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Abellio Greater Anglia Class 755s (Regional Trains)

F Great Eastern

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The part of the 755 introduction disaster that has had little discussion is money. This is the beginning of a long and very expensive legal liability story. Delay repay must be costing GA a fortune & goodness knows for how long it will continue..

Does delay repay apply to overcrowding to the point you cannot board on Greater Anglia?

I recently claimed back for this on South Western Railway and they were even advising us to do this and had area on form just for these situations but Greater Anglia don't say anything about this.

GA tend to use different reasons for cancellations than other operators for stock issues. For example more trains needing repair at same time than usual is used by GWR and SWR but with Greater Anglia it's always a train fault even if it's due to lack of stock.

I've also seen reasons get changed later on. For example a train fault delay delay being attributed to a freight train that I guess it got stuck behind as it missed it's path.
 
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eastdyke

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The link to the BBC story that I posted upthread remains unchanged.
[repeated] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-50710360
The content has changed and now includes reference to a joint GA/NR statement:
A joint statement issued by Greater Anglia's managing director Jamie Burle [sic] and Network Rail's Anglia route director Mark Budden apologised for "the continued disruption" and said engineers were investigating the signalling problems.

"We are examining every factor including components of the signalling system, the impact of leaf fall, and the interaction between the signalling system and passenger trains, old and new," they said.

"We fully appreciate this situation is extremely frustrating for passengers and it is an absolute priority for us to get these problems resolved as soon as possible."
Myself, and no doubt others, will be saying 'and not before time'.
 
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F Great Eastern

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Jamie Burles has finally spoken and Greater Anglia have today issued a press release, not about the current problems, but hailing the further roll out of these great new trains.

https://www.greateranglia.co.uk/abo...art-passenger-service-ipswich-lowestoft-route
New trains start passenger service on Ipswich-Lowestoft route
Two of Greater Anglia’s new state-of-the-art Swiss-built trains were put in service on the Ipswich-Lowestoft line, which in the last year has seen a four per cent growth in passenger journeys, with just over 725,000 passenger journeys a year

The new trains have more seats, plug and USB sockets, free fast wifi, air conditioning, better passenger information screens and improved accessibility features.

They are powered by diesel and electricity, and are much greener than the existing diesel trains, with lower emissions, and modern brakes which release less brake dust into the environment.

In the last four weeks, Greater Anglia has introduced new four-carriage trains on the Norwich-Sheringham, Ipswich-Felixstowe and Ipswich-Cambridge routes.

They are also in service on the Norwich-Great Yarmouth, Lowestoft and Cambridge routes.

On Thursday last week (28 November) the first of Greater Anglia’s new three-carriage trains went into passenger service, on the Ipswich-Felixstowe line.

Jamie Burles, Greater Anglia managing director, said: “We are seeing increasing numbers of people use our services on route between Ipswich and Lowestoft, so it’s brilliant that we’re now able to run our new longer trains on this line.

“The new trains should make a big difference to customers’ journeys – with more seats and all the mod-cons people expect of a 21st-century train.

“This route is important for customers travelling for business, leisure and education, and we’re confident the new trains will be a big boost to the area.”

Martino Celeghini, technical project manager at Stadler, said: “It is great to see more and more bi-modes enter passenger service, and we are working closely with our client, Greater Anglia, to release trains on to the network as efficiently as possible.

“Designed for comfort and style, they are technologically-sophisticated, environmentally-friendly and very safe. We are confident they will go down well with the travelling public in East Anglia.”

Greater Anglia is replacing every single train on its network with brand new trains. The roll-out started in July this year on regional routes.

The train company is getting 58 trains from Stadler, including 38 bi-mode trains and 20 electric trains – ten for the intercity route between Norwich and London and ten for the Stansted Express route.

Safety and performance tests are being carried out on the Stadler electric trains on both the Norwich - London and Stansted Airport - London routes.

