It is part of the Electrostar family, which are the most common EMUs introduced since the privatisation of British Rail.

The changes are mostly focused on increasing the trains’ capacity and decreasing station dwell times.

In order to provide more standing room, the trains also have fewer seats, more handrails, and no on-board toilets (South Eastern promised to provide additional facilities in their stations to compensate) and, as a consequence, these trains are limited to in-service journey times of 1 hour.

The cab front is also smooth and ‘step free’ to reduce the dangerous problem of train surfing in Southeast London.

Passengers self-evacuated the train after conditions on board became intolerable due to lack of heating, toilets and communication.