Following
BAA being granted rights to operate services from
London Paddington to
Heathrow Airport, 14 trains were ordered in July 1994 from
Siemens Transportation Systems. They were built by
CAF in
Zaragoza, Spain. The first two were tested at the
Velim railway test circuit and in Germany, while the next two were sent directly to England arriving at
Old Oak Common TMD in March 1997. The units had
automatic train protection (ATP), one of the few fleets in the UK to do so. This was largely as a consequence of the Paddington-Heathrow route being mainly on the
Great Western Main Line, which was equipped with ATP in the early 1990s as part of a trial of the system by
British Rail. The units were not fitted with
Train Protection & Warning System (TPWS). A derogation was issued in 2001, which exempted the class from mandatory TPWS installation, due to the fitment of the ATP. The units were maintained at a purpose-built depot at Old Oak Common. Following withdrawal of the units, the depot was demolished as part of the construction of
High Speed 2 and
Old Oak Common station.
Operator The Class first entered service on 19 January 1998 when services commenced from London Paddington to
Heathrow Junction. They operated through to
Terminal 4 from May 1998 until March 2008, when the Heathrow Express was diverted to serve
Terminal 5. The original order was for twelve three-car and two four-car sets. The twelve three-carriage sets were increased to four-car sets by the end of 1998.
2016 recall On 29 February 2016, the entire class was withdrawn after a structural defect was found on the underside of a driving car of unit number 332014. They were replaced by
Heathrow Connect Class 360s. The Class 332 trains were gradually returned to service from 11 March 2016 onwards. == Replacement ==