Greater Anglia Rolling Stock Updates

jopsuk said:

as very few GA rural services, even with the 153s, ran with more than one unit, what matters regarding cancellations is not the total number of carriages but the number of units.

Click to expand...

I am staggered to read that you believe that it is acceptable that long suffering commuters should be subjected to class 153 units when there clearly is demand for longer units and better comfort. By removing class 153 units, people getting left behind will be vastly reduced and it will help the local economy - surely that is a good thing.

We have seen on here that many people have been disappointed that trains are being short formed and now more carriages are being provided, in some cases trebled if not more on some services, people are also complaining? It just goes to show that some people will moan at anything.

The bulk of the Class 720s were meant to be in service already. Progress is not "going well", is it? The end of the year was supposed to see only 26 class 317 and the 30 321 Renatus in service, alongside the 379s and 360s.

The Mark 3s were supposed to be entirely gone by the end of December

Click to expand...

The Greater Anglia New trains project was scheduled to be completed by the end of 2020 and is ahead of doing so. This is the timeframe that is clearly published on the Greater Anglia site and this will be easily made without any problems whatsoever with production at Bombardier ramping up and units already undergoing testing.

Transformeren said:

....
I have also been reading that there is a shortage of rolling stock on local lines. There is no shortage of rolling stock and there are currently more local carriages in service than there were before any of the new fleet arrived and there are more available to Greater Anglia on a daily basis.

Unfortunately due to the poor weather and also the local wildlife, floods, trespass incidents and vandalism and some unfortunate incidents, Greater Anglia have had no luck at all which has resulted in a number of units being unavailable every day, resulting in these faults causing cancellations on the Ipswich to Peterborough Line today.
.....

Click to expand...

Welcome to the forum.
You are part of the GA spin machine? Yes?

The Ipswich-Peterborough service was suspended from early doors today and all trains shown as cancelled. A move I actually welcomed as I know that there is not enough stock available operationally to run the full rural service and it therefore gave some certainty to other services across the routes.

I have just noted that the final round trip on the Ipswich-Peterborough has been re-instated at the expense of more cancellations of other services that had been expected to run earlier in the day. I know exactly why this late deviation has been made and it isn't because miraculously more stock has been repaired.

I am very happy with the new trains, they are gamechangers but to talk about more carriages rather than more trains is just spin if you need to get to work/school etc and no train turns up.

I wish GA all the luck in the world but it isn't really luck that is needed is it?

Removing 3 x 1 carriage trains and replacing with 1x 4 carriage train might mean more carriages but that’s 2 less trains to operate services...... which means more cancelled services ,how is that better? I know my figures of what’s gone recently are probably wrong (loosely following)but just making the point that more carriages doesn’t mean more trains

Troll chum

Transformeren said:

I am staggered to read that you believe that it is acceptable that long suffering commuters should be subjected to class 153 units when there clearly is demand for longer units and better comfort. By removing class 153 units, people getting left behind will be vastly reduced and it will help the local economy - surely that is a good thing.

Click to expand...

Of course it's a good thing to withdraw the 153s. But only if there's another train there to replace it. The 755s are excellent trains. You twist my words.

The Greater Anglia New trains project was scheduled to be completed by the end of 2020 and is ahead of doing so. This is the timeframe that is clearly published on the Greater Anglia site and this will be easily made without any problems whatsoever with production at Bombardier ramping up and units already undergoing testing.

Click to expand...

Spin, obfuscation and lies. Yes, the program was not due to be complete until 2020. But sufficient units were supposed to be in service such that no emergency derogation from the PRM-TSI requirements introduced with DDA and carried forward by successor legislation would be required- that meant withdrawl of the entire Norwich Intercity mark 3 fleet and the bulk of the class 317 and 321 fleets. This clearly is not going to be achieved.

It is highly suspicious that you charge in here to defend Abellio with a username that's the Dutch word for "transform"

eastdyke said:

Welcome to the forum.
You are part of the GA spin machine? Yes?[

The Ipswich-Peterborough service was suspended from early doors today and all trains shown as cancelled. A move I actually welcomed as I know that there is not enough stock available operationally to run the full rural service and it therefore gave some certainty to other services across the routes.

