The type was developed in response to the need to add extra capacity to the electric traction fleet operated by British Rail (BR), in addition to the desire to introduce a higher performance electric locomotive than the existing Class 86, numerous aspects of which being incorporated into its design. The Class 87 fleet was operated as the flagships of British Rail's electric locomotive fleet until the late 1980s, at which point the Class 90, an improved derivative of the Class 87, started to come on stream. It was further superseded by the arrival of the higher performance Intercity 225 only a few years after that, but the fleet remained in widespread use through the 1990s.