The Japanese ‘Bullet Trains’, French TGVs and German Inter-City ICE trains had all left Britain standing. Then, the launch of high-speed services from the Channel Tunnel to St Pancras for international Eurostar services in 2007 brought Britain’s railways to European high speed standards. This service, however, cannot be used domestically as travellers from London cannot leave the train in the UK.
However, the domestic UK train passenger can now enjoy the countryside from the window of the Japanese designed and built Hitachi trains at 140 mph/225 kmh as they travel to and from London. This follows the introduction of the Class 395 high speed train by the railway company that serves much of the South East of England. These 29 six-car EMUs (Electric Multiple Units) are permanently coupled carriages with driving cabs at both ends of the train.
Southeastern has launched its high speed train service from Ashford International station to St Pancras International station, the gloriously renovated high Victorian terminus station while at the same time introducing it on other, regional lines in Kent.
UK Transport Secretary Andrew Adonis told the media when the service started in December: “These fantastic new services, made possible by the Government's investment in this £5.8bn high speed new line, are changing the transport map of Kent. Journey times have shrunk dramatically, bringing regeneration and new opportunities for investment.
“This shows the potential of high speed rail and we now must consider what it can do for the rest of the country.”
After entering service on domestic services, the trains will be used to provide a journey time of just seven minutes from St Pancras International to the London Olympic Games site at Stratford in 2012.
The services that will connect with the Olympics have already gained the appropriate brand: Javelin trains. They are also named after famous British athletes: double Olympic gold medallist Dame Kelly Holmes, Steve Backley, Sir Steve Redgrave, Rebecca Adlington, Chris Hoy, Ben Ainslie, Daley Thompson, Duncan Goodhew, Katherine Grainger, Lord Coe, Tanni Grey-Thompson and Jamie Staff.
Mixed Blessings for Commuters
The new service, which will see the trains operate at 140 mph/225 kmh along £5.2 billion High Speed 1 (HS1) – the route taken by Eurostar services to Brussels and Paris – which will dramatically reduce journey times across the region. Ashford International will now only take 37 minutes to London compared to an average of 80 minutes on existing rail lines.
Towns and cities such as Canterbury and Folkestone will now be just an hour from London.
However, the introduction of the Javelin services is not without a cost: hundreds of thousands of rail commuters into London are facing service cuts in a new timetable while at the same time are facing higher ticket fares to repay Southeastern’s investment in the rolling stock.
The new winter timetable has been shown to include some services from Kent to St Pancras that are slower with the high speed trains than those on the ‘old’ lines at the moment while some services to key London termini – London Bridge, Charing Cross and Victoria – will be slashed by up to 60%.
Another issue is that, prior to the Javelin’s launch, most people who lived in Kent and travelled to London to work, found employment in the City, London Bridge or Victoria areas. Those using the premium service will arrive in St Pancras International and face journeys of up to 30 minutes by Tube or bus to reach their place of work.
Another issue has been the premium fare required to use the trains. Commuters’ groups claim that the reduction in other services and fare increases are meant to drive regular travellers onto the new trains.
Technical Specifications
The new Javelin trains are known as Class 395 or A-trains and are built by Hitachi Rail Systems of Japan. The first unit was built in the Hitachi Kasado factory in Japan.
The EMUs are dual voltage, able to operate using both the 25 kV AC overhead electric cables on High Speed 1 and the 750 V DC third rail used throughout Kent.
The trains will be capable of 186 mph/300 kmh on the Ashford to London St Pancras route, but will be limited to 100 mph/160 kmh on the London to Dover routes. Seating is expected to be in a '2+2' configuration, with seats for 354 passengers and space for 508 standing. Hitachi Rail Systems also builds the world-famous Shinkansen bullet trains that represent Japanese railways to the world. The trains are owned by the leasing company HSBC Rail.
The trains provide a mix of safety, reliability, and comfortable seating - fully compliant with disability regulations and the latest CCTV and passenger information systems. Advantages over standard trains have been built into the trains, including improved structure to increase safety and reduce noise in the interior.
In 2007, after a six week 10,760 mile/17,316 km sea voyage from Kobe, Japan on board Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics' RoRo (Roll on-Roll Off) vessel MV Tarago, the first Hitachi Class 395 bullet train units were unloaded from the ship at the Port of Southampton.
The last of the 29 trainsets arrived in Southampton in August, 2009 on board the Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics' (WWL) vessel M/V Tamesis. It was transferred by DB Schenker to Hitachi's state of the art maintenance facility in Ashford for commissioning.
James Graham - I have been a professional journalist since the 1980s. I started on weekly newspapers in the English Midlands - working intially on one of ...
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