I have just noted that the final round trip on the Ipswich-Peterborough has been re-instated at the expense of more cancellations of other services that had been expected to run earlier in the day. I know exactly why this late deviation has been made and it isn't because miraculously more stock has been repaired.

I am very happy with the new trains, they are gamechangers but to talk about more carriages rather than more trains is just spin if you need to get to work/school etc and no train turns up.

I wish GA all the luck in the world but it isn't really luck that is needed is it?

Click to expand...

I'm merely an interested observer who takes a keen interest in the railways - I have never been lucky enough to have any involvement.

The Ipswich to Peterborough service was cancelled because of the fact that there are a number of trains which are unfortunately unavailable due to unfortunate circumstances, which include vandalism, poor weather, trains hitting objects or animals and other circumstances which are outside the control of the operator. If none of these issues had occured then Peterborough services to/from Ipswich would have run today. So this is your root cause, not the phased transfer of trains which was drawn up by people with far more experience than me or you.

In relation to the Ipswich to Peterborough round trip, perhaps you could give the engineers and the technical staff at Crown Point some credit where it is due? They have been working around the clock to get the service back and therefore it starts back much earlier than predicted thanks to their heroic efforts. A bit of gratitude wouldn't go amiss. In relation to the other cancellations, these are not related and to put 2+2 together and come up with 5 is typical of people on this forum who think they know everything but know nothing.

Already I am seeing schoolchildren and commuters being delighted with the new trains, who are now able to travel in comfort, space and style which they were never able to do before. The students at West Suffolk College are understandably delighted with their new trains on the Ipswich to Cambridge line as they have a seat where they didn't before and now are able to arrive fresh for their classes without the stresses of a sardine packed train like they used to.

More and more people travel in comfort, style and with personal space every week, this is something that is to be celebrated and if you ask everyone on the FLIRTS if they prefer things now to how they were before, then I think you'll find that it will be a landslide victory over the new trains versus the old ones, so your point doesn't hold water.

Transformeren said:

I do not feel that having a different viewpoint is trolling is it?

Click to expand...

Where to start.
GA currently have less trains in service than before. Its trains that matter dir avoiding cancellation, not number of carriages.
Class 153 is not 40 years old.
Someone else pointed out the first point to you and you accuse him of advocating that the 153s should stay and not be replaced - he didn't say anything of the sort.

You're trolling. I will not respond further to you.

Cambrian359 said:

Removing 3 x 1 carriage trains and replacing with 1x 4 carriage train might mean more carriages but that’s 2 less trains to operate services...... which means more cancelled services ,how is that better? I know my figures of what’s gone recently are probably wrong (loosely following)but just making the point that more carriages doesn’t mean more trains

Click to expand...

It is incorrect to say that there have been 3 carriages that have been removed from service and only 4 carriages replacing them. The difference is far bigger than this. The number of vehicles in the active Greater Anglia fleet for local services is now at an all time high and is growing every week, this means more seats, more room and more personal space for each passenger, should they be going to work, home, school or college or traveling for business and it's growing by the week.

There are no less trains in the local Greater Anglia fleet at present than there were in the past, before the roll out of new trains started and as the weeks go on there will be considerably more.

I really hope it's a troll. If someone in GA really did think that it would be terrifying...

...I think you'll find that the worst we've been getting is a Class Thin Air, and that rather a lot of these have been out on the network.

They may indeed be more trains "available", but if they are something else is a serious problem that prevents them being used.

jopsuk said:

Of course it's a good thing to withdraw the 153s. But only if there's another train there to replace it. The 755s are excellent trains. You twist my words.

Click to expand...

Perhaps you should speak to the farmers to get their animals under control, call the almighty one to stop his random acts of weather and also speak to the local youth of the area about treating the trains they travel on with more respect. If none of these things, totally outside any operators control, were not the case, then we'd not be speaking about this then.

