Sleek & super-fast: London's new Javelin trains are a design triumph

[richard]

But it's sad that Japanese engineering should ferry visitors to the 2012 London Olympics – once the site of a distinguished British railway works

With their crisp, grown-up livery of dark blue, the new Javelin trains unveiled yesterday – class 395 as they are properly known in railway circles – are undeniably good-looking. The 29 six-car electric sets now going into high-speed service between Ashford and St Pancras, which will provide the mainstay service from there to the 2012 London Olympics at Stratford, have been designed and built by Hitachi. This is the company that pioneered, and has nurtured, several generations of the famous bullet trains that spear their way up and down Japan. They have sleek, eel-like styling as well as formidable performance – Javelins have been timed at 30 minutes flat for the run from Ashford in Kent to London St Pancras at an average speed of 114mph. Conventional commuter trains take all of 80 minutes.

These trains are coolly stylish. Too cool, perhaps, for some. A number of those who have ridden on the Javelins say that their interiors are too stark: seats do not line up with windows, lighting is antiseptic. There is no provision for catering. The standard-class interiors have been designed to resemble efficient inter-city jet airliner cabins, making maximum use of space and with no concessions to design conceits. This is no-frills railway travel.

In engineering terms, however, the class 395 is a major advance for British commuters. The coaches have a double skin of welded, recyclable aluminium; they should be immensely strong. Like Eurostar trains, they can run on existing tracks supplied by 750v DC as well as on the new 25kv AC high speed line through Kent, so they will make their way, eventually, to secondary lines. I have travelled on one, and the ride was smooth and quiet. The noisiest thing by far, in fact, was the commotion caused by fellow passengers. Perhaps some of the Javelins can be kitted out more luxuriously – I rather like the idea of adding in compartments, teak tables with white linen, silver service, curtains, antimacassars and foot warmers – but I think even the most seasoned commuter will warm to the design of these sleek and silent railway ambassadors.

That said, it does seem sad that that visitors to the 2012 London Olympics will be served by the the fruits of a dynamic Japanese industry. When the Olympics were last held in London, in 1948, the very site of the 2012 Games was Stratford railway works, where locomotives had been built over many generations. But the only fast and powerful mainline locomotive to have been in Britain recently is a steam engine, the Tornado, a London and North Eastern Railway heritage model built in Darlington that has been enchanting railway enthusiasts this year the length and breadth of Britain.

What an appropriately British thing it would be if, instead of super-fast electric Javelins, we had a fleet of steam Tornados to take us to the 2012 Games. The sad truth is, though, that just as we have been unable to build a new generation of suburban sprinters, we no longer have the capacity or expertise at Stratford or anywhere else to build anything so special as team of Tornados, much less a flight of Javelins.


Source
By Jonathan Glancey
www.guardian.co.uk

Image: Track record ... The new Javelin trains will travel from Kings Cross to Stratford in seven minutes. Photo Credit: Ian West/PA