GBM
Member
It’s on electric power it glitches, and it seems to only be iPhones, well if was on my 7. Haven’t tried it on my XR.
Been on HST's and IET's a few times now. Not had any trouble with our Android's at any point.
It’s on electric power it glitches, and it seems to only be iPhones, well if was on my 7. Haven’t tried it on my XR.
Absolutely right. In fact you would rather the train arrive at it booked arrival time or earlier, than have an earlier booked arrival time that is always late!
But I do see the point that all the talk about quicker journey times to/from the West is not materialising in the way many people expected.
My view is that The Paddington Reading stretch is almost oversaturated - and the infrastructure and operational procedures do not currently allow even a smooth following of one train behind another at a 3 minute headway without the second train starting to be checked by signals somewhere en-route!
Then you have the issue of trains even being despatched and moving off right time. Even a minutes delay causes the train 3 mins behind to suffer signal checks very early and extend the running times. If you have some IET's still running in diesel mode from time to time under the wires, then you have another issue to factor in.
But let's face the facts. Electrification was only ever going to deliver marginal time improvements due to the superior acceleration of the 80X's, and maybe slightly lower dwell times -on paper at least.
I would have been more than happy if no journey time improvements had been claimed, but the superior performance of the trains used to recover delay.
As you quite rightly say, a minute here or there saved on a 5 hour journey isn't going to have the traveling public suddenly ditching their cars for the train!
Ironic really, seeing as they were meant to be primarily electric trains with diesel use limited to beyond the wires. The impression gained is that this has encouraged slack maintenance from Hitachi - bet DfT didn’t put any penalties in the contract for it though!
This is terrible work,
do you know the model number of this train?
Review of workers in Italy
To prevent further problems
It will be needed internal investigation
You can only wonder at the comments on sites like tripadvisor which are already now pretty appalling about the 800`s on the Penzance route once the season starts in earnest in Devon and Cornwall. Contrary to what many on this forum think the seasons has already started there and it`s only going to get worse. Yes there`ll be more seats to be sure but those trolley`s are never going to get down those aisles. Taking the buffet section away on this route will prove a big mistake. You`ve only got to look at cross-country's voyagers to know that. They don`t even bother taking the trolley out when it gets too busy, which is a regular occurrence with XC.
My coach is quicker than a rail replacement coach which plenty of travellers have paid rail fares to endure.
And there you state the crux of the matter. The 802 `s were a rush job but it wasn`t like we didn`t have the time to find a decent replacement is it given the HST`s have been going for 40+ years now and were only meant as an interim of around twenty years anyway. A convenient truth lost on many members here. To compare Londons buses in the 70`s the IET is the Daimler Fleetline to the Routemaster, the HST. There are eerie similarities.
Agility Trains/Hitachi seems to have serious problems in managing its maintenance work at the moment. I suspect there are many reasons, some due to changes of plan, some due to inexperience and others due to contractual issues between Agility Trains/Hitachi and the DfT.In /reading at the moment, with a clear view of GWML. I can't help but notice over half of the IEPs have pantographs down as they pass.... surely it maes more sense to be under the wires and running on electric. This is up and down line trains (so not just coming from non-wire land and not putting gup pantograph at Reading stop).... but also out of Paddington..... (and for trains that are stopping at Reading as well). Is that intentional ? Or are they struggling to get good reliability on a) electric and b) the pantograph/switchover ? So better to run on diesel ?
Thank you coppercapped - a good post. The Maliphant analogy (why not wired, etc. ?) also for Long Rock - I accept no dangly wires for many miles but... still have to trudge to Stoke Gifford/North Pole for a fix if an ac problem. Set swap perhaps along the way? Something else in the mix.Agility Trains/Hitachi seems to have serious problems in managing its maintenance work at the moment. I suspect there are many reasons, some due to changes of plan, some due to inexperience and others due to contractual issues between Agility Trains/Hitachi and the DfT.
Some of the GWR insiders who post here have pointed out that in the early days of operation any electrical issue that was fixed at Stoke Gifford meant that the train had to use diesel power until it was checked at North Pole as only North Pole had working overhead line equipment. I understand that the overhead at Stoke Gifford has now been energised so this constraint should be easing. However Maliphant depot at Swansea will now not be wired at all so any set turning up there having a fault with the 25kV part of the traction electrical circuits will have to be repaired and tested elsewhere.
The train was designed in Japan and only assembled in the UK or Italy. This means that there is no corpus of knowledge in the UK about how the trains tick. Agility Trains/Hitachi is a large, geographically very spread out 'start-up' company with no inherited corporate memory - I suspect it is struggling to learn how to manage itself let alone how to manage the trains for which it is responsible.
Unless things have changed recently, Hitachi has no design office in the UK. This means that any modifications found necessary in the light of experience will have to be developed, and probably manufactured, in Japan with all the long lead times this brings with it. And heaven knows if there are any contractual issues between Agility Trains/Hitachi and the DfT which might complicate any changes made to the train especially if they cost significant amounts of money.
