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Thanks, that would be good if it happens. They were briefly 2x458 last month. They were both 2x455 yesterday and today, but I was working at home. Wednesday and Thursday I shall be in the office and I'm planning to avoid the 07:28 as I expect it to be too crowded for me if it's 8x455.

The two morning peak workings on the Epsom line that had been 2x707 then 2x458 then back to 2x707 seem to have reverted to 2x455 today. Not a problem with one of them but the 0701 from Dorking was rammed when it was 8-car previously. I suspect this is connected with the impending disappearance...

Not really, thanks. The timetable changed such that the Chessington trains now precede the Epsom line ones by a few minutes instead of following them, so it's no longer practicable to train hop at Motspur Park. I'm nowhere near that station. I have found the 07:28 from Worcester Park to be much...

Worcester Park suffered particularly badly with the post-COVID cuts. It's my local station and we do at least now have the 'luxury' of the 0701 Dorking-Waterloo (0728 from Worcester Park) being 2x707. The 701s can't come soon enough but I think the Epsom line is well down the list for 701...

I shall believe that when I see it.

I think her career history is interesting. Mrs Mann probably has a better connection with the front line than many MDs, and not just in the rail industry. However, even she can't wave some kind of magic wand and get the 701s into service!

I think Mrs Mann was a driver with Heathrow Express for several years. I attended a talk she gave where she described driving the opening special with Tony Blair on board. The trains were so unreliable that she was accompanied in the cab by three technicians. They made it to what was then...

Only by catching the 06:46 from Worcester Park instead.

That would be very welcome. I get on at Worcester Park and stopped using this service months ago because it was often rammed.

It's not so much SWR who are not restoring services, it's the Treasury that won't let them.

Thanks.

Thanks for the information on units built. Any sign of driver training starting yet, please?

5-car units also allow for shorter trains on lightly-used services such as Ascot-Aldershot-Guildford (I forget whether this is still one service or two).

I believe the 701s are a bit wider inside than a 707, helped by not having door pockets as they have plug doors not sliding doors.

Does anyone know how many 701s have been built so far, please?

That was the general gist of the MD's comments on the subject.

I think this is what the MD meant. She commented that stabling was an issue as they have the existing 455 fleet to accommodate until withdrawal as well as the 701s. 1668871405 The MD was not blaming them. She was a train driver with Heathrow Express when it first started running and recalled...

It was the Railway Correspondence & Travel Society Surrey Branch meeting at Woking. They have some really good speakers and the meetings are open to non-members. Andrew Haines from Network Rail did a talk recently and Tim Shoveller is doing one soon. Gordon Pettitt did one a while back but I was...

In the talk, Mrs Mann commented that commuter traffic across the week is only just over half what it was pre-COVID. She noted that the Epsom line is the busiest of the suburban routes and from the December timetable change there will be two additional evening peak services. My local station...

I know! We shall have to wait and see what happens. Mrs Mann was clearly frustrated by the situation.