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Keolis Amey Wales - Future Rolling Stock

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sw1ller

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I notice on this page...

https://tfw.gov.wales/whats-happening-wales-borders

Delivering the North East Wales Metro by increasing frequency on the Wrexham-Bidston line to 2 trains per hour (tph) from December 2021, with fully refurbished metro trains.”

They seem to have dropped the line of “one fast service”. It’s simply 2TPH now. That’s actually very good news if the fast service is actually dropped.

Forgive me if this has been discussed elsewhere.
 
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krus_aragon

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I notice on this page...

https://tfw.gov.wales/whats-happening-wales-borders

Delivering the North East Wales Metro by increasing frequency on the Wrexham-Bidston line to 2 trains per hour (tph) from December 2021, with fully refurbished metro trains.”

They seem to have dropped the line of “one fast service”. It’s simply 2TPH now. That’s actually very good news if the fast service is actually dropped.

That text appears to be unchanged since the summer. I get the impression that that page is intended as a general summary for the public, and glosses over some of the detail.

I've not seen anything elsewhere to suggest that the semi-fast idea has been dropped. With the short turnarounds at Wrexham and Bidston, you'd either need linespeed improvements or an extra 230 unit (and platform at Central) to run a reliable 2tph without it.
 

Gareth Marston

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Have seen internal pics of 150 285 - much like the Northern refurb the Disabled toilet wipes out a fair few seats. The design for the external wrap has not been signed off yet but should be soon.
 

craigybagel

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That text appears to be unchanged since the summer. I get the impression that that page is intended as a general summary for the public, and glosses over some of the detail.

I've not seen anything elsewhere to suggest that the semi-fast idea has been dropped. With the short turnarounds at Wrexham and Bidston, you'd either need linespeed improvements or an extra 230 unit (and platform at Central) to run a reliable 2tph without it.

I'm not sure why not, it would be no more unreliable then the current hourly service with minimal turnaround times. And that's using 150s - the 230s should be far quicker off the mark which should produce some decent time savings on a route like this.
 

krus_aragon

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I'm not sure why not, it would be no more unreliable then the current hourly service with minimal turnaround times. And that's using 150s - the 230s should be far quicker off the mark which should produce some decent time savings on a route like this.
Yes, "speed improvements" might have been a better choice of phrase on my part.
 

Gareth Marston

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The choice of colours for the key is a bit unfortunate too: the 230s and tri-modes look very similar to the DMUs.

The big things to note bar the geographical errors are mainly West Wales associated.

  • The 170's are shown on the Swansea District Line but not further east ( the SDL serves Neath according to this map!).
  • The South Wales DMU - Stadler Flirt comes no further west than Bridgend.
  • Civitys will work Milford Haven and Pembroke Dock but not Fishguard.
  • 170's will work Fishguard, Pembroke Dock but not Milford Haven.
if correct-
Swanline services will have to be Civitys.
Can we speculate about a Port Talbot to Fishguard service over the SDL?
 

craigybagel

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That's not a new document, it was being shown to staff at the employee open days before TfW took over. The colours do contest a bit better on paper though!

Yes, "speed improvements" might have been a better choice of phrase on my part.

But you could start a half hourly service tomorrow using 2 extra 150s if you wanted to (lack of units and staff notwithstanding). You don't need an extra platform or other speed improvements.
 

krus_aragon

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But going over the SDL Port Talbot is the only point of contact with Swanline.
Let me rephrase that: If there's going to be a service for West Wales starting at Port Talbot, I'd think that it'd be more useful for it to go via Neath and Skewen rather than along the District line, possibly picking up stops from the existing Swanline service. Sending services originating from Cardiff (or further) along the SDL toward West Wales would be more beneficial, imho.
 

krus_aragon

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But you could start a half hourly service tomorrow using 2 extra 150s if you wanted to (lack of units and staff notwithstanding). You don't need an extra platform or other speed improvements.
I'd suggest that you'd need something to give extra turnaround time, to allow for recovery of delays. I've known a ten minute delay during the morning peak (stuck following a freight to Dee Marsh, for example) to result in late running until after lunch. I'm not sure throwing more services in with the same turnarounds is that good an idea. But if the 230s are sprightly enough to give a proper turnaround, then all the better.

