British Rail livery in 1989. On 10 November 1987, 156401 conducted its first test run from Washwood Heath to
Banbury. Between January and July 1988, 156401-156429 were delivered to
Crown Point TMD entering service on 16 May 1988 on new services from
East Anglia to
North West England as well as existing services from
Norwich and
Cambridge to
Birmingham. They also operated boat trains from
Harwich to
Blackpool and later
Liverpool.On 21 October 1993, 156405 became the first Sprinter to accrue 1 million miles, whilst working the 10:10
Great Yarmouth to
Norwich service. The first 100 were painted in Provincial sector's livery of blue and beige with light blue stripe. Twenty units based at
Tyseley depot, 156401–156419 and 156422, were later repainted into
Regional Railways Express livery after the rebranding of Provincial. The last fourteen units were operated by
Strathclyde PTE, and carried an orange and black livery. Following the delivery of the
Class 158s in the early 1990s, the 156s began to be cascaded to less important services.
Post-privatisation As part of the
privatisation of British Rail, the Class 156 fleet was split and sold to
Angel Trains (76 units) and
Porterbrook (38), who then leased the units to a number of
train operating companies.
Scotland Class 156 at
Oban in 2005 At privatisation the Scottish fleet passed to the
National Express owned
ScotRail franchise, which used them until 2004 when the franchise was taken over by
First ScotRail. All passed to
Abellio ScotRail with the franchise in 2015. Units 156500–156514 were operated by
Strathclyde Partnership for Transport and originally wore its orange and black livery. This was replaced with a carmine and cream livery in 1997, which was also applied to further 14 units. Despite receiving these special liveries, the SPT units were not confined to any specific route and thus worked in tandem with the rest of the Class 156 fleet on other routes. In September 2008,
Transport Scotland announced that all ScotRail trains (including those of Strathclyde Partnership for Transport) would be repainted in a new livery of blue with white
saltire markings on the carriage ends. The first unit was repainted in this livery by
RailCare Springburn in February 2009. In December 2014, unit 156478 was written off by
Angel Trains and sold to Brodie Leasing after being damaged by floodwaters on the
Glasgow South Western Line. Brodie Leasing repaired the unit and it returned to service with Abellio ScotRail in October 2016. Between 2016 and 2019, all of ScotRail's Class 156 units were refurbished to make them compliant with PRM-TSI standard. This refurbishment included a larger toilet, a dedicated wheelchair area and brand new interior upholstery with new seats similar to those found on the
Class 385. In late 2018, five units transferred to
Arriva Rail North after the
Class 385s began to enter service. From 2020,
ScotRail’s Class 156 units began operating in multiple with
Class 153 units on the
West Highland Line to provide upgraded seating and additional capacity for bicycles and other sporting equipment. The ScotRail 156s currently operate the following routes: •
Glasgow Central to
East Kilbride •
Glasgow Central to
Kilmarnock/
Carlisle •
Glasgow Central/
Ayr to
Girvan/
Stranraer •
Glasgow Queen Street to
Anniesland •
Glasgow Queen Street to
Mallaig/
Oban Only the fifteen units fitted with
Radio Electronic Token Block signalling equipment can operate on the
West Highland Line. The units were used on the following local services: •
Bittern Line - to via •
Wherry Lines - to / •
East Suffolk Line - to / •
Sudbury Branch Line - to as well as the longer distance services between to /. All nine passed to
Abellio Greater Anglia when it took over the
Greater Anglia franchise in February 2012. Despite being overhauled by
Railcare Wolverton in 2012/13, including work to make them comply with disability legislation, all were replaced by
Class 755s with the last day of service being 29 January 2020. These then moved to
East Midlands Railway, where they were renumbered into the 156/9 subclass. In 2011 four were transferred to
East Midlands Trains. In January 2015, Northern Rail began to hire 156s to
First TransPennine Express to operate
Manchester Airport to
Blackpool North services. Northern Rail's fleet of 42 Class 156s passed to
Arriva Rail North when the then-new franchise started on 1 April 2016. The 156s began to operate Manchester Airport to
Barrow in Furness and
Oxenholme to
Windermere services from this date after they along with the Manchester Airport to Blackpool North services were transferred to the franchise. An additional five Class 156 units transferred to Northern from
Abellio ScotRail in late 2018. Some of these units were already with Northern Trains. The delivery of them commenced at the December timetable change in 2021. For the December timetable change in 2022, five more units were transferred. In March 2023 another unit was transferred.
Midlands Class 156 at in 2012 In 1997,
Central Trains inherited twenty units from
Regional Railways for use mainly on medium-distance services such as: •
Birmingham to
Nottingham via
Derby or
Leicester • Birmingham to
Hereford • Birmingham to
Shrewsbury and the
Cambrian Line • Nottingham to
Skegness or
Lincoln In an attempt at fleet standardisation, preparations were made during 2003 to exchange all 20 Class 156s for an equal number of
ScotRail Class 158s, with 156402 partially repainted in ScotRail colours in readiness when overhauled at
Wabtec, Doncaster. The transfer did not proceed after the
Scottish Government refused to sanction the move, and the rest of the fleet were reliveried into Central Trains' colours between 2003 and 2005. Nine units were transferred to
One during early 2005, in exchange for a similar number of
Class 150s. and then carried out a refurbishment program from autumn 2010 onwards. The refurbishment, carried out at
Neville Hill depot, included interior refurbishment work, improvements to driving cabs and installation of CCTV. These trains were used on slower medium-distance services such as
Nottingham/
Derby to
Matlock, Nottingham to
Skegness,
Leicester to
Lincoln and Nottingham to
Worksop. In May 2011, four additional units were transferred from
Northern Rail to allow Nottingham to
Liverpool services to be strengthened. Because they had a different public address and passenger information system to EMR's existing Class 156 fleet, they were renumbered into the 156/9 subclass. In December 2022, four units were sent for storage at
Barrow Hill, with
East Midlands Railway stating that they will be moved to Ely Papworth sidings at a later date. ==Fleet details==