page_title: British Rail Class 316 (Picc-Vic)
section_title: PEP rolling stock
hierarchical_section_title: British Rail Class 316 (Picc-Vic) / Background / PEP rolling stock
caption_attribution_description: BR prototype &quot;4-PEP&quot; Class &quot;445&quot; Standard Mk.II 750 V dc 3rd rail inner suburban 4-car emu No.4002 in BR Rail Blue livery with all yellow front end (with No.4001) leaving Waterloo on a Hampton Court service, 07/75. Note driving car of &quot;2-PEP&quot; Class 446 in formation towards front of train. Scanned photograph taken with a Kowa SET.
context_page_description: The British Rail Class 316 was a proposed type of electric multiple unit intended for use on planned urban rail services in Greater Manchester. Intended as part of the family of EMUs descended from the prototype "PEP" stock, the class was never proceeded with as the planned services for which it was to be built were cancelled.
context_section_description: Because of the requirements of operating in the central tunnel section, the initial SELNEC specification for new trains stated that they would require both sliding doors and end connections, which did not feature together on then current rolling stock operated by British Rail. The initial publicity for the Picc-Vic plan, which was described as "Manchester's tube project", showed an artist's impression of a platform with a train resembling the 1967 Stock, as used on the Victoria line in London. However, the twin bore tunnels were intended to be built with a diameter of 18 ft (5.5 m), large enough to accommodate both a main line train type, and the OHLE wires.
  At the same time, British Rail was in the midst of testing a new suburban train type in the Southern Region. These prototype units, eventually designated as Class 445 and 446 under TOPS, were different from any previous rolling stock: they were constructed of aluminium rather than steel, were an all in one design rather than a coach body on top of a separate underframe, and had sliding doors. Although the Class 445 and 446 were only prototype units, the information garnered from their use, both in initial testing and passenger service in the Southern Region, and later in departmental use as testbed units, led to the production of a new series of suburban EMUs that came into use in the mid to late 1970s.
  In 1975, SELNEC (by then renamed as the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive) published a new Picc-Vic publicity brochure that went into greater detail about the potential type of rolling stock that would be used, with an image of a Class 445 unit used to indicate the proposed type of train. The front cover also had an artist's impression of a train resembling the new types then in development for the urban networks in London, Liverpool and Glasgow. To fit with the TOPS classification of the other types powered via OHLE, the planned units for Manchester were assigned as Class 316.
  The Class 316 units were intended to replace a mix of different types; the unelectrified Buxton line (which would have had services as far as Hazel Grove) was predominantly operated by Class 104 DMUs. Other services from Piccadilly were primarily operated by Class 304 EMUs, while Class 504 units operated over the uniquely electrified Bury line from Victoria.
caption: A prototype 4-PEP Class 445 pictured in 1975
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