Why does the UK keep ordering Hitachi class 800s ?

Here in the EU you will find the class 745 (FLIRT) everywhere. But all versions are a little bit different and unique. They run as Intercity or communiter service. What I also like is that the British FLIRTs look a lot like the European FLIRTs. Other companies like Alstom, Siemens or CAF make complete new designs for UK trains, what makes Stadler so forgein and refreshing, just as Hitachi used to be.

it just goes to show how good they are really. The uk's railways need a train that can adapt to different terrain and power, and the 800s do just that. I love them tbh. I travel direct from swansea to london on these things to fly home.

Being from Doncaster, a railway City that has lost its train making capabilities along with most of its other heavy and not so heavy industries, we were giants and now we are surrounded by industrial estates rather than factories that actually produce goods that people want or items to sell to other countries, there is no heavy industry to speak of in the UK and in particular in the North, its all retail and call centres that are selling for other people around the world, its much clearer now, but having parks and shopping centres is no good if you don't have the number of jobs for the people to earn a crust plus a bit extra to spend on what is being made.

Class 810 (Aurora) are being built in Derby as we speak rather than Italy.

The lack of continuity and sustainability is killing rolling stock manufacturing in the UK. Even for the Hitachi units, a few years back when the ordered bloomed and the local Hitachi factories were at capacity, some GWR class 800s building was offloaded to Hitachi Italy (previously AnsaldoBreda). Then a few years later when most of the TOCs have ordered the units they need, the local factories are now at risk of closing down when the production finishes. The UK need a complete train manufacturer which can continuously build trains for themselves and for the year there aren't a lot of local orders, they can market and sell their trains overseas.

I took a train to Cornwall a while back and we happened to be on one of the last runs of a Class 125, the first class seats were a dream- plush deep leather, it was so comfy I fell asleep, but I was telling my sister that we'd be taking a new train back and that it would be even better. Imagine my disappointment at the Class 800's iron hard seats and that there was absolutely no way to get any fresh air for the entire journey.

I find it ironic how Japan, where Hitachi builds and exports some 800s, has a very high percentage of its trains built domestically, but then again most trains are less identified by manufacturer over there as big companies like Kawasaki, Nippon Sharyo and Hitachi all 'work together' to produce a batch (or sometimes multiple batches) of trains of the same class, probably the best example I know of is the Keikyu N1000 series where the only 'foreign' part was the Siemens built GTO inverters which came with the first couple of batches.

Good to have you back Nathan. I generally agree about diversity of train type, but can live with a certain level of ubiquity providing the ‘product’ delivers. The 125s were found on several routes but apart from great aesthetics also provided a good ride and comfortable environment. The 800s look good and ride pretty well (at least on the GWR, my only experience to date) but the interior in my view falls short, certainly compared to their predecessors. Still prefer the 745s though, a really lovely train.

Because of the assembly plant Hitachi have in Newton Aycliffe + probably cheap because of economies of scale.

This channel is the best that I have discovered in a long time. It deserves to be much better known.

I'm old enough to remember when the intercity network was pretty much all Mark 3 carriages, so the diversity of train types is a new thing for me.

Great to see you again! Did miss your unique passion!. RE the Class 373 (eurostar) on GNER, the reason was indeed guaging of some bridges on the appraoch to newcastle. Also, I beleive due to power issues they were also lmited to 110mph on some/all sections. I have a funny story where I had to get some friends/collegues from our northern office back up north to leeds after a very drink filled Friday, on one of these trains. Apparently they woke up midway and thought they were on a Eurostar heading to Paris, and freaked out!

I agree when you say the variety of units will go down for example the ECML. FCC and even GN for a while had the 313,317,365,387 but now only the 387 and 717 which is quite sad

Thanks for the video as they are some of my favourite locomotives

This channel is awesome...keep up the good work

Siemens has a factory for making LU stock in Goole, CAF (Spain) has one in Newport, Alstom (which used to be Bombardier, e.g. the 710's on the Overground) builds trains in Derby, Stadler (Class 745 & 755 Greater Anglia) doesn't build in UK and Hitachi has an assembly facility at Newton Aycliffe, Co. Durham. British Rail's main EMU-factory (all components British, e.g. Class 315) at York (Holgate Road) closed permanently in the 1990's due to railway privatisation.

I think that Hitachi is very fond with the UK railways especially the East Coast Main Line, West Coast Main Line, Great Western & South Wales main lines and other major routes. I do think that Hitachi are to continue manufacturing more new rolling stocks and maybe could manufacture new London Underground deep level tube stocks for the Bakerloo Line, Waterloo & City Line and Central Line.

I use mainly GWR services and the class 800s are a big disappointment in two areas that could be so easily rectified and probably have little to do with Hitachi. First the outside livery and inside decor. Both drab in the extreme. Second, the really uncomfortable seats. I'm a regular traveller across the network of Czech Railways. They've managed to introduce very attractive trains and seats in all classes which are extremely comfortable. Great legroom too!

Believe Eurostar GNERs only went as far as Leeds cos the large carriages couldn't handle the tight bends at York. I might be wrong but I seem to remember that being it

6:11 the 373’s weren’t allowed north of York was due to loading gauge. They also weren’t allowed to certain other destinations on the network due to issues with power draw. Simply their presence on the ECML caused major power issues, and they couldn’t service places like Bradford Forster Square at all because of this.