Britain’s BRAND NEW High Speed Train – The Avanti West Coast Class 805 “Evero”!

Up today I’ll be taking you inside Avanti West Coast’s brand new “Evero” train on its very first day in passenger service – this new Hitachi bi-mode train will be replacing Avanti’s diesel Super Voyagers in the coming months and I was fortunate enough to have the timings work to allow myself to ride the very first train. So are these trains an improvement? Find out in this video!

Journey details:

Date of travel – 02 June 2024 (inaugural ride)
Operator – Avanti West Coast
Class of travel – First
Origin – Crewe (originally Chester)
Destination – London Euston
Price – £84/€98.64/$107.02
(Advance first single)
Duration – 2 hours
Distance – 169 miles

Thanks for watching and I hope you enjoyed the video!

Music from EpidemicSound and is used under license.

A huge thanks to @downonthestour for the thumbnail photo and for the 805 clip in the intro, do check out his channel for more!

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Link to the Avanti menu: https://www.avantiwestcoast.co.uk/travel-information/onboard/standard-class/food-and-drink-onboard

#class805 #avanti #avantiwestcoast #evero #class807 #pendolino #voyager #tripreport #vlog #trains

this is Britain’s newest high-speed train welcome on board the brand new advanti west coast evero today I’ll be taking you on board the Train’s very first run in passenger service showing you inside both first and standard classes which I’m pleased to say are vastly different to the previous generations of hitachi’s British highspeed offers this ride from Chester to London shows off its bu mode technology as well as some limitations the fleet has compared to the Voyages they’re replacing come with me as the journey continues now my overnight stay was close by but not next to Chester station so a quick hop on board Mery rail to reach the city center and the main station where today’s trip to London begins Chester’s railway station originally opened in 1848 though much of its present day design well internally can be attributed to the 10 million regeneration scheme that occurred in 2007 this included a new roof to replace the original one dating back to when the station first opened but more importantly improved accessibility by way of wheelchair ramps and lifts though the station was undergoing further renovation works when I traveled you’ll also be surprised to see that a lot of the station shops here are rather local though you do get the odd chain stor such as wh Smiths here and there access to the platforms is restricted by automatic ticket Gates I have an e ticket so I can just pass pass through by scanning my barode on the reader like so immediately greeting you is the plaque here which states how far both London and Holly head are from here Chester is the starting point for services along the North Wales Coastline where most trains including avanty West Coast Services run to transport for Wales is the main operator of the station linking Chester to North and South Wales as well as to other key cities in England such as Manchester and Liverpool other oper ators here include Northern to other cities in the north of England and Mery rail serving the Liverpool and merys side region which as you know is what I used to get here Avanti West Coast a joint venture of Britain’s first group and Italy’s trainitalia is the Sole Provider of services between London Chester and the North Wales coast and has been using these Bombardier class 221 super Voyager high-speed tilting trains on this route since their introduction in the early to mid 2000s with virgin trains given the lack of electrification on the route Beyond crew when aanti took over from Virgin in December 2019 one of their franchise commitments was to replace the super voyagers with brand new trains being split into 13 plus 805 bu mode trains and 10 class 807 pure electric trains I’ll give you some more information shortly but for now I decided to wait for the Train’s arrival in the waiting area on platform 4 given there’s no first class Lounge here everything was going so well until the train got cancelled there was a track defect between Chester and Cruz so the line was blocked however as the train was running from crew I decided to catch an Uber which was scheduled to get there with 10 minutes to spare so I could meet it but it was a very close and tense moment fortunately I made it to the center of the Railway Universe with plenty of available time and awaiting me on platform 12 was avant’s brand new trade the class 805 which Avanti has branded evero along with the class 87s which will enter service later these trains will manufactured by Hitachi in Newton aiff from 2021 onwards with today being the first day in Revenue Service for the class 805s the bount variant of the fleet capable of running on Britain’s 25 KT overhead electric systems and on diesel for un electrified routes as seen on the first class 805 pair to head up to Holly head just adjacent to us like most of Britain’s new inter city trains these trains are based on the class 800 and 801 trains used by Great Western Railway and L procured as part of the inter city Express program to replace Britain’s aging HST Fleet on key inter city routes I personally think the Advan delivery on these trains is by far one of the best the I fleet has carried so far what do you think of it each five Carriage class 805 is capable of seating 276 passengers in standard class and 25 passengers in first class as with the voyagers standard premium is not offered Al be in first class which is coach J at the front of the Train the train we have Coach J that’s our first class accomodation first class on board is an a typical 2×1 configuration and already I can see it looks a lot better than the previous generations of Hitachi class 80x units but sadly seats one to three are ones you’d want to avoid if you prefer to enjoy the scenery we