Kent to London with Southeastern Mainline & Highspeed - Which is Best? Class 375 vs Class 395 Review

In this video, I'll be comparing Southeastern's Mainline and Highspeed offerings to see which is better with to travel with from Kent to London - taking it slow at 100mph or speeding through at 140mph... which is a better passenger experience? We find out in this video!
Journey details:
Date of travel - May 2022
Operator - Southeastern (Standard and Highspeed)
Trains - Class 375 "Electrostar" and Class 395 "Javelin"
Origin - Dover Priory
Destination - London St Pancras International (change done at Ashford International)
Class of Travel - Standard
Duration - 1hr, 15 mins
Price - £23.45 (return ticket price, includes 1/3 Railcard discount)
Thanks for watching and hope you enjoyed the video!
Music from Epidemic Sound and used under license.
#Class395 #Class375 #Southeastern #SoutheasternHighspeed #HS1 #HighSpeed1 #Hitachi #Bombardier #TripReport

[@thomasreiser]

I suspect the reason why there is no first class on high speed is that there is a premium charge for all high speed tickets

[@dronespace]

Yeah most likely the reason

[@kermito3659]

look at the journey times - do you really need first class for a 30 minute journey on a train with 240m of capacity?

[@spottymaxy1628]

That checks out the 395 but what’s with the first class on the 375

[@manomaylr]

@@spottymaxy1628 longer journey and more crowded so perhaps more worth it?

[@ymodnar]

yea but the charge is £4 extra. I think its because of more capacity.

[@ACELog]

Before I was made redundant due to lockdown, I always loved it when my employer asked me to travel to Canterbury Cathederal to perform maintenance on our audio guides. Less than 1 mile walk to St Pancras International from our Grays Inn London office: I could normally get the job done and back to the office by 3pm, thanks to the lovely HS1 Javelin!

[@wharris302]

The 395s were built 2007-2009, the design is from 2004ish. They have aged very well

[@declangaming24]

They will last very long

[@telemachus53]

Javelins - my favourite! They're so quick, silent and efficient. The 142 bus from Watford to Edgware takes longer! And the St Pancras terminus is quiet and separate from the rest of the station. I can't imagine getting to Folkestone any other way. Its weird, you're right, having the fastest train in the UK a regional train whose journey from London to Dover takes just over an hour.

[@denishoulan1491]

Living as I do in Rochester Kent, I travel quite regularly to Yorkshire following The London Broncos on away games. The Highspeed train service is excellent and feeds so well into the LNER from Kings Cross. I can leave Rochester at 9.30 and arrive in York at 12.30, having had time to get a bite to eat at St Pancras.

[@ichong8117]

As a person who admires the trains in Britain, I’ve always thought of the differences via the slow lines and the HS1 between southeastern England and London. Thanks for covering the differences between them! Nice video :D

[@OMtheRails]

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed 😁

[@Jacob-il4yf]

The Charing cross line is a really long journey from Ramsgate its almost 3hours in journey time via Ashford International and Tonbridge

[@scottpeacock5492]

I was on the Javlin service last Wednesday from London St Pancras to Margate as my home is in North Hertfordshire, So got of Thameslink at St Pancras striaght onto the Javlin High Speed line, i could go from Victoria but why when the Javlin service is right on St Pancras, plus the journey time as i boarded on the Javlin service at 11:37am arrive at 13:07pm, it probably take longer on the class 375's. Plus i left after 4 oclock and arrive home just after 8 oclock. Great service which i will use again.

[@spottymaxy1628]

When I was returning to London from Folkestone Central the train was jammed with passengers it was a nightmare. 6 coaches 💀

[@Jacob-il4yf]

You recorded on the day the charing cross service was on diversion it would normally call at Ashford International Pluckley Headcorn Staplehurst Marden Paddock Wood Tonbridge Sevenoaks London Bridge Waterloo East and Charing cross Instead of Ashford International Maidstone East Otford London Bridge Waterloo East and Charing cross

[@FairmanPlanes]

Quite recently (possibly near when you published this), southeastern do offer e-tickets. I have used them and can get them when booking tickets online. A wonderful video.

[@downonthestour]

Great video mate! I'd pick high speed everytime though!

[@OMtheRails]

Cheers DOTS! Agreed… it’s no contest 😉

[@manomaylr]

17:50 When the ECML gets ERTMS this too will become a high speed line with 140mph running in many places.

[@ricktownend9144]

I enjoyed that very much - thanks! Re Ashford (Int'l): I believe the platforms for Eurostar were built as a kind of bribe to get Ashford council on-side for HS1, but in practice the scanty service was no encouragement to passengers. Particularly with the cumbersome interchange arrangements and lengthy customs etc. checks, if you wanted to go by train from, say, Tonbridge to Paris, you'd have to leave so much time to be sure of catching your Eurostar that you might as well go via London - so much for High-Speed! Such a shame ... The SE 'main line' trains, via Maidstone or Tonbridge, don't really compete with the Javelins; they offer services to London (and Ashford) from the intermediate towns and villages. East Kent is almost a separate little kingdom, where the trains serve the seaside towns and Canterbury, as well as through services to/from London. There is a missing link in the rail services, in that Sandwich and Deal - little gems of towns - have no direct trains to Canterbury: the tracks are there, but very few trains use them. It's usually quicker to take the bus (though the bus and rail operators show no signs of wanting to provide integrated services).