There were 5 x 5 car units on diesel only at the start of day, various reasons, it’s better to have them out on diesel, rather than sat in a depot waiting for repair.In /reading at the moment, with a clear view of GWML. I can't help but notice over half of the IEPs have pantographs down as they pass.... surely it maes more sense to be under the wires and running on electric. This is up and down line trains (so not just coming from non-wire land and not putting gup pantograph at Reading stop).... but also out of Paddington..... (and for trains that are stopping at Reading as well). Is that intentional ? Or are they struggling to get good reliability on a) electric and b) the pantograph/switchover ? So better to run on diesel ?
Health lecture time...Peaked at 224 µg/m3. Wiltshire + Gloucestershire under wires was 20-30 µg/m3 NO2 - 10x under diesel
PHE conclude that NO2 is disease-causingWHO said:On the basis of these human clinical data, a 1-hour guideline of 200 µg/m3 is proposed.
Now, people who actually let this sort of thing affect their daily lifestyle need to stay at home with their air purifiers etc. - but the infrastructure is there, and incompetence is all that's holding back 'cleaner' journeys for every passenger. Yes, including the passengers on the 5 daily diesel diagrams who pay exactly the same as their compatriots who benefit from electric journeys.Public Health England said:the ... evidence now suggests that it would be sensible to regard NO2 as causing some of the health impact found to be associated with it in epidemiological studies.
And there you state the crux of the matter. The 802 `s were a rush job but it wasn`t like we didn`t have the time to find a decent replacement is it given the HST`s have been going for 40+ years now and were only meant as an interim of around twenty years anyway. A convenient truth lost on many members here. To compare Londons buses in the 70`s the IET is the Daimler Fleetline to the Routemaster, the HST. There are eerie similarities.
A 19 car IET. That would have been fun had it been down Penzance way.I gather there was a failure today involving 802114 which had to be rescued and dragged clear by 802013 & 802015. Must have been fun for the 2x 5 cars!
Thanks, that tells me all I need to know about how the train is likely to turn up! What about unreserved coaches?1st class can be
front/middle
middle/back
front/back
middle
That's in 10 car, and 9 car can be front or back. Having 2 trains in the 10s that run both ways makes too many combinations of set-up so your coach could be anywhere. I'd stand in the middle.
To be fair HST formations were often bottom about face thus leaving you with a nice extra long platform walk unless you read the destination boards.Thanks, that tells me all I need to know about how the train is likely to turn up! What about unreserved coaches?
A trolley has just gone by, that's a bonus.
Sorry I don't know much about reservations, only that they often aren't working.Thanks, that tells me all I need to know about how the train is likely to turn up! What about unreserved coaches?
A trolley has just gone by, that's a bonus.
@td97 how different are those figures to other diesel stock, out of interest?
Totally agree that NR should be charging more for 'unnecessary' diesels under the wires. Should do the same for things like the Virgin 221s operating Birmingham to Scotland 100% under the wires!
Surely the electricity is paid for by the train operator?
One of the big selling points of electric trains (among many) is that they are more reliable and simpler than their diesel counterparts. Why do the IETs seem to be unreliable on electric but diesel works OK?
It’s metered separately to track access charges on recent stock, a proportion of the trains have meters and they are used to calculate what the whole fleet is doing.Train operators pay NR for the electricity they use through Track Access Charges.
I got the impression that TOCs and FOCs had fitted meters to some of their trains/locos so that they could be charged for what they used which highlighted the losses in the system to NR.Train operators pay NR for the electricity they use through Track Access Charges.
It’s metered separately to track access charges on recent stock, a proportion of the trains have meters and they are used to calculate what the whole fleet is doing.
This started in about 2010, I think the Pendolino fleet was the first to be retrofitted with the hardware.
Diesel doesn't work ok; some units are released with engines isolated.One of the big selling points of electric trains (among many) is that they are more reliable and simpler than their diesel counterparts. Why do the IETs seem to be unreliable on electric but diesel works OK?
It's reportedly because the depots cannot carry out mileage-based exams on time. Unless of course there's further issues with the reliability of the electrical components.That was puzzling me too. It's not as if Hitachi has no experience of running electric trains in the UK, with the 395s in service for several years and their kit operating underneath some Networkers
Unfortunately I'm not sure. I've had a quick look to see if there's any publications on a research library but to no avail.@td97 how different are those figures to other diesel stock, out of interest?
I gather there was a failure today involving 802114 which had to be rescued and dragged clear by 802013 & 802015. Must have been fun for the 2x 5 cars!
Just a quick update on coupling and uncoupling operations at Plymouth (admittedly anecdotal and not conclusive).
Today 9 minute delay on the Golden Hind at Plymouth due to coupling issues. Yesterday, same "prestigous" train cancelled altogether at Plymouth due to inability of two trains to couple. Saturday at least 3 different couplings/ uncouplings at Plymouth experienced delays of at least 10 minutes due to further problems.....
So I will await the usual apologists to tell me that this is all fine and dandy and why should passengers in the west get 9 car trains which will run less than full in Cornwall. However if things carry on the way they are i can see the airlines and coaches taking a lot of business away from the railway on this route.
As a colleague pointed out to me, surely it would make far more sense to operate pairs of 5 car trains on routes to say Cardiff and bristol running all day as 10 car trains giving the core great western routes high capacity trains whilst using the 9 cars on the " intercity " route to the far west.....