do have on board who does not traveling please make your despite only starting from crew this station and Stafford were the only intermediate stops before London after Stafford the train runs non-stop to London Houston where we’re expected to arrive at 12:37 p.m. UK time taking around 2 hours to cover the 169 M distance not [Music] [Applause] bad despite the earlier jaup to my surprise we depart crew 1 minute early at 10:36 a.m. UK time Cruise tires to the railways are evident in its Railway preservation the most prominent example being locomotive Services limited’s Depot where we can see examples of both hsts and pushpull Mark II stock which ran on the west coast Mainline in its Heyday now on standby buy for use on luxury Heritage tools to the left is crew train maintenance Depot with an Avanti Voyager awaiting its next duties as well as local operator westm trains brand new class 730s another significant West Coast Mainline operator to enhance its Fleet with brand new trains on that note As We join the stretch of the West Coast Mainline to Stafford let’s check out the features of our brand new train whil it’s not as comfortable as the pendolino I found the seat Comfort to be pretty decent and certainly a lot better than the earlier 80x variants one complaint however is that despite the iside armrest being adjustable the window side one isn’t despite containing the UK power and USB type a socket for the seat which makes it slightly more difficult to access on the duo seats there is one power outlet each on both sides you can also use the wireless charging point on each table though it doesn’t seem they’ve done much to cater for phones with large cameras I found the seats leg room to be pretty decent though not the best even the recline isn’t that great and doesn’t really Aid the leg room but some seats partially offset this by folding away the tables like this which makes it easier to access and permits greater space the standard retractable coat hooks seen on the other iets can be found next to the window with there being a decent overhead luggage space just above for smaller items though for larger items it’s best to use the larger luggage rack seen here here as well as the space in between the seats like this the seat reservation system follows the new standards set by hitachi’s 8300 these light up red if the seat is reserved green if the seat is available and Amber if it will be reserved later in the journey on that note as well I love how the seat numbers are also in braille as on the pendos which aids with those with visual impairments the passenger information screens show enhanced information too compared to the pendos I found such as a live rout map and indicators showing how busy the train is as well as a standard CCTV display amongst others and finally there’s a draw down blind to block out the harsh sun light should you wish I certainly made a lot of use out of it today overall I do think this is a step forward in terms of the 80x first class design but it’s far from perfect nevertheless I do prefer this on the whole compared to the voyagers our first and only intermediate stop on this trip is the Staffordshire County Town of Stafford which acts as an interchange on the west coast Mainline for stoon Trent Birmingham and wolver Hampton southbound prior to December 2022 services to the North Wales Coast in Chester called at Milton ke on leou of Stafford though this was since changed to provide more services for the town Stafford 1057 of West CO service two London of the train today first class Abomination at the very front of the train then the remain of the train stand d c b and a leaving Stafford Caesars joined the Trent Valley Line portion of the West Coast Mainline which links the former with rugby in warshire here highlights a major limitation of the AO compared to the Voyages which they’re replacing the lack of tilt consequently these trains are currently limited to 110 mph in regular service on the west coast Mainline as only tilting trains such as the voyagers and pendos are permitted to reach these speeds I believe because of the upgrade delays Avanti is Seeking a dispensation to allow the AA Fleet to reach 125 mph in the interim however if you know more please let me know in the comments one of the stations we pass on Route is Lichfield Trent Valley which is around 116 Mi away from London and 285 M away from Glasgow both Southern and Northern ends of the West Coast Mainline respectively according to the 1987 built sign here if you’ve watched my older videos of the new Avanti pendolino interior then this shouldn’t be unfamiliar to you the four standard class coaches on board the 805s have the exact same seating as the refurbished pendal linos in a 2×2 layout with mainly tables and some Airline seats the comfort is the same and in my opinion is perfectly acceptable for the routs these units will be working but here’s where it differs from the pendos each seat has a personal reading light just above the extendable tray tables which I quite like but the annoying thing is there is only one power outlet per Duo seat which is a massive inconvenience when the train is full unlike today I’m surprised this wasn’t kept consistent with the pendolino which have one power outlet per seat so this was rather disappointing I personally don’t mind the small armrest and I’m most pleased with the window alignment which in my opinion is a lot better than it was on the voyagers despite being almost perfect tour passengers the onboard shops open Happy Family coach be sales teas and coffees got cold drinks hot cold sandwiches and we do take cash and car that echoed announcement actually reminded me on avant’s weekend first class on this train I was told I had to take my ticket to the onboard shop in Coach B to get the catering included in my first class Fair the shop was a great feature on the voyagers and it’s great to see this being retained on the AOS