Spin, obfuscation and lies. Yes, the program was not due to be complete until 2020. But sufficient units were supposed to be in service such that no emergency derogation from the PRM-TSI requirements introduced with DDA and carried forward by successor legislation would be required- that meant withdrawl of the entire Norwich Intercity mark 3 fleet and the bulk of the class 317 and 321 fleets. This clearly is not going to be achieved.

Click to expand...

Everybody in the rail network knows that the targets that were set were never going to be met though don't they at the end of the day? It's the worst kept secret in the industry, it's effecting all operators who are hamstrung by government setting an unrealistic target that they knew they were never going to keep to.

The stock is not going to be withdrawn and the government are not going to score a massive own goal. The idea that there's made panic because the deadline is coming up is laughable, because it never has been viewed as a hard deadline by anyone other than those who write a lot on keyboards but have never worked a day in the industry in their lives.

It is highly suspicious that you charge in here to defend Abellio with a username that's the Dutch word for "transform"

Click to expand...

I do not believe that you should be resorting to personal attacks on this forum - I come from a mixed Dutch and Essex background, I'm sure that you are aware of the connections between Harwich and Holland and therefore can appreciate that like your other incorrect perceptions, you might just have got this one wrong.

trebor79 said:

Where to start.
GA currently have less trains in service than before. Its trains that matter dir avoiding cancellation, not number of carriages..

Click to expand...

Greater Anglia have no less trains in their DMU fleet than they did before this program was started and have considerably more carriages available, allowing people to travel in comfort and style.

capital12 said:

Please tell me I’m not the only one who read through that and at the very least expected to find a winky face at the end to confirm he was taking the p#ss?!!

Click to expand...

You definitely weren’t the only one.

Those of you who live in Suffolk, tomorrow there is a discussion on Mark Murphy's Breakfast show on BBC Radio Suffolk, where you can speak to Greater Anglia about some of the issues you believe you have been suffering from.

Might be a good way for some people to speak to Abellio and get the truth from the horses mouth so to speak, so you can find out what is really going on rather than guessing?

Just a thought - you can tweet him here
https://twitter.com/MarkGlennMurphy/status/1201566865748905984

Transformeren said:

It is incorrect to say that there have been 3 carriages that have been removed from service and only 4 carriages replacing them. The difference is far bigger than this. The number of vehicles in the active Greater Anglia fleet for local services is now at an all time high and is growing every week, this means more seats, more room and more personal space for each passenger, should they be going to work, home, school or college or traveling for business and it's growing by the week.

There are no less trains in the local Greater Anglia fleet at present than there were in the past, before the roll out of new trains started and as the weeks go on there will be considerably more.

Click to expand...

Ye I know my figures aren’t right,I was making the point that more carriages doesn’t mean more trains.but I think you know that.

Cambrian359 said:

Ye I know my figures aren’t right,I was making the point that more carriages doesn’t mean more trains.but I think you know that.

Click to expand...

So, like most of the people on here, you admit you are simply just guessing at what you are posting and trying to give the impression that you know something but you actually don't know anything at all?

Greater Anglia have ways of contacting them, via phone, in person at stations, by writing just to name a few. You can put your concerns and views to them and they will give you correct information.

You can find a useful option if you click someone's name, under "ignore".

Transformeren said:

allowing people to travel in comfort and style

Click to expand...

Nobody writes like that unless they work for marketing, or are trying to make people suffering from endless train cancellations even more angry.

How have you managed to come across information that enables you to claim that you have full knowledge of the situation and that all inferences made by people on this forum are wrong?

And don't try to say that NS Rail are a nice bunch of people who are really clever and always tell the truth, because the evidence for that is not in your favour.

Transformeren said:

In relation to the Ipswich to Peterborough round trip, perhaps you could give the engineers and the technical staff at Crown Point some credit where it is due? They have been working around the clock to get the service back and therefore it starts back much earlier than predicted thanks to their heroic efforts. A bit of gratitude wouldn't go amiss.

Click to expand...

Engineering staff at Crown Point do great things, currently under difficult circumstances.

