THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM

US / GER
2007
1hr 55mins
Dir: Paul Greengrass
Starring: Matt Damon and Joan Allen

Jason Bourne finds himself taking on assassins as he continues to seek his identity

This action thriller was the third of the five highly acclaimed ‘Bourne’ films and there is a tense sequence filmed at London Waterloo station. There are plenty of glimpses of EMU sets which include Class 373 ‘Eurostars’ along with several Class 450 ‘Desiros’, a Class 455, a Class 458 ‘Juniper’, and a Class 442 ‘Wessex Electric’. Two of the ‘Desiros’ are No’s 450061 and 450063, whilst the appearance of a Class 442 is very rare indeed. The final scene takes place on the disused Jubilee Line platforms at Charing Cross, standing in for ‘Waterloo’, with 1996-built tube stock present. The Waterloo scenes start with an aerial shot of the station, with more Class 450’s, 455’s and ‘Eurostar’ sets visible, and there is also a shot of the street entrance to Waterloo Underground station. Finally, the earlier aerial shots of the ‘Eurostar’ sets passing through the countryside appear to have mostly been filmed on the French side of the Channel. Man on the Move: Jason Bourne is a 5 part featurette on the DVD describing the making of five of the most complicated scenes in the film. The ‘London’ part (Part 3) centres on Waterloo with some interesting insights into how such a complex sequence took place (“five months planning for four days filming”). This includes a handful of trains, in the form some more Class 455’s and a very rare glimpse of one of South West Trains’ Class 170 ‘Turbostar’ DMU’s. Released in 2016, Jason Bourne (qv) was the fifth film of the Bourne-series and is the direct sequel to The Bourne Ultimatum.

One of several aerial shots of Eurostar sets in the film
The Eurostar set is in the centre, but is that another railway line running dead straight to its left? Indeed it is. Neil Bays has identified this location as Hothfield, near Ashford in Kent. the train is passing over the M20 motorway with the Ashford – Swanley line via Maidstone East on the left.
This aerial view of Waterloo is quite unusual. Eurostars are in the International platforms on the left whilst a pair of Class 450 Desiros are threading their way out of the station.
Although this is by far the best shot available it does show two things. Class 450 No.450061 is standing in Platform 5 on the left whilst a Class 442 ‘Wessex Electric’ is on the right in Platform 7. This is one of only three known instances of a 442 appearing on film and on each occasion they have featured only insignificantly as part of the background, which is a crying shame.
This view through the ticket barriers shows a Class 458 standing at Platform 15
This is an additional shot taken from Part 3 of the Man on the Move: Jason Bourne featurette. A pair of Class 455 EMUs are on the left whilst that on the right is a very rare glimpse of a South West Trains Class 170 ‘Turbostar’ DMU. The fleet of eight generally stuck to Southampton local services but were occasionally pressed into service on the Waterloo-Salisbury route but as they were not fitted with end gangways this was not a regular occurrence.