despite being a bit smaller and claustrophobic the full menu is here but I’ve linked it in the description anyway for you to look at at your own Leisure as for what’s included it’s basically just a meal deal a sandwich a snack and a drink so this is rather limited but to be honest that’s a major issue with all British trains these days wheelchair spaces on the trains can be found in the two driving Vehicles the standard class one also includes solo seats to allow for greater wheelchair access which I thought was a good design in first class this is similar albe at the larger seat and different color carpeting bicycle storage can be found towards the end of Coach C next to the shop however these must be reserved in advance and can be done on the Avante website at no extra cost we can now be seen passing through rugby at the end of the Trent Valley Line the town weather game itself was invented in 1823 by rugby School Boy William Webb Ellis the railways enhanced the town’s importance in the 19th century when many of the lines still operable today opened making rugby a major Railway Junction and still acts as such today case in point now where instead of taking the direct route down Long buckby Warf our train is scheduled to take the Northampton loop as one of the first trains of the day and being the first public operating 805 to do so this slower route is seldom used by Avante with the exception being diversions or limited Services as part of rout retention knowledge to the left as we approach Northampton are several X greater Anglia class 321s which are now working for startup rail logistics company Veris rail running between London Birmingham and Glasgow every night as part of their Express rail logistic services we then passed Northampton itself mere moments later one of the largest towns in England with a population of roughly 249,000 and a major hub for West Midland’s trains London Northwestern Railway sub brand for alter Suburban services on the west coast Mainline 8 8 and 11 byble vo you mean double evero as we seem to have now evero as we seem to have now announced the name of the train it’s on the website evero the AO then exits the Northampton Loop to rejoin the main stretch of the West Coast Mainline to continue on to London in doing so it rejoins the fast line shortly afterwards as the train prepares to pass through Milton keing Central non-stop a former stop of the North Wales Coastline Services as I mentioned earlier Milton keing is a fairly new city and one of the last to be made such by Queen Elizabeth II in August 2022 we then pass the city’s suburb at bletchly minutes later which enables us to view the fully constructed section which is part of the East West Rail Project a plan to reinstate the former vity line between Cambridge and Oxford much of the route runs along the Maron Veil line between Bletchley and Bedford with the Milton ke Bletchley and Oxford section expected to open in 2025 unlike the voyagers which have accessible toilets only in each carriage the new 805s have Standard toilets in all three intermediate carriages and as with the existing iets they’re very spacious inside there’s even enough room for a baby changing facility in here two accessible toilets can also be found in the two driving Vehicles accompanying the dedicated wheelchair areas for those with reduced [Music] Mobility please lock the door the door is now locked both types of toilet include a great amenities everything was in working order and impeccably clean it’s almost as if I was the first person to go inside them we then pass Watford Junction which aanti serves on a limited basis through pick up only Northbound and drop off only southbound this also indicates we’re closing into to the London suburbs and less than 10 minutes later we pass Wembley Central and the world famous Wembley Stadium which along with the following announcement indicates our journey today is coming to a close we will shortly be arriving at London Houston where we finish our journey mind the gap and step when leaving the train please make sure you take all your personal belongings with you please mind a step down to the platform thank you for traveling with a VY West Coast so there we have it overall I enjoyed these trains a lot more than I thought I would Hitachi definitely stepped up with the AOS and made them a drastic improvement from the previous generation of 80x trains I was a little bit disappointed with the power socket situation compared to the pendos and the lack of tilt meaning they can’t yet do 125 mph but nevertheless I’m confident these trains are a welcome change for passengers compared to the voyagers oh and as for the announcements I’ll let that slide as a small teething issue my cost for today’s journey in first class from Chester was £84 booked a few days in advance however Avanti will be reimbursed in the taxi fair I paid to get the crew as compensation for it being cancelled when I last rode the Avanti Voyager from Chester to London I said the same thing I’m about to say now this 2-hour Journey was definitely not worth the money however it was nice to try a new interior Style on the west coast route and I found it to be a pleasant journey too and after a near a Flawless run the inaugural 805 arrives into Houston back on time at 12:37 welcome to London Houston where we finish our journey now you’ve heard from me I want to hear from you what did you think of the brand new Avanti West Coast class 805 evero trains have you had a chance to travel on them yet let me know in the comments I hope you’ve enjoyed this video and don’t forget to like and share it as well as subscribe and turn on notifications for more content such as this weekly there’s plenty more to come from me following the Channel’s Rebrand and this new trade was the perfect introduction into its new era thanks so much for coming with me on this trip and I look forward to bringing you with me on my next one n