It's electrifying

Two rolling stock companies seem to have a vice-like grip on Britain, something I experienced in miniature the other day on a single journey. First up, the London Overground:


These "CityStar" Class 378s are a variant of Bombardier's hugely successful Electrostar family. They have longitudinal-only bench seating which makes them not very comfortable, but the air-conditioning has been a God-send over the last few weeks.


The 378s have been in operation for less than a year. Although they'll almost all become 4-car units, they were initially introduced as 3-car sets to enable the old trains to be removed as fast possible. Now all the sets have been delivered, they're being taken out one at a time to have an extra carriage inserted.


Which is just as well because those on the West London Extension lines are hideously over-crowded, something caused at least in part by the vast (and vile) shopping complex that opened at Shepherd's Bush a year or so back.


Bombardier also won the contract for the Southern company, whose Clapham Junction--Milton Keynes service I picked-up at West Brompton, squeezed between Overground services.


These Electrostars have been around for a while now, and the livery on some of them is looking a bit faded. It's nothing compared to how tired the interiors now look:


That was Standard Class although you wouldn't necessarily notice any difference from 1st Class since that's identical in almost every respect, save for some vile thin anti-maccassars and a proliferation of penalty fare warning notices:


Very restful.

But I suppose we shouldn't complain too loudly...


... the Electrostars are, of course, electric multiple units, and we should be grateful that there is sufficient catenary in this backward country for them to operate under.


And at least they have air-conditioning, even if it does make a noise like a hurricane.


But I started off banging-on about the two rolling stock companies that have a stranglehold on the UK market, so let's turn our attention to the second -- Siemens.


Siemens was a bit of a late-starter and it looked like Bombardier and Alsthom had stitched-up the market. But Alsthom made a complete hash of introducing their trains and, having been the preferred supplier of the biggest commuter company, South West Trains, they lost everything and SWT bought two variations of Siemens' Desiro family to replace almost every single train on their system.


With that success, Siemens have sold the diesel multiple unit variant to Trans-Pennine, for heavy-duty long-haul cross-country services, commuter variants to Great Eastern, the delightful Class 360 Heathrow Connect that has featured on here before, and another fleet to London Midland, to operate outer suburban and shorter-range inter-city services.


I have a soft spot for this family of trains: they are the most comfortable of the new generation, but they also have some faint echoes of style, as if an industrial designer had some involvement at some stage in their production:


They seem more solid than the Electrostars, too. More like a quality product.


As I was waiting for my return train on the West Coast Mainline, I was pleasantly surprised to see significant numbers of freight trains running through -- all container traffic, of course:


What I find utterly mystifying is that we permit diesel locomotives to operate for mile after mile under electric wiring.


Although, truth be told, I remain fearful that the rather ambitious programme of railway electrification unveiled by the last Government -- one of the few useful interventions made by Brown -- is on course for scrapping this Autumn. Maybe I should get used to the sight of diesel power.