The old expression of you get what you pay for come to mind with some fleets. I've always considered Alstom (early 2000s era Alsthom / Alstom) and Bombardier for this, particularly the endless run off of Electrostars with Southern interiors... CAF seem to be picking up the baton.
I think the advantage Siemens had over other manufacturers at the time was the helpfulness of South West Trains engineering teams, allowing a 4 VEP to head out to Wildenwrath for Siemens engineers to really look over and study just how our 750V DC units work. Coupled to their own Wildenwrath test track, allowing each unit to be tested before delivery, made for a pretty reliable combination.
Is this actually the only factor or is it only the biggest one worth noting? Is it also ultimately cheaper in the long term to possibly deal with design problems compared to ordering more expensive stock in the initial phases? For example, if I were in charge in procuring trams, then from an outsider perspective I would want to order a reliable product which is why I would be put off from buying CAF Urbos 3s stock since it has issues with cracks on the bogie boxes which have occurred in France, the UK and Australia. Would it generally be better to take that risk in the long term compared to buying more expensive stock from Stadler who seem to have a more reliable track record? (No pun intended).
I admit that the part of being cheaper applied more to CAF than Hitachi. But that said, could it be possible in future for Stadler to enter the high speed market in the UK? SBB CFF FFS have recently rolled out the EC250/SMILE/Giruno stock for use in the Gotthard Base Tunnel, and seeing as the Class 755 are bi-mode units I imagine Stadler could potentially become another choice for operators wanting fast intercity trains. I suppose the Class 745 could count for that seeing as it's used for Greater Anglia's InterCity operations, but otherwise the company has a large emphasis on regional multiple units and trams.
Stadler are also pretty much the only loco builder for the UK now.
Yeah, no doubt the availability of the 80x fleet is what's made them the default high speed unit for the UK, especially given that it comes in bi-mode and electric only modes which gives it great flexibility. Part of why I like the 397 is it's novelty as a non-Hitachi-built intercity train even though it's technically still a part of the Civity family which includes the regional 195 and 331 stock. Bold as a decision as it would be though, I would love it if one operator ordered new Stadler intercity stock, but I can only hope.
Class 175, 180, 458, 334 all had or have reliability issues.
I was thinking more of a "proper" intercity train with single doors at the end of each coach as well as the appropriate seating rather than a regional train modified for intercity purposes. "Proper" probably wasn't the correct word for it, but I was definitely meaning a train more along the lines of a Class 390, 397 or 80x train, or more appropriately the SBB Rabe501 Giruno sets, whereas I personally think the 745s are more akin to the 444s in being a modified regional train for intercity purposes. Again I emphasise that "proper" was not really the most appropriate choice of words but I'm sure you know what I mean (I must acknowledge this may be a slightly dubious opinion though).
Considering the common factor here is mostly them being regional trains, could one draw the conclusion from this that Alstom are better suited to high-speed intercity trains? I know the 180 is technically an intercity unit rather than a regional train, but it's also kind of a 175 derivative unit as well. I ask this because it seems like the Pendolino and old Eurostar units have no such issues with reliability in contrast to the aforementioned units. I think the idea of certain manufacturers being better suited for certain trains might warrant it's own discussion but I'll see what kind of responses I get first.
I suppose that's a fair argument to make, especially the part about a blurred boundary between regular speed IC and regional trains. Additionally the interior of a SMILE/Giruno set isn't too drastically different from a regular FLIRT which is probably down to it's door placement to accommodate level boarding.
I concede on the point on the point of the GA FLIRT being an intercity train then. I imagine an added benefit of the 745 and 755 being similar designs is giving them a certain degree of flexibility though I'm not sure how much flexible they would actually be in practice. I only hope to one day travel on a 745 because it is still a very intriguing train to me. Something about Swiss trains just oozes style and class to me.
Will be once the 810s enter service, of course. Signs are that EMR’s derivative of the LEAN will be very good.
Girunos are 250km/h, or 155mph if you prefer.
Can only agree with that. The LEAN is a massively superior seat to anything else being used in current UK train builds. Well done to GA for actually using a higher quality offering: I wonder how much pressure they resisted from DfT (and others) to dumb down?
I just hope they are better than the LEANs used by SWR in the 444 first class though. Somehow, they've managed to both ruin the ambience of First Class* and ruin what seems to be touted as a Quilty seat. But SWR seem to be good at rather ruining things... They've actually made Standard Class even more worth travelling in now.
Not sure about the 444's, but the seats in the 745's are very comfortable. Doing East Anglia to Bristol and back last weekend the difference was obvious. The IET seats are even worse now the base cushions (such as they are) have started to collapse, and that metal bar really digs into your backside. Dreadful, how on earth someone is expected to do Paddington - Exeter or further sat on one of those is beyond me.
Hitachi (with Alstom as junior partner) were preferred for the HS2 order.
The DfT rarely interferes in the Anglia region, they have always left it, mostly for the better, rarely for the worse, to the operator, be it Anglia Railways, NXEA or GA.
There's no demand for such a train.
Aside from intercity, I wonder if some of the regional TOCs operating clapped out Sprinters have taken note of the 755's? They're a very good replacement for a lot of that old rubbish, and able to make use of electrification where it exists too.
EMR-wise, I’m beginning to think that 231s/755s/756s could be good options for EMR’s Regional services (231s for rural lines where there is no chance of electrification) and something like 745/0s for Connect ones? I certainly think Stadler is the way to go once the 158s, 170s and 360s have eventually served their time in the East Midlands.
