Has any train/loco/carriage been 'at its best' when first introduced? Remember the Class 458s? So bad, SWT were going to send them back to the ROSCO in 2004 when they couldn't even manage 5,000 miles per failure. Then, eight years later after some intensive TLC, they became the most reliable unit in Britain - the first to achieve over 100,000 miles per failure.
It's not a new phenomenon either. Even the venerable 1938 tube stock had a lot of teething troubles. But they're still going strong on the Isle of Wight today.
I am sorry - what I wrote was possibly ambiguous. What I was trying to say that wear in bogie components will lead to reduction in ride quality, so a brand new bogie will ride better than one due for overhaul. My statement was not intended to address development work on the train - I assumed that that phase in the life cycle of the train had already been completed.
The IET was rushed. Both GWR and DfT’s fault. Most commuters do not want to keep the HST because of the train but because of the issues that the two involved have caused.
1. Shortforms will probably be a fault only occurrence by February March time as all IETs would have been introduced without the loss of rolling stock.
2. The hard seats will be sorted soon before GWR twitter team will have to put out a auto reply for the seats.
3. Standing room only will be rare with the new timetable, unless point 1 is in effect.
4. Faults with the units would be fixed soon, and by 2020 will be good trains.
I don’t like to try and talk to train enthusiasts who criticise the IET as bad compared to the HST as they are not the people who experiance this everyday. These trains are not suitable for a busy network 40 years after first produced! British Rail fans want steam back if they could!
My comments have nothing whatsoever to do with whether passengers want to continue with HSTs or not and I am not, repeat not, suggesting that the IEP is 'bad' (for some value of 'bad') compared to the HST. What I am suggesting is that certain aspects of the
ride and Noise Vibration and Harshness of the IEP as experienced by the passengers are not what one would expect for a train which was designed nearly 50 years after the HST and which is expected to remain in front line service for another quarter of a century.
One would hope that the faults are fixed sooner than 2020 - because Agility Trains only gets paid (the full amount) if the trains fulfil their scheduled diagrams.