[@manomaylr]

10:50 “used in the Southern Region”. Everywhere else uses 25kV AC!

[@mikehill2274]

Thanks for a gòd movie. I have been on HS1 many times. Can you explain why, on HS1, and as we are supposed to watch our baggage at all times, the baggage racks are behind the adjacent passenger seats??. They only face the baggage racks at the far end of the car, from where it is very difficult to watch your bags. Not very clever design. It wouldn't take much to place internal CCTV screen overhead. Cheers, and thanks for your interest log. Mike Rowland-Hill

[@jacobporrett]

Great review mate. Never been on either before. Must change that at some point.

[@Varishbasnet]

In the first day of December 2023,me and my year five class went to Dover museum.We went on the class 395 and the class 375.The 375 was kind of better as it had more space.

[@spitfire1962]

Samphire Hoe was created using soil from the Channel Tunnel and is where the English end of the tunnel air conditioning and other services is located. Across The A20 at Samphire hoe there is emergency access to the tunnel too.

[@robfcgaming1947]

The sensor thing definitely applies with the 357s, except sometimes that doesn't work along with the wheelchair accessible toilet

[@OMtheRails]

Yep - the 357 ones look pretty battered. Hopefully c2c organise a refurbishment programme and sort them out in the process 👍

[@robfcgaming1947]

@@OMtheRails Some of them got refurbished in about 2015/2016 but I agree that for the ones that didn't get the refurbishment back then to sort it now

[@joshuahalla.k.a.controlla6333]

Great video. ☺️

[@inbetweenersshorts6807]

Now there's M tickets it was introduced last month

[@grahamsmith9541]

Since this video was made as from 11th December 2022. First Class has been removed from all southeastern services . When the Javelin high speed services were introduced. Southeastern announced that as it is a premium cost service. There would not be any separate first class seats.

[@OneTrackMinded]

What a nice looking area

[@charlottep8783]

as he was walking into a new carriage on the javelin i saw a stopped eurostar

[@CurvedGD]

I would like to mention now that ALL southeastern 375s have been refurbished and now have Power sockets, USB charging, No more first class (thank god, THAT MAKES THE /9s TOLERABLE!) and still retain the amazing seating. Do Note: The 2+2 table seating on the front and rear coaches of the 375s are exclusive to the /6 and /7 variants and this does not apply to the /8s, /9s and /3s. UNFORTUNATELY, THE /9s ARE RAN ON THE CHATHAM MAIN LINE ON 2 HOUR RAMSGATE TO VIC AND DOVER TO VIC SERVICES AND IS ABSOLUTELY APPAULING

[@jamesdaniels401]

There are many dual voltage trains that switch from overhead wires to third email operation. See Thameslink, London Overground Stratford to Clapham Junction/Richmond, and also West London Line services on Southern.

[@YorkshireLADGaming]

I don't really class HS1 as high speed, not when it's only 15mph faster than the current UK mainline top speed of 125.

[@Brandonwillson3]

You started at my home town

[@Cowman9791]

I think with Stratford International, if international trains will never call there, the station probably should be called something along the lines of 'Stratfordx HS1' or 'Stratford High Speed' (perhaps with brackets)

[@Westwoodisapleb]

Did you take the walkthrough at St Pancras? I'm sure I spotted a eurostar lol

[@manomaylr]

9:34 that may be a design feature to discourage people from throwing non-flushable wet wipes or even nappies into the vacuum toilet.

[@supercruiser24]

I'm making the announcements at Ashford

[@manomaylr]

The Javelins are from the same family as the IETs, but somehow the IETs seem more spacious and just better overall.

[@kierangallagher491]

Where are you originally from? I can tell you have an accent but can’t pinpoint exactly where.

[@spitfire1962]

He’s from Sheffield

[@Maurice_Moss]

I'd love to experience hs1, what would be a good journey recommendation that gets upto high speed and isn't really expensive?

[@manomaylr]

Interesting that there are electronic seat reservations - were they ever used?

[@thisdude5854]

Wait so it’s changing power at ashford the class 395

[@natzw1982]

I live in cuxton

[@David-The-YorkshireMan]

I love the narration, but can you appear once, occationally so we can put a face to the voice? even if you just smile and don't talk

[@drefaiyaz163]

I thought hs1 is 143mph max ?

[@nyan525]

300kph or 186mph but the javelins only go 230kph I think

[@russellgxy2905]

@@nyan525 That's correct. Domestic trains have the ~140 mph speed limit, but international trains are allowed to go 186 mph

[@anteksamsung956]

Idea. Newark Castle to Newark Northgate pointless journey.