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Pendolino lengthening

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Pumbaa

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Intended general thread for the 390 lengthening project and arrival of 056/057.

390056 due Dollands Moor over weekend. DM to Edge Hill drag Monday 13th. Same path and timings as before.

390012 has had 2 extra cars from one of the other new Pendolinos inserted into it and is undergoing trials with software comparability.

Alstom have also confirmed that the 11-car Pendos will be renumbered into 3901xx. Still no clue how they are being done though, ie top or bottom up.

56 and 57 will not be shortened to 9 cars, they will enter service as 11 cars on 1st April. Hopefully 11 390s will be lengthened by Olympic period.
 
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Helvellyn

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So the last two units should enter service as 390156 and 390157?
 

Pumbaa

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I guess so. Alstom indicated the change in number was purely for maintenance and diagramming purposes.
 

Crossover

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The number change does make sense, though it appears LM don't always make use of it with the 350's :P

Logically, the numbering would start top down, but they could pick 'random' units to strengthen so we may end up with an eclectic mix of /0 and /1's
 

47421

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current edition of private eye says that the insurance for new pendos has a clause in it that says they must be kept apart so there is no risk of both of them being damaged in a single incident. Seems crazy, but too weird to be made up so probably true, and others tell me that VT controllers have been told they must not ever meet, at least until insurance policy is renewed in april.

anyone else heard anything along these lines? Or know what the diagrams for them will be?
 

Crossover

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current edition of private eye says that the insurance for new pendos has a clause in it that says they must be kept apart so there is no risk of both of them being damaged in a single incident. Seems crazy, but too weird to be made up so probably true, and others tell me that VT controllers have been told they must not ever meet, at least until insurance policy is renewed in april.

anyone else heard anything along these lines? Or know what the diagrams for them will be?

I understand this is true. There is another thread about round here somewhere about it but I'm on mobile atm so can't link.

I believe it appartains to the insurance not covering them if they were to damage each other specifically
 

47421

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thanks, yes found that thread now, seems it is correct, and they are going to use one Bham - Scotland and other Euston - Manchester until insurance renewed. Strange, and in my view, sorry business
 

jon0844

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It said elsewhere the insurance 'issue' only exists until around April when a new policy will sort it all out.
 

whhistle

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Crossover has it right.

Their diagrams are specifically designed so they do not meet. As they are newer trains then the damage to each other would be considerably more than if they were two other 390's.

However, the other rumour was that they were not insured at all. This is laughable and simply not the case.
 

swt_passenger

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I find it amusing the insurance ends around April 1st...

April 1st is when the current west coast franchise was due to end so you'd expect the current insurance runs until April 1st.

The 'new Pendolinos' are not Virgin's until the franchise extension starts, they are currently under the control of Virgin Rail Projects, a separate legal entity set up to deal with the 11 car project. That is the most likely reason why they cannot be part of the existing insurance deal.
 

AlterEgo

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thanks, yes found that thread now, seems it is correct, and they are going to use one Bham - Scotland and other Euston - Manchester until insurance renewed. Strange, and in my view, sorry business

Sorry business how?
 

Pumbaa

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I assume the two cars put into 390012 will be returned to the original 390?

No idea. I don't think the car numbers are changing so I don't expect it would matter if they were left. But they will be removed anyway in a few weeks time so they'll likely by reunited with their companions.
 
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Longsight Depot is using set 390012 to integrate the displaced 10/11 car vehicles from new train 390055. This will enable Alstom engineers to perfect their integration plan and highlight any potential engineering issues, which can be resolved before integration proper starts in April.

It also allows for Longsight depot staff to practice the depot moves and processes which are required for the H3 heavy overhaul which will be taking place concurrently with the integration plan.

Starting on 10 February, the lengthened set will also undertake several test runs including to London and Scotland to test modified depot facilities and Selected Door Operation (SDO) at stations where during disruption it may be needed. The test programme covers SDO tests at Rugby on 10 February and the following day will undertake tests within the depot at Wembley, running late afternoon from Wembley to Polmadie.

On Monday 13 February it will return from Polmadie to Longsight and SDO tests will be undertaken at Macclesfield. This work will take around two weeks, following which the extra vehicles will be removed from this test set, which will then return to service as a 9-car train.

