Hitachi Azuma

## Class 800

The **British Rail Class 800** is a type of diesel- electric designed and produced by Hitachi for Great Western Railway and London North Eastern Railway. They use electric motors for traction, but in addition to operating on track with overhead electric wires, they have diesel generators to enable them to operate on unelectrified track. Based on the Hitachi A-train design, the trains have been built by Hitachi since 2014.

These trains are being assembled at the Newton Aycliffe facility, alongside the related Class 801 from bodyshells shipped from the Kasado plant in Japan; no body construction takes place in the UK.[8] Alongside their resemblance to the Class 801, the units are also very similar to the Class 802 units, which in difference have uprated diesel engines and larger fuel tanks.

The train is part of the Intercity Express Programme (IEP) and is in the Hitachi AT300 product family.[9][10] Train operating companies have also given the train separate brands; on Great Western Railway, they are known as ***Intercity Express Trains (IET)[11]***and on London Northeastern Railway, they are known as ***Azumas.***

## Class 801

The **British Rail Class 801** is the electric (EMU) variant of the Hitachi Super Express high-speed trains used on a variety of routes in the United Kingdom. Based on the Hitachi A-train design, and part of the Hitachi AT300 product family, they have been built since 2017 at Hitachi's facility at Newton Aycliffe, and have been used on services on the East Coast Main Line since the16th of September 2019.[2]. They are closely related to the electro-diesel bi-mode units of classes 800 and 802, and all classes are part of the Intercity Express Programme (IEP)[3]

London North Eastern Railway are using the brand ***Azuma*** to refer to all of their new Hitachi rolling stock,which include the Class 801 trains***.***[4]

## Class 802

The Class 802s are broadly identical to the Class 800 bi-mode trains used in the Intercity Express Programme, and are used in a similar way; they run as electric trains where possible, and are equipped with the same diesel generator engines as the Class 800. However, they utilise higher engine operating power – 700 kW (940 hp) per engine as opposed to 560 kW (750 hp) – and are fitted with larger fuel tanks to cope with the high gradients and extended running in diesel mode expected on the long unelectrified stretches they will operate on.[3]

### Great Western Railway

GWR took delivery of 36 sets in 2017 and 2018: 22 five-car and 14 nine-car sets,[18] an increase from the 29 sets initially ordered in 2015.[19][20]

Main line testing of the Class 802 began in Somerset in August 2017.[21] They were due to be introduced on 16 July 2018.[22] A demonstration run for invited guests from Penzance to Exeter St Davids was held on 17 August 2018.[23] The first two units (802 006 and 802 007) entered traffic the following day on 18 August 2018, on a Bristol Temple Meads to Swansea service.[1] The same units were first used in passenger service in Cornwall on 20 August 2018, with the service from London Paddington to Penzance and the return to London.[24]

### Hull Trains

In November 2016, Hull Trains said it would buy five five-car AT300 sets to replace the Alstom Class 180 diesel multiple-units also known as Class 180 Adelantes which it currently uses on the Hull to London service.[25] The first body shell was completed at the Kasado plant in August 2018.[26] Driver training on Class 802s, using stock delivered to Transpennine Express, began in August 2019.[27] In the same month Hull Trains announced that its new train would be known as the *Paragon*, named after Hull Paragon station.[11]

On 7 November 2019, Hull Trains took delivery of their first unit.[28] This unit was used in the official launch of the *Paragon* fleet on 25 November, where the full livery was unveiled at Hull station.[29] This same unit that was unveiled (802301) entered service on Thursday 5 December working the 10:33 service going from Hull to London King's Cross, and the 13:48 return working.[30]

### TransPennine Express

TransPennine Express will operate 19 units of five-car Class 802 sets, primarily on the North Transpennine Line between Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle and Edinburgh.[31][32][33] These trains were initially given the *Class 803* designation,[34] before being redesignated as 802/2s prior to delivery of the first unit. Production began in December 2017,[35] and testing began on the East Coast Main Line during July 2018,[36] with the fleet due to enter service from summer 2019.[37][38] TransPennine Express formally accepted the first of their Class 802 trains in July 2019.[39] TransPennine Express have branded their new overall fleet as *Nova*, with each of its new types designated as either '1', '2' or '3' - the Class 802s are to be termed as *Nova 1*.[40]

The first *Nova 1* entered revenue earning service on 28 September 2019, with unit 802201 working the 06:03 from Newcastle to Liverpool Lime Street and the return 09:25 service.[2]