The British Rail Class 501 electric multiple units were built in 1955/56 for use on the former LNWR/LMS suburban electric network of the London Midland Region. A total of 57 three-car units were built.

The Class 501 units were built by British Railways in its own workshops at Eastleigh on short 57 ft frames supplied by Ashford. Despite British Railways having recently built modern sliding door trains for electric suburban services in Manchester and Liverpool and on the Great Eastern Main Line (classes 506, 503 and 306 respectively), it was decided that these trains would closely resemble the EPB stock of the Southern Region, which featured individual passenger-operated doors located at each seating bay. The stock differed from that for the Southern Region in that each vehicle was 57 feet (17.37 m) long instead of 63 feet 6 inches (19.35 m), and the vehicles within the units had screw coupling with two buffers instead of the close-coupled single buffer with chain arrangement used on the Southern multiple units.

Currently two vehicles have been preserved.