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Abellio Greater Anglia Class 755s (Regional Trains)

Railperf

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Was going to report a flawless performance on the 755s today..but currently sitting at Bury after an engine shutdown as we were on the verge of departing.
Engines restarted but not moving yet...
Edit: finally moving 10 late after a couple of false starts.
Edit 2. The guard has just come though apologising for the delay - claiming it is a problem with one of the engines. A driver bringing this in earlier said the TMS had been flagging up engine temp warnings. However it had run okay despite that.
We have plenty of padding in the schedule..so not too worried about arriving late in Cambridge unless the issue reoccurs starting from Newmarket or Dullingham. Strange that all 4 engines shut down. Can they not simply isolate the faulty one from.providing traction until it cools down?
 
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LAX54

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So, with a 156 on the Sudbury all day, a 156 on the 0540 Colch to Peterboro, (402) the 0627 to Lowestoft is 156419, and the 170 on the 0645 to Lowestoft, ALL other services have to be a 755 :)
 

LAX54

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I've noticed Journey Check is showing the Ipswich-Peterborough trains as 2 carriages instead of 4, so getting close to seeing them on that line.

First time I've been on a Class 755 train from Cambridge to Ipswich, and seen the next one towards Cambridge at Chippenham Junction also being a Class 755.

Peterboro: 6th Jan 2020.
Sudbury 13th Jan 2020

1 x 745 to Liv St 8th Jan 2020 (0740)
 

Tim Regester

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I just had a long chat with my brother and explained the issues encountered on GA lines and track circuits with the new Stadler Class 755's. He raised two points, on a course last year to get his railway signalling electronics and systems knowledge up to scratch, the other signalling engineers on the course stated that the signalling systems on NR are not always being maintained by engineers with real experience of how the systems work and just read circuit diagrams and don't carry out sufficient testing. So the problems may be due, in part, to poor maintenance by subcontractors working for NR.

The other point mentioned was that the Class 222 Meridians had similar issues on EMR where trains disappeared off track circuits and this was proven to be a track circuit issue not a train issue.

This sort of makes sense. BTW despite him working now at a University he does signalling for Heritage rail organisations so keeps up to date and his degree thesis was on ATO and Rail signalling so it is his area of expertise.
 

ge-gn

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I just had a long chat with my brother and explained the issues encountered on GA lines and track circuits with the new Stadler Class 755's. He raised two points, on a course last year to get his railway signalling electronics and systems knowledge up to scratch, the other signalling engineers on the course stated that the signalling systems on NR are not always being maintained by engineers with real experience of how the systems work and just read circuit diagrams and don't carry out sufficient testing. So the problems may be due, in part, to poor maintenance by subcontractors working for NR.

The other point mentioned was that the Class 222 Meridians had similar issues on EMR where trains disappeared off track circuits and this was proven to be a track circuit issue not a train issue.

This sort of makes sense. BTW despite him working now at a University he does signalling for Heritage rail organisations so keeps up to date and his degree thesis was on ATO and Rail signalling so it is his area of expertise.

What a load of rubbish. The railway is maintained often over and beyond what is required in the standards by staff, who are hugely experienced in their local districts.
 

Grumbler

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What a load of rubbish. The railway is maintained often over and beyond what is required in the standards by staff, who are hugely experienced in their local districts.
Then why don't the train detection systems work properly?
 

Mag_seven

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the signalling systems on NR are not always being maintained by engineers with real experience of how the systems work and just read circuit diagrams and don't carry out sufficient testing. So the problems may be due, in part, to poor maintenance by subcontractors working for NR.

If true somewhat worrying given the safety critical nature of signalling systems.
 

Railperf

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Yes there are a couple although it makes no difference to performance.
Which ones? 417 was playing up on Monday with fluctuating engine temps. The Ipswich driver said it was still running. I'm told drivers cannot isolate engines. But once the alarms start going off - a call to someone in diagnostics is required to help go through the TMS and reset everything to carry on.
 

dk1

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Which ones? 417 was playing up on Monday with fluctuating engine temps. The Ipswich driver said it was still running. I'm told drivers cannot isolate engines. But once the alarms start going off - a call to someone in diagnostics is required to help go through the TMS and reset everything to carry on.
Sorry I pay little attention to numbers. Just another unit to me unless its 419 which seems to be the black sheep of the fleet.
 

Railperf

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Performance wise, the superior acceleration on the 75mph sections of track gives the 755's up to 40 second head start over the older 170's. Unfortunately half of that seems to get lost under braking as drivers get to grips with the brakes - and probably often because the train is well within time - so no need to drop the anchors lol.
 

Railperf

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Sorry I pay little attention to numbers. Just another unit to me unless its 419 which seems to be the black sheep of the fleet.
No worries - I often forget to check too lol! I
 

Adrian1980uk

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We've all got to remember this time next year we'll probably not be talking about the 755s as they'll be putting in a shift day in day out. Probably be talking about the 720s and infrastructure improvements
 

Tug

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Does having 2 engines & a missing bogie on the 3 car sets mean there is only bogie driven rather than the 2 on the 4 car sets?
 

Tug

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Both axles driven on 2 bogies for both 3 & 4 coach units?

Seems expensive (v important to GA!) to have bogies capable of handling twice the diesel power available on the 3 coach units.
 

ivzem

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Seems expensive (v important to GA!) to have bogies capable of handling twice the diesel power available on the 3 coach units.
https://www.stadlerrail.com/media/pdf/feabmu0819e.pdf says yes.
Presumably it would've been more expensive to order two different designs, both of them nonstandard; also don't forget the 3-cars could be extended to 4 cars in the future and having as many common components between the two as possible is useful for maintenance.
 

Chris125

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Seems expensive (v important to GA!) to have bogies capable of handling twice the diesel power available on the 3 coach units.

They aren't just diesel units though - the 3 and 4-car units are much more, and equally, powerful under the wires IIRC.
 

samuelmorris

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If anything the 3 cars are noticeably more powerful on the juice than the 4s.
I should expect so, with one less vehicle and two less engines to carry around. They are actually rated at higher acceleration on electric, 1.3ms^-2 rather than 1.1 for the 4-car, in other words 0-40 in 13.75 seconds.
 

TheEdge

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I should expect so, with one less vehicle and two less engines to carry around. They are actually rated at higher acceleration on electric, 1.3ms^-2 rather than 1.1 for the 4-car, in other words 0-40 in 13.75 seconds.

From a standing start in Ipswich platform I've hit 100 before going under the A14
 

Roger B

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I should expect so, with one less vehicle and two less engines to carry around. They are actually rated at higher acceleration on electric, 1.3ms^-2 rather than 1.1 for the 4-car, in other words 0-40 in 13.75 seconds.
Thanks for this info. Can you point me to somewhere where I can see acceleration rates for other rolling stock - ideally for all DMUs and EMUs. Many thanks
 

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