Why on earth would I call Barry the principal terminus when no trains terminate there? It might well be the main destination and station on the VOG, and I'd agree, but of the four trains per hour using the line, one terminates at Bridgend and three at Barry Island, so I double down on my point that Barry Island is the primary terminus point for the route.
Exactly this. The section east of Barry isn’t the Vale of Glamorgan.
Okay, well either way, no, 231s are not meant for that line.
Yes but they will also have to run to Bridgend along the Vale of Glamorgan line. I think it's 4tph from Rhymney, 3tph go to Barry Island and 1tph to Bridgend via Llantwit Major. So the units need to be capable of running for a significant distance without OLE.
I agree. And it's clear what you meant.
007 has been in service of the 3 coach units, but good to see another one entering service
Yes. I had missed Chargesmith's posting yesterday regarding 005 and 007 running. Hopefully we might see 004 soon as indicated in the posts.
756005 was the new entry to service as of @chargesmith's post on the 14/5/25.
The loud crack, would actually be the Vacuum Circuit Braker (VCB), this closes and then reopens at OHL neutral section. (Someone technical can explain better).I travelled on a 756 yesterday and purposely sat underneath where the panto-graph was mounted. You could hear it go up and down. But a couple of times there was a loud crack, which sounded like a disconnection arc. i.e. breaking the circuit on load?
I know old fashioned trams and third rail trains do this as you see the blue flashes as it transitions from one circuit to another. But I am surprised this new system doesn't have some sort of solid state circuit breaker to sense the load/source voltages and electronically disconnect to prevent arcing etc.
Also on the electrics front, there are a lot of insulated fence panels along side the rail lines, which have replaced a metal panel at regular intervals. They have warning labels, saying do not remove. As an engineer I presume this is to do with the so called 'step and touch' potential issues, where the ground potential may not be zero with reference a long metal fence, especially if the track bonding fails or under other fault conditions.
There was also a section of loose rocks in bales making up an embankment, they were encased in metal meshes. Here it would be impossible to create a insulated barrier, so they had signs on them saying "Danger High Voltage, DO NOT TOUCH" which I thought was rather amusing!
I could not find much written about these issues near electrified rail lines, but I had a incident myself where a horse rider was trown off twice at the exact same point on a hill over the past few weeks. Long story, but a 11kv transformer at the top of a hill had lost its neutral/earth connection and there was a step potential halfway down the hill near a small stream, which the horse straddled and got a small shock, seems the rider got a larger one
No idea. But wont main line crew need to be trained on BOTH versions of the FLIRTS? Given Maesteg etc will get 231s and VOG 756. It would have made more sense for the VOG to be 231s to avoid having to do too much training. As it is they will need to do the 756 first before the 231s i imagine as there is no sign of the 231s taking over the routes they are eventually planned for anytime soon.
The conversion between 231 and 756 is fairly short and straightforward, so Cardiff Mainline crews needing to sign both shouldn't be a major issue. The Valleys crews were never meant to sign 231s at all, that was a last minute change of plan. 756s with their lower top speed and ability to run on electricity are a better long term solution than the 90mph diesel only 231s for the Rhymney valley. 231s will go on mainline services when the 398s are available to cascade them from the Valleys.
Possibly best on the infrastructure forum, but...Also on the electrics front, there are a lot of insulated fence panels along side the rail lines, which have replaced a metal panel at regular intervals. They have warning labels, saying do not remove. As an engineer I presume this is to do with the so called 'step and touch' potential issues, where the ground potential may not be zero with reference a long metal fence, especially if the track bonding fails or under other fault conditions.
There was also a section of loose rocks in bales making up an embankment, they were encased in metal meshes. Here it would be impossible to create a insulated barrier, so they had signs on them saying "Danger High Voltage, DO NOT TOUCH" which I thought was rather amusing!
I could not find much written about these issues near electrified rail lines, but I had a incident myself where a horse rider was trown off twice at the exact same point on a hill over the past few weeks. Long story, but a 11kv transformer at the top of a hill had lost its neutral/earth connection and there was a step potential halfway down the hill near a small stream, which the horse straddled and got a small shock, seems the rider got a larger one
I’m not sure a decision has been made yet? Although TfW has to make it very soon from what I read. So I cannot imagine any have been done yet, I would have thought there would be a bit of a lead time once the order is placed before the first unit is ready to be done.
My impression is that the OPTION Stadler offered for the conversion of 231s to
Tri-mode (overhead electric/battery electric/diesel, like 756s) - huh? I thought the conversion of the 231s would be to bi-mode (overhead electric/diesel, like 755s). No battery traction mode.
The plan is to electrify to Swansea by 2030 if I remember right.
If that’s the case, it certainly makes sense to get the 231’s converted to run on over head wires as they could also be used on the stoppers to Swansea.
It's an aspiration of the Welsh Govt. DfT/UK Govt (who'll ultimately pay for it) have no plans to do it currently.
Whose plan? And is there any substance to it, as opposed to “we’d like to…”?
@Envoy and @Peter Sarf, where did you get tri-mode from? That was the first I heard of that, and would turn the 231s into more 756s - am I missing something?
It entered service yesterday evening on 1A50
Many thanks both