My allusion to extra platforms was with regard to using an extra unit and "stepping back" to give a longer turnaround. With the current service, Bidston's too busy to lay over, and there's nowhere at Wrexham General or Central for one unit to get out of the way of another (without shunting to Platform 3 or stopping a service short of Central).
 

Gareth Marston

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Let me rephrase that: If there's going to be a service for West Wales starting at Port Talbot, I'd think that it'd be more useful for it to go via Neath and Skewen rather than along the District line, possibly picking up stops from the existing Swanline service. Sending services originating from Cardiff (or further) along the SDL toward West Wales would be more beneficial, imho.

The diagram throws up some more questions - we've still to bottom out a lot of detail on the plans.

  1. Clarification on the deployment of 3 car / 2 car Civity's
  2. The future of the Birmingham International to Holyhead service.
  3. Stopping patterns across
  • North Wales Coast
  • Shrewsbury to Chester
  • Crewe to Newport.
 

anamyd

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Have seen internal pics of 150 285 - much like the Northern refurb the Disabled toilet wipes out a fair few seats. The design for the external wrap has not been signed off yet but should be soon.
Thanks for that info and I wish I could see those pics! Aside from the disabled toilet, I'm guessing CET, the new door mechanisms and alarms, external dot matrix screens, PIS...? What about the rest of the interior like the seats / upholstery...?
 

anamyd

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Seats look untouched. Yes it now has PIS. Has also been fitted with sockets/USB ports.
Oh yeah I forgot about the AC sockets and USB ports! I'm really intrigued as to who the audio portion of the PIS is voiced by - could Ruth be still hanging on...?
 

craigybagel

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Could possibly be. Certainly looks like the same as on the 158's.

In which case as fellow train crew you'll know what I'm thinking and we should probably leave it there.....

I hope the voice is Ruth :lol:

IRRC there was a mention somewhere that the new CAF units would have audio visual announcements in Welsh as well as English, so they'll need to do a lot of recording at some point. Whether they've done that already or not is another matter. I suspect if they have used APIS it'll be everything just the same as the 158s but I'm sure we'll find out soon.
 

Cardiff123

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I hope the voice is Ruth :lol:
I'm sure I've read somewhere that ATW's 'Ruth' isn't doing voiceovers any longer as she's been quite ill. Apparently this is why the 'Transport for Wales' that's been inserted in to all on-station/platform announcements is much deeper in tone than the rest of the announcement.
Not sure whether I read it on this forum or elsewhere, it was a while ago.
 

anamyd

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I'm sure I've read somewhere that ATW's 'Ruth' isn't doing voiceovers any longer as she's been quite ill. Apparently this is why the 'Transport for Wales' that's been inserted in to all on-station/platform announcements is much deeper in tone than the rest of the announcement.
Not sure whether I read it on this forum or elsewhere, it was a while ago.
Yeah I know :( She has a lot of existing recordings though so maybe she is the voice of 150-285's PIS.
 

anamyd

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I'm guessing if the 150's PIS is the same as the 158 one (TrainFX) then on 158+150 multiple unit workings the system will work correctly as the same train...? I know that the audio from the 158 already plays in the 150 through the BSI coupler's PA connections!
 

craigybagel

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I'd suggest that you'd need something to give extra turnaround time, to allow for recovery of delays. I've known a ten minute delay during the morning peak (stuck following a freight to Dee Marsh, for example) to result in late running until after lunch. I'm not sure throwing more services in with the same turnarounds is that good an idea. But if the 230s are sprightly enough to give a proper turnaround, then all the better.

My allusion to extra platforms was with regard to using an extra unit and "stepping back" to give a longer turnaround. With the current service, Bidston's too busy to lay over, and there's nowhere at Wrexham General or Central for one unit to get out of the way of another (without shunting to Platform 3 or stopping a service short of Central).

That's a fair point, it is true that there isn't a lot of resilience in the current timetable. But yes, if the 230s perform as well as they did when they were D stock on the Underground, I'd expect several minutes to be shaved off the journey time in each direction which should give the required improvement in performance.
 

PHILIPE

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The first 769 for Northern has today run from Loughborough (Brush) to Allerton Depot (Liverpool), the first of 8. TFW to follow, so I should think that the rate of delivery should be fairly quick now as the first one would have had extensive testing and any major faults ironed out.
 
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anamyd

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