BBC Video about the HST

[Domh245]

An interesting new interactive video has appeared on the BBC, talking about the HST. They've got an interview with kenneth grange, as well as a news report from when they were being introduced, as well as a little feature about the new IEP. To top it off, there is a vote for which do you prefer, with a definite winner!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-30538277

Four decades ago, something came along that many people feel helped save the railways.
A sleek, pacy, high-speed train, the InterCity 125. With its familiar sloping nose, the 125 symbolised a new era of clean lines and high technology on a network that had been underfunded and getting tatty for decades.

Now, we are getting the first glimpses of the train the government has picked to replace it.

Th Hitachi 800 series won't be carrying passengers for at least another four years but it will finally come over from Japan for its first tests next year.

It's not without controversy. At around the £6bn mark, the Public Accounts Committee has recently questioned whether the taxpayer will ever get value for money, especially if passenger numbers drop off in future. In fact they've questioned whether the government should be buying trains at all, normally the industry does it.

But ministers say the new Hitachis will cut journey times for passengers and create hundreds of UK jobs.

They will appear on the Great Western line in December 2017 and the East Coast mainline in 2018.

 

[38Cto15E]

I enjoyed that, my vote went to the 125.

 

[higthomas]

Interesting. Also I see that the public don't seem to agree with many on here!

 

[XCTurbostar]

As per usual, the public always think the new trains will be a lot better than the current. Just like the voyagers, the government's logic on 5 coach Multiple Units compared to 8 Coach HSTs still amazes me. The new trains will not meet the hype that everyone is making them out to be, thats the bottom line. Hitachi has a big mountain to climb.

Thanks,
Ross

 

[yorksrob]

I'm not sure I feel qualified to vote until I've actually sat on one of the new trains. That said experience tells me that new trains are rarely as comfortable as the trains they replace.

 

[jon0844]

Not sure why there's a vote at all, given many people can have huge respect for the HST but still be extremely excited about the new trains - which of course, nobody has actually been on yet (bar a mock up perhaps).

Maybe it would have been better to have had a poll about whether the HST helped 'reinvent' the railway or contributed to the betterment of the railway, or something like that?

Anyway, the interactive aspect of the story was quite interesting.

 

[lincolnshire]

I'm not sure I feel qualified to vote until I've actually sat on one of the new trains. That said experience tells me that new trains are rarely as comfortable as the trains they replace.

Will definitely agree with you there, as the old HST,s seating and coaching stock even back to carriages with compartments had far more comfortable seats than whats fitted now in East Coast,s sets.

The only way to describe them is that there as hard as hell with no support, you end up with a numb bum and bad back, god knows what its like to travel down from top of Scotland down to Kings Cross, you will need a wheelchair to meet you at London .

 

[Hornet]

Voyagers and Pendolinos are such appalling passenger carrying vehicles that I often travel ATW/LM/CR when Rail Sailing over from Dublin. Might take longer but at least they are not as claustrophobic. There is no chance that the IEP stock will be any less appalling. Give me a HST any day, (apart from the stupidly high seat backs on FGW stock).

 

[work-traveller]

Interesting. Also I see that the public don't seem to agree with many on here!

If this was a significant vote, I think the Electoral Commission would rule against the BBC on this report. This based mainly on the distinctly dismissive attitude of the reporter towards the Intercity 125 system.

I went to an IMechE presentation of the Hitachi trains some time ago and asked about the lack of an onboard shop. The response from Hitachi was that all units will be supplied without a shop, but one could be retro fitted. In my humble opinion the trolley catering is the worst option, because:

1. Hot drinks are never more than warm;
2. Hot food isn't available at the point of ordering;
3. Selection is limited;
4. Prices are high - but without the justification of a decent service.

On the matter of seat comfort, I'm prepared to be swayed by the development in materials and ergonomic design over the last decade (e.g. new thinner airlines seats are more comfortable that older thicker airline seats. However, you can't compromise on width as no design development will ever make a narrower seat more acceptable. That's aside from the fact that us Brits just don't want to get up close with strangers!

 

[Segedunum]

Will definitely agree with you there, as the old HST,s seating and coaching stock even back to carriages with compartments had far more comfortable seats than whats fitted now in East Coast,s sets.

The only way to describe them is that there as hard as hell with no support, you end up with a numb bum and bad back, god knows what its like to travel down from top of Scotland down to Kings Cross, you will need a wheelchair to meet you at London .

I don't really mind the seats and happily travel Newcastle-London on them, although considering that my usual journeys are on 142s and 185s, they may just be the best of a bad bunch

 

[herschell]

I prefer both the 390s and the 125s and always find it satisfying to hear the slam of the Mark 3 coaches doors, that's something that we'll lose with the Hitachis

 

[plymothian]

I have always thought the Hitachis will go t*ts up from a passenger and operator POV purely because of the track record of new trains that have come before.

 

[route:oxford]

I have always thought the Hitachis will go t*ts up from a passenger and operator POV purely because of the track record of new trains that have come before.

Is the reliability of Class 395 Javelin trains really that bad?

 

[crewmeal]

The new trains won't be able to reach their maximum speed potential past Exeter. I could never imagine any train doing 125mph through Dawlish!

 

[NSEFAN]

The new trains won't be able to reach their maximum speed potential past Exeter. I could never imagine any train doing 125mph through Dawlish!

I thought HSTs will keep working the route down to Penzance for the time being, with South Wales being the first to experience IEP (at the expense of the summer service to Pembroke Dock).

 

[ess]

I have always thought the Hitachis will go t*ts up from a passenger and operator POV purely because of the track record of new trains that have come before.

The Adelante trains are pretty nice

 

[455driver]

The new trains won't be able to reach their maximum speed potential past Exeter. I could never imagine any train doing 125mph through Dawlish!

Yeah and?
Do the HSTs, Voyagers etc do more than 60 through there?