Siemens Mobility, Krefeld (Germany)
- Built
- completed 2018
- In service
- since 2018
- Operators
- Great Northern
- Formation
- 6 cars (121.7 m)
- Trains in fleet
- 25
- Fleets
- Great Northern: 25
- Top speed
- 85 mph
- Power
- 25 kV AC overhead and 750 V DC third rail; 1,200 kW at the wheels
- Train length
- 121.674 m
- Car width
- 2.80 m
- Profile
- main-line
- Walk-through
- Yes
- Air-conditioned
- Yes
- Seats per train
- 362
- Total capacity
- 943 passengers: 362 seats (including 64 priority seats and 15 tip-ups), all standard class
- Status
- In service. Maintained by Siemens at Hornsey depot; financed by Rock Rail Moorgate.
This page is marked unverified: its figures haven’t yet been confirmed by an official source or a published history. The foot of the page says what’s in doubt.
Car types
| Code | Car | Length | Doors per side |
|---|---|---|---|
| DMOS | Driving motor (cars 1 and 6) | 20.52 m | 2 double |
| TOS | Trailer (car 2) | 20.16 m | 2 double |
| TOSW | Trailer with wheelchair spaces and space for a toilet (car 3, TOS(L)W) | 20.16 m | 2 double |
| MOS | Motor (car 4) | 20.16 m | 2 double |
| PTOS | Pantograph trailer (car 5) | 20.16 m | 2 double |
Sources
- Desiro City Class 717: Electrical Multiple Units for Govia Thameslink Railway (data sheet, article no. MOML-T10055-00-7600), Siemens Mobility, 2018 (print code DB 0818) (25 six-car trains, axle arrangement, 85 mph, 1,200 kW, AC and DC supply, 362 seats, unit length 121,674 mm, width 2,800 mm, floor height 1,100 mm, 20 m nominal car length, 204 t; two sliding doors per car per side, 1,500 mm wide; front egress device; side elevation and plan of all six cars (measurable, no dimensions printed))
- Siemens tests new Great Northern trains for Hertfordshire-Moorgate services, GTR, 4 May 2018 (built at Krefeld; 150 carriages; 12 trains complete by May 2018; financed by Rock Rail Moorgate; routes)
- Passengers given first glimpse of new trains set to transform Great Northern suburban service, GTR, 1 October 2018 (all 25 built by October 2018; 943 passengers and 362 seats; no first class; full-width gangways; replaces the Class 313s)
- New Great Northern Class 717 carries first passengers, Rail, 1 October 2018 (first passengers on 28 September 2018 (717007, Moorgate to Gordon Hill))
- Great Northern Class 717s finally enter passenger service, Rail, 25 March 2019 (regular passenger service from 25 March 2019)
- Testing begins on GTR's new Class 717s in Germany, The Railway Magazine, 30 June 2018 (testing at Wegberg-Wildenrath; the front egress ramp)
- Modernised depot to transform Great Northern rail services, Siemens, 13 December 2016 (maintained by Siemens at Hornsey)
- Class 707, Angel Trains (car lengths of the sister Class 707)
- SF7000: the bogie for the Desiro City (Hirtenlechner and Brandstetter), Siemens (Schienenfahrzeugtagung, Graz), 2013 (bogie wheelbases)
- Desiro City electrical multiple unit for Thameslink (data sheet), Siemens, 2014 (Desiro City wheel diameter, 820 mm new and 760 mm worn)
- Class 717 Drivers Guide, version 3, March 2022 (final disclosure extract: cover and contents only), Govia Thameslink Railway (released under FOI2026-3260), September 2026 (the Class 717 Drivers Guide (version 3, March 2022): only the cover and contents pages were released)
- 3008 Southeastern Class 707 design definition (rev 1.4), with drawings 3008.101.1.1.C 'Livery + Decal Scheme' (1:50, rev P2) and 3008.105.1.3.A front end, Creactive Design for Southeastern (released under FOI: 'Livery Designs'), June 2021 (the Class 707 layout the drawing uses (doors, windows, bogies, body ends))
- Class 717 photographs (717016, Hornsey, October 2023; 717004 at Stevenage), Wikimedia Commons (Southsea_Matt CC BY-SA 4.0; Three76Five43Nine72 CC BY 4.0), 2023-2025 (Great Northern's colours (717 004, 717 016))
unverified car lengths: no figure per car is printed for the 717; these are the Class 707's (Angel Trains: 20.52 m and 20.16 m), which add up to Siemens' 121.674 m unit length to within 6 mm, car height: no figure has been published for the 717 (left blank), wheelbases (2.2 m motor, 2.1 m trailer) and wheels (820 mm new, 760 mm worn) are Siemens' Desiro City figures, not printed for the 717, the car codes DMOS, TOS, MOS and PTOS are Wikipedia's; Siemens names only the TOS(L)W, and its axle arrangement puts the motors in cars 1, 4 and 6. The pantograph on car 5 is read off Siemens' small drawing, car 3 has only space for a toilet: Siemens lists 'provision for installation of UNI WC' in the TOS(L)W, the drawing: no dimensioned drawing of the 717 has been published. It uses the Class 707's measured layout and the Class 700's cab outline, which Siemens' small side elevation of the 717 matches to about 65 mm; the height (not published for the 717) is the 707's 3.77 m; colours from photographs