Trial runs are planned at the end of February and into early March using Pendolinos at varying speeds, with two pantographs raised. This is feasibility testing to understand the issues of running with two pantographs raised at the same time and is being done at Alstom's request. The overnight tests are between Nuneaton and Stafford.

During March, new trains 390054 and 390055 will have WiFi commissioned at and towards the end of the month will be reunited with their displaced vehicles. The third new set 390056 is due in the UK imminently and after a period of commissioning will enter service on 2 April with 390055 to be the first 11-car Pendolinos in service. 390054 will enter service as the third 11-car Pendolino by the end of the first week in April.

The final new Pendolino, 390057, is due to be delivered for testing and acceptance during the first week of April and is due to enter service at the beginning of June.

By the end of February the first four pairs of extra vehicles will be complete and are due to arrive in the UK by the second week of March, with the next four pairs of extra vehicles due around three weeks later.

31 existing sets will be strengthened to 11-car units in the order that they undergo H3 overhaul, which is being done on a mileage-based programme. The first two lengthened sets will be in service by the end of April, with further lengthened sets returning to service at the rate of one per week.

11 car Pendolinos will be renumbered into the 390/1 series, for example 390054 when restored to an 11-car train will become 390154.
 

sdrennan

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what are the new carriage letters going to be. In theory it should be F & G for standard class but G is first class on 9 car units.
Could cause confusion if a 9 car is swapped with an 11 car unit
 

All Line Rover

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F & U

so an 11 car set will be :-

A, B, C, D, E, F, U, G, H, J, K

Ah - does 'U' stand for 'unreserved'? Clever! Although I still think it will cause confusion - for example, people in coach G who want coach B will have to pass through Coach U to get there. Hmmm...
 

Yew

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Ah - does 'U' stand for 'unreserved'? Clever! Although I still think it will cause confusion - for example, people in coach G who want coach B will have to pass through Coach U to get there. Hmmm...

No more than when I caught a 5 car meridian, and almost got on the hst on the other platform as I had a reservation in coach G, so should be in the 7th coach of the train
 

Eagle

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A, B, C, D, E, F, U, G, H, J, K

Hmm... there did seem to be some kind of unwritten rule with Virgin and XC's units not to have E and F on the same train (presumably to avoid tampering with reservation coupons or something).

390/0s are A-B-C-D-E-G-H-J-K, Virgin's 221s go A-B-C-D-E(-G-H-J-K-L), XC's 221s go A-B-C-D-F(-G-H-J-K-L) and their 220s A-C-D-F(-G-J-K-L). None have both an E and an F.
 

headshot119

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Hmm... there did seem to be some kind of unwritten rule with Virgin and XC's units not to have E and F on the same train (presumably to avoid tampering with reservation coupons or something).

390/0s are A-B-C-D-E-G-H-J-K, Virgin's 221s go A-B-C-D-E(-G-H-J-K-L), XC's 221s go A-B-C-D-F(-G-H-J-K-L) and their 220s A-C-D-F(-G-J-K-L). None have both an E and an F.

I thought the reason for omitting E & F was to allow the booking system to be easily update if extra carriages where added in the future?
 

All Line Rover

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Hmm... there did seem to be some kind of unwritten rule with Virgin and XC's units not to have E and F on the same train (presumably to avoid tampering with reservation coupons or something).

Good gracious - reservation fraud!! :shock: (I'm not entirely sure what you could gain from it, though. ;))
 

Peter Mugridge

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I do hope they don't mix the order up by accident during the shunting to insert the extra two; F-U-G is bad enough but if they're not careful they'll have F-U-D-G-E......:lol:
 

ainsworth74

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I thought the reason for omitting E & F was to allow the booking system to be easily update if extra carriages where added in the future?

That's my understanding as well. There are other examples of letters being omitted from formations for example on EC their HSTs are missing H, I and K whilst the 225s are missing A, G, I and J, TPE 170s are also missing B.
 

route:oxford

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I do hope they don't mix the order up by accident during the shunting to insert the extra two; F-U-G is bad enough but if they're not careful they'll have F-U-D-G-E......:lol:

Worse still, the first three letters F-U-D, in much of Scotland, means the same thing as the rude word in Scunthorpe.
 
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