I was on the 0832 south from St Pancras today. The regulars are definitely getting used to the new walk through trains - after arrival at City Thameslink there was a hefty stream of people walking through the length train to the rearmost door ready to get off 'first' at Blackfriars - must have been 20-25 people or so by my reckoning all clumped in the rear vestibule.
That doesn't bode well for quick dwell times. If disproportionate numbers of people choose to try and exit through the doors nearest the platform exit dwell time increases massively, especially if that happens to be the place on the platform where most people are waiting too if that's also the platform entrance. For a demonstation of how this can destroy dwell times, look no further than King's Cross WB Piccadilly Line in the morning peak, and see how the front set of doors takes way longer to unload/load than the rest of the train. The entrances and exits are not exactly spread out at most core stations.
Despite having reservations about these trains,. I have tried to take an objective viewpoint. Unfortunately I have found them to be *worse* than my expectations.
BAD POINTS:
- Seating is absolutely awful. Seats are hard and I found them extremely uncomfortable. Worse, I found the legroom in the airline seats to be tight, I simply couldn't sit in one without my knees being penned in against the seat in front. Meanwhile I found the window seats to be cramped - the ledge intruded into foot space and I didn't find it particularly comfortable to rest on it. The window seats would be even worse with someone sitting the aisle seat, let alone if that person was wide or with broad shoulders. On more than occasions I saw passengers sit in an airline seat, scoff and then go searching to find a facing seat.
- As I predicted, whilst the traction noise is fairly quiet, noise from other passengers seems to carry very heavily through the train. I could hear a crying baby 2 cars away. This seems as much down to the plastic nature of the interior as the walk-through design. As a side-issue there was also a lot more walking up and down the train, which after a time becomes irritating.
- No tables. My impression was there was a lot more rubbish on the floor and seats than I'd expect to find on an Electrostar or class 365, quite a few coffee stains visible despite being early in the day. I found the interior to be rather clinical, the harsh lighting and bland colour scheme, combined with lack of carpet, simply didn't produce a pleasant nor relaxing travel environment.
GOOD POINTS:
- The only good thing I see about these trains is their performance appears to be good and at least 4-car trains will be consigned to history.
I really can't see these trains being well received on the Great Northern side. Performance has already declined in the past year for various reasons. The introduction of class 700s will represent a decline in the standard of accommodation provided compared to the class 365s. The downgrade process will be completed with the railway starts importing disruption from the Midland, South Central and South Eastern areas. If this is the future then sorry but the tipping point has come when car is the preferable option (with GTR's recent performance this situation has already arrived at weekends).
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rules? I thought we were talking about twits who just push the buttons when not needed.
Amazing post.
So pressing a button marked "Open" when they desire to open a door makes someone a twit?
This might be so in some kind of trainspotter world where passengers are an inconvenience to the railway, but on the real railway this is not the attitude expected.
many thanks