Twenty-four five-car units were built by British Rail Engineering Limited's Derby Litchurch Lane Works.

In March 2021, South Western Railway purchased all 18 from Angel Trains, stripped the fleet of their recently refurbished equipment for parts and scrapped them.

The class holds the world speed record for a third-rail train, having attained 109 mph (175 km/h) on a test run prior to entering service.

The Class 442 is based on the British Rail Mark 3 carriage bodyshell, and has a number of features which distinguish it from the slam-door units it replaced: As was common on the British Rail Southern Region, many electrical components – including traction motors and electrical control gear – were salvaged from the Class 432 units they replaced.

They were removed in the early 1990s, due to legibility issues, and reinstalled at a different position in 2008, in preparation for service on the Gatwick Express.

[8][full citation needed][9] Prior to entering service, one set a world speed record for a third-rail train of 109 mph (175 km/h).

[12] Unit 442402 soon had an orange stripe added to its Network SouthEast livery, which looked very similar to Stagecoach's corporate image.

From 1998, the units began to receive the new South West Trains livery of white, red and blue as they underwent overhaul at Crewe Works.

In early 2006, the fleet began to receive overhauls, with units emerging in a slightly revised livery which conformed with the Disability Discrimination Act.

When Govia retained the Southern franchise, it was announced that the remaining off-lease 442s would return to service after an overhaul to replace Class 460s.

In 2012, the branding on the units was modified to read simply 'Express' rather than 'Gatwick Express' to avoid passenger confusion when used on fast Brighton Main Line services that do not call at Gatwick.

[23] A railtour ran on 12 March 2017 by units 442402 and 442408 commemorated the final send off to the entire fleet from services on the Brighton Main Line.

Work was to include replacing the life-expired DC traction equipment (salvaged from older trains built during the 1960s) with an AC package incorporating IGBT technology from Kiepe Electric Düsseldorf.

However, problems with the door locks[29] caused the trains to be temporarily removed from service again until June 2019 for the fault to be rectified.

[31][32] The withdrawal of the trains continued until the issue was resolved and testing of the units was undertaken, allowing the class to re-enter service on 6 January 2020 beginning on the London Waterloo to Portsmouth route this time.

[40] In November 2016, Alliance Rail Holdings announced plans to use the 442s on a new intercity express service which would operate on the South West Main Line between London Waterloo and Southampton Central under the Grand Southern brand.