British Rail Class 456

The British Rail Class 456 was a 2 car electric multiple unit passenger train introduced by Network SouthEast on inner-suburban services in South London to replace the old Class 416 units. Twenty-four two-car units were built by British Rail Engineering Limited at its York Carriage Works in 1990 and 1991. Following the privatisation of British Rail the fleet was sold to Porterbrook and operated by Southern up until late 2013, when it was transferred to South West Trains and heavily refurbished. The first refurbished units entered service with South West Trains on 23 March 2014 between Ascot and Guildford, replacing Class 458 trains. Southern services on the South London Line were withdrawn in 2012 and replaced by a new London Overground service.