My impressions are not good, the seating in standard class at least is lacking much in the way of padding, these are long-distance intercity trains, not commuter trains, the seats really need more in the way of comfort in them, the ride quality is dire, particularly noticed with 801205, so the suspension system needs addressing, they appear to be a massive downgrade from the Mark 3 and Mark 4 carriage stock they replaced, I was expecting the same comfort you'd find on the likes of Japan's Shinkansen "Bullet" trains, though these are not part of the "A-train" family of which BR classes 800 and 801 are and had more than just Hitachi Rail involved in design and construction, legroom at non-table seats is atrocious, fortunately on the outbound journey I was able to move to a table seat, on the inbound this wasn't possible as it was a 6pm departure.
Interior lighting is LED based as to be expected, but it uses a horrible cold white rather than an easy on the eye warm white which would be nice and also helpful to those who are on an early or late train that might want to have a nap, there is a passenger information display above the door that separate the passenger compartment from the vestibule, these are of a multiplexed type with a noticeable amount of flicker for those that are sensitive (myself being of that type of person) and thus very uncomfortable to look at.
Onboard catering facilities are from a small cafe bar in one of the coaches, though LNER offer a food ordering to your seat facility via a QR code though the menu is not particularly large compared to the buffet cars used in older Intercity 125 and Intercity 225 sets that these trains replaced, I used this on the outbound journey having been up since 4am and needing copious amounts of coffee to keep me going for dealing with the horrific London Underground, on the way back when I tried it wasn't available.
Power sockets are provided to charge laptops and mobile phones, these are located on the front of the seats in between them making them very awkward to access, worse still is that they are not fitted with USB charging because most people these days won't carry a mains charger with them for their phone, I had taken a power bank with me that I wasn't expecting to use on the train, however I did use it on the train to get my girlfriend and I out of a tight spot.
There are only a small number of disabled-accessible toilets on board these trains, the rest are small aircraft-style compartments and given the ride and suspension issues noted above it causes problems when using them, the door is completely manually operated which while normal on the Mark 3 carriages on other trains such as the Class 22x Voyager family these are fitted with push button door operation so for a train made in 2019 you'd expect the toilet compartment door to be automatic push button based considering Class 158 had this in the early 90s when they were built.
So while built by a Japanese company (albeit in a factory in Newton Aycliffe) the standards are pretty low for the class 800-series trains, no doubt many of these problems can be found in the 802, 803, 805, 807 and 810 as well, there is an 820 planned to be built at Newton Aycliffe for Grand Central (the open access operator) to replace their current class 180s, which will make Grand Central the third open access operator alongside Lumo and Hull Trains to run A-Train vehicles, hopefully all the issues I have pointed out will not be there on the 820 and lessons will have been learned, but I don't hold out much hope.
The Class 395 "Javelin" which was built in Japan (and showcased at Railfest 2012 where I got a look in the cab and the passenger compartment of the driving carriage) is also part of the A-Train family, I was impressed with it and I hope that it isn't suffering the same problems as the related Class 800-series.
Come on Hitachi, you can do better
