Electrostar's major door overhaul completed
posted on 13th Oct 2025 09:04
Knorr-Bremse Rail Systems has successfully completed a significant interim door overhaul for the c2c Class 357 Electrostar fleet, securing the long-term reliability and availability of the trains that serve thousands of passengers across London and Essex every day.
As the door systems reached a critical stage in their maintenance lifecycle, a comprehensive overhaul became essential to ensure ongoing safety and reliability. To carry out this complex programme without disrupting passenger services, the fleet’s maintainer, Alstom, turned to Knorr-Bremse.
The project, delivered at Alstom’s East Ham Depot, covered the entire fleet of 74 Class 357 Electrostar EMUs, totalling 1,184 doors. Using original equipment components from Knorr-Bremse’s IFE subsidiary, a team of five on-site technicians carried out a complete overhaul of worn components and implemented a crucial cam modification, bringing all doors up to the latest Electrostar standard.
Despite initial engineering challenges encountered, the Knorr-Bremse team streamlined its processes and subsequently achieved the delivery of one train per week, maintaining an impressive 96.3 % on-time delivery record.
Richard Campbell, Services Project Manager at Knorr-Bremse, who oversaw the programme, said: “This project was a significant challenge, both in scale and complexity, but through the commitment of our on-site team and the strong collaboration with Alstom we achieved an excellent outcome. Overhauling nearly 1,200 doors to the latest standard while keeping the trains in daily passenger service is a great accomplishment.”
The contract with Knorr-Bremse involved 74 four-car units, initially built at Bombardier Transportation's Derby Litchurch Lane Works between 1999 and 2002, and currently leased from Angel Trains and Porterbrook.
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