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Class 701 'Aventra' trains for South Western Railway: progress updates

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Goldfish62

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Bigfoot said:
This made me chuckle when I saw the 707 toilet fitting announcement. It was said many times here that it was impossible and couldn't/wouldn't actually happen. How wrong they were.
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Just add it to the "Things that RailForumsUK say will never ever/cannot possibly happen, then do happen" list. ;)
 
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RailUK Forums

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class701

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JonathanH said:
The demographic in South West London is very different to that on the Elizabeth Line. A quick look at a heatmap of house prices tells you that. Therefore the gains in passenger numbers are likely to be less, simply based on the fact that a greater percentage of people who can afford to live in SWR's area have the option to work from home.

They will increase capacity by 25% relative to current levels without a change in the timetable.
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But passenger numbers won't return to London without a serious improvement in both the service and timetable, back to where it was in 2019. The track between Worcester Park and Wimbledon and beyond is terrible and slow with near permanent speed restrictions in place. A brand new train won't make a huge difference to that.
 
Fincra5

Fincra5

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Wolfie said:
Yet folk still say how hard it would be on the 376s.....

To be clear l absolutely agree with you.
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Difference is.... the 707, like a 717 was built with the provision for a Toilet to be added. A 376 was not (and would require the entire unit end to be stripped off to get a toilet module in.

Not the same problem on a 707!
 
DelW

DelW

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Peter Sarf said:
Source please - I have missed that - are you sure all further training is cancelled ?.

As far as I know a few individual courses have been postponed over the Christmas period (due to staff shortages) and the training has been altered. But not cancelled out right.
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Post #11738 is the first reference I'm aware of, source isn't specified.

Bigfoot said:
This made me chuckle when I saw the 707 toilet fitting announcement. It was said many times here that it was impossible and couldn't/wouldn't actually happen. How wrong they were.
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Maybe another instance of SWR's "stuff the passengers" attitude? SWR management spend years saying it's impossible, but SE are (apparently) just getting on and doing it.
 
7

73128

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JonathanH said:
The demographic in South West London is very different to that on the Elizabeth Line. A quick look at a heatmap of house prices tells you that. Therefore the gains in passenger numbers are likely to be less, simply based on the fact that a greater percentage of people who can afford to live in SWR's area have the option to work from home.

They will increase capacity by 25% relative to current levels without a change in the timetable.
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quite possibly not for much longer, in many cases.
 
C

Carlisle

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DelW said:
Maybe another instance of SWR's "stuff the passengers" attitude? SWR management spend years saying it's impossible, but SE are (apparently) just getting on and doing it.
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You can’t blame SWR given they’d ordered a replacement fleet so weren’t going to fit toilets to 707s. If anyone’s to blame it’s the previous franchise holders .
 
G

Goldfish62

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Carlisle said:
You can’t blame SWR given they’d ordered a replacement fleet so weren’t going to fit toilets to 707s. If anyone’s to blame it’s the previous franchise holders .
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Indeed. Nothing to do with SWR. SWT ordered the units, but surely everyone knows that.

Anyway, best we get back to the toilet-equipped 701s. :)
 
DelW

DelW

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Carlisle said:
You can’t blame SWR given they’d ordered a replacement fleet so weren’t going to fit toilets to 707s. If anyone’s to blame it’s the previous franchise holders .
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Well, it was SWR's decision to dump the 707s, then to stick with that even when they couldn't get the 701s into service, so they decided to trash the timetable instead. I'll admit the toilets may be a side issue and perhaps not their fault ;), but I'll still blame FG / SWR for the utter dog's breakfast they've made of a once half-decent system.
 
G

Goldfish62

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DelW said:
Well, it was SWR's decision to dump the 707s, then to stick with that even when they couldn't get the 701s into service, so they decided to trash the timetable instead. I'll admit the toilets may be a side issue and perhaps not their fault ;), but I'll still blame FG / SWR for the utter dog's breakfast they've made of a once half-decent system.
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Can we get back to the 701s?
 
S

swtrains

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Today's testing did not run:

5T91 - Clapham Yard - Reading - goes to Waterloo, then down the mainline to Aldershot, reveres and goes to Ascot, reverses and goes to Reading.
5T92 - Reading - Clapham Yard - goes to Ascot, reverses and goes to Farnham Depot, then heads back to the Yard.

https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:Q26534/2025-01-20/detailed
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https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:Q26532/2025-01-20/detailed
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== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==

DelW said:
SWR management spend years saying it's impossible, but SE are (apparently) just getting on and doing it.
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't SE say the same thing, until this year they've had a change of heart?
 
DelW

DelW

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swtrains said:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't SE say the same thing, until this year they've had a change of heart?
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No idea I'm afraid, I haven't really followed their history since they went east.
 
D

DMckduck

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26 Jul 2020
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swtrains said:
Tonight's Shepperton service (2H77) is terminating at Surbiton instead. Crew shortage that bad they are supposedly running a rail replacement bus instead?
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Strawberry Hill depot seems to be contributing to quite a lot of these late night 701 cancellations.

Yeah Shepperton might be high up on the priority list, but surely it's better having a 455 go down there than a replacement bus or nothing at all??
 
3973EXL

3973EXL

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47727

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S

SWT_USER

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Are SWR uniquely incompetent, or are other operators just as bad? I don't remember a roll out ever being managed this badly, although admittedly I probably wouldn't pay such close attention if it didn't affect me.

Any update on training resuming yet?
 
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