c2c's BRAND NEW Class 720 Trains - A NEEDED Upgrade!

My remaining memory of travelling from Fenchurch Street to Southend, last summer (2022), at soon after 10 o’clock on two consecutive nights was how busy the trains got and on both nights someone vomited in the carriage I was in!! I expect that’s why they don’t have carpeted trains! 😂

The nearly universal 3 + 2 seating layout on the Greater Anglia trains is a madness. Who at these companies (and is paid a generous salary) actually passes such a decision? Yea, c2c's usual fleet has a whole designated Quiet Carriage as one of every 4 cars, but with the total absence of c2c onboard staff and also a local culture that isn’t known for being quiet and restrained, these existing Quiet Zones are really ineffective. Sorry for negative stuff😂but having done so much south Essex travelling over the years, I need to vent.

It's funny how you say that c2c is one of the only rail operators that don't have e-tickets, but with the government's "expanded contactless zone", will cover the entire c2c network to Shoeburyness.

🎉I used to work at East Ham depot, i was a fitter there, servicing the 302s 305s 308s 310 and 312s from 1981 to 1998. The trains then were true workhorses and easy to service and repair. Each one had its own character, smell and sound as if it was alive. I would hate to work on these.

You mentioned the c2c route follows the dlr route The dlr runs over former c2c trackbed (when it was london tilbury and southend) which were handed over in the 1980s

small note about GA's 720s, they are designated as 44x 720/1s and the rest 720/5. this is due to the original order being 22x 10-coach 720/1s, but being changed to all 5-coach. the old numbering is kept from this (likely due to ease) as far as i can tell, theres no technical differences between the two GA subclasses.

1:05 felt like a an attack when I was a kid, Penn station used to be all underground and we used to commute via subway to get donuts at the only Krispy Kreme in the city when I went back to visit last year, it is no longer underground. They use the old mail office across the street and turn it into a big station house with Glass ceiling I was so surprised 😯 to see the area in different aspect because when I was leaving, it was so much constructio

I still haven't got on one of these from Stanford yet, will keep trying!

Please do a review onboard the RENFE AVE S102 Talgo pato and the Alvia S730 from Madrid to Extremadura. Good video, I am subscribed to your channel. Happy New year

I don't get why it isnt 2 plus 2 seating all the way down

A step up for sure the LTS line used to be called the misery line for good reason To think I can remember the old slam door 302 310/12 units and remember the 357 when they came in

These trains seem nice but i never rode one ill ride one when i have the chance. You should try th class 730 aventra it got released a couple weeks ago

About the 2+3 seating, apparently Greater Anglia and Alstom/Bombardier did a poll asking passengers what they wanted from their Aventras and the most popular feature they wanted was as many seats as possible. So while it might seem like a nightmare to walk through those 2+3 sections it is what their customers wanted so I don't necessarily fault the TOC's for that.

Have to say I'm not too fussed about the 720s. The seats on the 357s are comfier but the 720s have charging ports, aside from that everything else is pretty incidental. If my phone's charged I'd rather have a 357 turn up any day.

The current 357s are showing their age with toilets frequently out of use and no charging points. Will be very pleased one day when they're all gone, meanwhile as a whole the service is much more reliable than other TOCs.

Great video mate. I do like the c2c 720s they look sleek and very modern but they only run Fenchurch Street Shoeburyness via Laindon not via Grays and Tilbury.

Brilliant 👍

Nice video, thanks for sharing. Hard seats, seats next to blank panels, longitudinal tip-up seats in the 720s....and everybody calls this an 'upgrade' or huge improvement? Give me a more comfortable Class 357 any day. Comfort matters in my book (as one who has campaigned and won against hard seats on public transport in the past), even on a commuter journey and not one video I've seen on the 720s recognises the far superior seat comfort of the 357s over the 720s, every one oooh-ing and ahhhh-ing over charging points and info displays: yes, better in those respects, but the all-important seat standards - not a word. The new trains being 'desperately needed due to the state of the 357s' says much more about poor maintenance standards (noticeably less good since Trenitalia took over) on c2c than the trains themselves. The 357s were good enough after their initial horrendous failures (when next to Underground stock in the main) were sorted, but are now grubby inside and out and the lack of attention to repairing faults is very evident, but that doesn't mean 720s are that much better, it means they're new and haven't yet suffered from the same standards of upkeep.

3+2 seating on the 720s is truly abominable

Thanks for your in-depth review. in my opinion, you’re the second award-winning train and bus journalist.