But your assertion in relation to the reinstated 2E84 20.01 Ipswich-Peterborough [dep 20.41] is either an incorrect guess or a deliberate lie.
I know where the unit came from.

I am sorry but our exchanges are now at an end.

Does anyone know how many Flirts are managing to operate a full day, typically, and how quickly the numbers are increasing?

The bad patch is looking very bad:
http://trains.im/ppmhistorical/LE/47

Transformeren said:

So, like most of the people on here, you admit you are simply just guessing at what you are posting and trying to give the impression that you know something but you actually don't know anything at all?

Greater Anglia have ways of contacting them, via phone, in person at stations, by writing just to name a few. You can put your concerns and views to them and they will give you correct information.

Click to expand...

I don’t believe I’ve ever made an opinion in favour or against greater Anglia trains, I was simply pointing out that more carriages doesn’t automatically mean more trains...... longer trains yes but not necessarily more trains.
I’m only following this topic as some of your trains were destined for Transport for wales.

TubeMapCentral said:

Don't try to say that NS Rail are a nice bunch of people who are really clever and always tell the truth, because the evidence for that is not in your favour.

Click to expand...

You will have to ask Abellio that question, it is not one for me to answer since I do not work for them and have no connection and am just an interested observer. Since I do not know them, I am unable to comment on how nice they are but I do think that it's off topic for this thread @yorkie

eastdyke said:

Engineering staff at Crown Point do great things, currently under difficult circumstances.

But your assertion in relation to the reinstated 2E84 20.01 Ipswich-Peterborough [dep 20.41] is either an incorrect guess or a deliberate lie.
I know where the unit came from.

I am sorry but our exchanges are now at an end.

Click to expand...

So if you know where the unit came from why don't you tell us? Otherwise it looks like you are merely spoofing and pretending to know something when you do not. I believe you don't actually know and are trying to point score. I think it's quite obvious if a train was cancelled due to a train fault, is re-instated, is because there is no longer a train fault. It doesn't exactly take a brain surgeon to work that out.

Or do you really think there is some big shuffle going on every day on purpose to annoy Mr East Dyke and they're shuffling trains around like the deckchairs on the Titanic? Honestly, with such a big project going on, do you honestly believe that staff have the time to be playing an elaborate game of swapsie? You know it's not so simple as just swinging one train off one service and onto another, driver hours, fuelling and diagram concerns, and getting staff back to their parked cars have to be worked into it, that doesn't happen with a click of fingers.

Cambrian359 said:

I don’t believe I’ve ever made an opinion in favour or against greater Anglia trains, I was simply pointing out that more carriages doesn’t automatically mean more trains...... longer trains yes but not necessarily more trains.
I’m only following this topic as some of your trains were destined for Transport for wales.

Click to expand...

You ought to ask your operator why they are bringing in life expired trains rather than new ones like Abellio is doing and other franchises are doing up and down the country.

gingerheid said:

The bad patch is looking very bad:
http://trains.im/ppmhistorical/LE/47

Click to expand...

That graph doesn't surprise me to be honest.

I think it could bet worse still before it gets better.

Looking through the last couple of pages, I don't think anyone wants Abellio to fail, I really want them to succeed since this region for sure deserved some proper brand new stock rather than constantly getting hand me downs.

But also people do need to be able to get to work etc whilst this transformation has been going on and the most disappointing thing for me is that Abellio have not really been upfront with their passengers on many occasions and seem far more interested in their PR rather than actually their customers. We've seen everything blamed under the sun apart from themselves and part of running a project like this is owning it and dealing with issues and solving them, not making excuses as to why things are the way they are.

If they came out and were a bit more frank about things it really would be a start, but instead they are very defensive and seem quite detached from the impact their poor local services have had on people. Saying that there are new trains and there are more carriages is great, but the number of cancellations are still far too high to provide a reliable service and you can have the Orient Express on every service, but if it's constantly cancelled or breaking down, people will be unhappy. The nuts and bolts of a train service are to provide a reliable service that you can depend on. On the local lines that isn't happening at present

Abellio need to lose a bit of their pride and face saving and just come out and say what is happening to customers and put a plan in place to mitigate it as best as they can and give the impression that they are listening to customers, some of which were sent on a very merry dance to Peterborough from Ipswich today, because the direct trains and Cambridge trains were taken out.

