More Hitachi Trains

Earlier this month, I visited the United Kingdom for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic. As soon as I arrived at King's Cross on day 2, I found a new Hitachi train that was not in service yet when I lived in London six years ago. This is Hull Trains Class 802 Paragon, which entered service ten weeks after I left the UK in 2019. This dark blue livery and pink doors with black front end is a combination of colours that would never be seen in Japan.

On the following day, I could see Class 807 Evero, another Hitachi train type used by Avanti West Coast. The first unit entered into service in October 2024, less than a year ago. As the newest high-speed trains on the West Coast Main Line, the Class 802 is mainly used for services between Euston and Birmingham New Street, Blackpool North, Liverpool Lime Street or Manchester Piccadilly, but not as far as Scotland.

Avanti West Coast has painted its rolling stock dark-green, black and white, and partly red. They are another combination of colours that is hardly found on any Japanese train network, so it looked fresh to me.

When I lived in London six years ago, there were only three Hitachi high-speed trains on the National Rail network: Class 395 Javelin (Southeastern), Class 800 or 802 Intercity Express Train (Great Western Railway) and Class 800 Azuma (London North Eastern Railway). Six years on, more train operators introduced various Hitachi A-train units and use them across England as well as part of Wales and Scotland. While most of them were built not in Japan but in Newton Aycliffe, those Hitachi trains are arguably similar to limited express trains in Japan, and thus the Japanese people must now feel more comfortable in the UK than before – including myself.