Avanti’s Class 805s enter service

Monday 10th June 2024

GWR did a business like launch with Japanese involvement. LNER did the full blown razzmatazz with dry ice and christened the trains Azuma. Lumo had its whole project to launch and TransPennine Express named their’s Nova 1. But when it came to Avanti West Coast putting its brand new Hitachi 800 series trains into service last Sunday (we’re up to Class 805) it was uncharacteristically quiet on the high profile launch front (maybe the General Election purdah period has intervened?) but anything LNER does … and all that … Avanti have also engaged the brand name consultants who’ve played around with three vowels and two consonants and come up with …. EVERO.

Surprisingly I couldn’t find any reference to the name on the train – 805010 – I had a ride on from Chester last Thursday morning during the fleet’s debut week in service.

Avanti have got 13 of these new five-coach bi-mode trains to replace its fleet of Voyagers on the London to Chester and North Wales/Holyhead route as well as 10 seven-coach electric powered trains destined to run between Euston and Birmingham, Liverpool and Blackpool when they’re delivered.

I’ve never been a fan of the Voyagers although the recent refurbishment has shown them off in a better light but I’m also not a great fan of the Hitachi 800s but that’s mainly because of the lack of seat comfort in the initial fleets delivered to GWR and LNER.

Seats in the TPE and Lumo versions are much better and it’s good to see Avanti has built on its experience with seats in the refurbished Pendolinos with the seats, tables and ambiance in these new Everos very similar.

The seats in First Class obviously offer much greater comfort although a small niggle is the arm rest on the window side of a single seat doesn’t lift up, making plugging into the three-pin/usb socket slightly awkward…

… although sockets are located in between the pairs of seats, therefore not being so much of a problem.

The end coach has a kitchen/galley but it’s a lot smaller for staff to work in than on the Pendilinos but it does mean there are more seats in the First Class section forming the rest of the coach. Seven single seats and three tables for four plus two seats …

… opposite the space for wheelchairs.

As you can see in Standard Class the seats are very similar (if not the same?) as in the Pendilinos but the ambiance doesn’t feel anywhere near as claustrophobic due to the deeper windows. This is the end coach at the opposite end of the train to First Class….

… where there’s a space for wheelchairs…

… opposite two single seats.

The middle three coaches, as with that end one, have a mixed layout of airline style and tables for four – there are four each side of the gangway in the middle coaches – as well as luggage racks at each end.

There’s also space for luggage in between the seats at the tables for four.

Legroom is good at both the tables…

… and the airline seats…

In airline seats there’s a three-pin socket and two usb sockets at the base of the double seat in front…

… and there’s the usual above seat reservation lights…

… two universal toilets (one in each end coach) …

… and standard toilets in between coaches.

There’s a substantial litter bin by each door.

And that’s about it. Nice train and the seats are much better than on GWR or LNER.

As with the Voyagers, Avanti are running some of the five-coach trains singly and some doubled up to form a ten-coach train.

Finally, I assume Avanti knows what it’s doing replacing nine coach trains to Birmingham, Liverpool and Blackpool with seven coach trains – once that batch arrives and enters service. It seems an odd decision to me …… (update), although as Andrew observes in the Comments the coaches are longer with a higher capacity than the Pendolinos, so that probably makes up for the difference.

Roger French

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