This morning senior management were apparently on the first train from Lowestoft celebrating the launch of the FLIRTS on the line and the retirement of the 153s. The retirement of the same 153s led to the Peterborough line being closed for the whole day and other services also struggling for rolling stock as pretty much the trains previously operating Peter(borough) services were robbed to pay a few Pauls and seemingly GA's only response was that new trains are coming soon, which isn't a great help for someone who in the meantime still has to go to work.

F Great Eastern said:

Looking through the last couple of pages, I don't think anyone wants Abellio to fail, I really want them to succeed since this region for sure deserved some proper brand new stock rather than constantly getting hand me downs.
......

Click to expand...

Entirely agree, its just a matter of getting from where we are now to where we need to be. A little more humility and honesty from GA et al. would wash better with me though.

I think that GA did well today with their insufficient numbers of operational units. Heck they have plenty enough units for the current services once everything is commissioned and operational, even allowing for some to be 'jugged'.
Cruel luck to encounter the 'panto' incident and then some poor rail conditions on some of the routes.
The reinstated final Ipswich-Peterborough round trip was a good decision, even though that meant cancelling a Cambridge to source the unit [which was not their last service of the day].

I suspect we will see more of the same tomorrow, hopefully without any of the bad luck.

Today's initial cancellation list due to train faults / shortage of rolling stock.

06:14 Lowestoft to Ipswich due 07:44
06:20 Ipswich to Saxmundham due 06:58
06:24 Great Yarmouth to Norwich due 06:57
06:27 Hertford East to London Liverpool Street due 07:18
06:33 Norwich to Cambridge due 07:53
06:52 Norwich to Great Yarmouth due 07:26
07:23 London Liverpool Street to Broxbourne due 07:48
07:30 Great Yarmouth to Norwich due 08:05
07:44 Saxmundham to Lowestoft due 08:33
08:00 Norwich to London Liverpool Street due 10:00
08:03 Ipswich to Peterborough due 09:40
08:09 Norwich to Great Yarmouth due 08:42
08:09 Cambridge to Norwich due 09:30
08:46 Great Yarmouth to Norwich due 09:19
09:40 Norwich to Cambridge due 10:59
09:50 Peterborough to Ipswich due 11:28
10:05 Norwich to Lowestoft due 10:52
10:30 London Liverpool Street to Norwich due 12:27
10:57 Lowestoft to Norwich due 11:35
11:09 Cambridge to Norwich due 12:37
12:01 Ipswich to Peterborough due 13:39
12:05 Norwich to Lowestoft due 12:50
12:57 Lowestoft to Norwich due 13:33
13:50 Peterborough to Ipswich due 15:28
16:00 Ipswich to Peterborough due 17:40
17:50 Peterborough to Ipswich due 19:28

F Great Eastern said:

Today's initial cancellation list
.
07:44 Saxmundham to Lowestoft due 08:33
.

Click to expand...

Late for school again.
'I am sorry Sir but my train hit a tree/ / / /[insert object] some weeks ago. The train company has lots of new ones in the sidings around Norwich but hasn't got them into use yet. But its ok, they are comfy, long, stylish and really good. Perhaps one will turn up tomorrow?
Now about that detention. I thought I might be allowed to write about How to Run a Railway?'

412 working the 0654 Ipswich to Cambridge this morning. Guess this means a missing 755 elsewhere...

Jamesxr8 said:

412 working the 0654 Ipswich to Cambridge this morning. Guess this means a missing 755 elsewhere...

Click to expand...

Yes from the list that @F Great Eastern posted it looks like a whole Norwich - Cambridge diagram is missing.

My weekly commute to Sleaford tomorrow. I'm going to buy my ticket tactically and pay the full 70-odd quid rather than my usual split tickets for £31.90. Might as well maximise the delay repay!