A total of 111 trains are being made by UK train manufacturer Bombardier, who have now made over 20 of Greater Anglia’s new electric commuter trains which will run on routes between Liverpool Street and Essex, Ipswich, Cambridge and Hertfordshire.

The bi-mode trains are part of a £600m investment in new Stadler trains for the region which have been financed by Rock Rail East Anglia and will be leased to Greater Anglia for the life of the franchise.

What with this and the banner on the Greater Anglia website claiming that the operator is now running a good service, it's almost like Greater Anglia management are on another planet. The relentless PR drive continues, as if nothing is wrong.
 

eastdyke

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You will not be surprised that the GA website is proudly proclaiming "a good service". What, in their terms, can possibly constitute a poor service?
The IT boffins really need to get that good service messege removed!
My observation is that the 9 routes included in the 'Service' dropdown are just the routes to/from Liverpool St., IC, suburban and outer suburban.
Right now there shoud be a section directed at the 'Marsh Dwellers' of rural Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk along the lines of:
'To enable you to complete your journey, please bring own {folded} punt' ;)
 

F Great Eastern

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Rumour has it that the local press have had enough and are going to demand answers and have been speaking to sources to reveal things.
 
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GarethC

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A new article has appeared on the East Anglian website with a list of 10 quite clear questions, will be interesting to see if GA answer them!
https://www.eadt.co.uk/news/greater-anglia-train-problems-1-6416164

Ten questions for Greater Anglia and Network Rail over the issues faced by train passengers in the region over the last few days
1)We are being told that the disruption is caused by "signalling problems." Why is this only affecting services on rural routes, not on the main line between East Anglia and London?
2) Are the problems linked to the introduction of the new trains on Greater Anglia's rural services - in particular are they linked to a piece of equipment called a "flange lubricator" to reduce friction between wheel and track?
3) Are the "signalling problems" linked to the incident at the level crossing on the Norwich to Cromer line when a train came within a second of being in collision with a car and is currently being investigated by the RAIB?
4) If the problems are caused by signalling problems, why are freight trains continuing to run to Felixstowe and why are East Midland Railways trains continuing to operate between Norwich and Peterborough without disruption?
5) Is this problem going to take a long time to solve (like the problems with the new Transport for London Aventra trains)?
6) Has Greater Anglia trained enough drivers on the new trains and did you train them fast enough given the deadline to returning your existing rural trains to their leasing companies?
7) Why is the Ipswich to Peterborough service withdrawn when that is one of only two routes that cannot operate new trains?
8) When do you expect to know why there was a problem with the overhead collection arm (pantograph) at Elmswell last week and has this forced new checks on other trains?
9) How will the current issue affect the introduction of the new Intercity trains that are due to start entering service before the end of the year?
10) If the problems are linked to the introduction of the new trains, why did they not show up during 2,000 miles of testing over the region's rail tracks?
 

LAX54

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Anglia say its a NR Signalling problem, however it is fact that it is ONLY the 755's that have the issue, ALL other types of traction have had no problems, so does it not point to the 755s not working, rather than the NR signals ? Also they say due to Major Signalling problems there are no trains on the Sudbury or Felixstowe ??
 

hwl

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Anglia say its a NR Signalling problem, however it is fact that it is ONLY the 755's that have the issue, ALL other types of traction have had no problems, so does it not point to the 755s not working, rather than the NR signals ? Also they say due to Major Signalling problems there are no trains on the Sudbury or Felixstowe ??
What they mean is that the NR have problems with their signalling systems because they aren't detecting Anglia 755 but omit the second bit!
 

hwl

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F Great Eastern

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Problems on Norwich/Ipswich to Lowestoft services now.

Apparently due to slippery rails caused by rail head adhesion problems - is this specific to the 755s again?

Might have to go to Saxmundham tomorrow afternoon, wish me luck that I'll get home before midnight and without an expensive taxi ride!
 

CHAPS2034

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The way GA are reacting to this is very reminiscent of the way Northern handled (and are still doing to some extent) the timetable meltdown last year and the current rubbish service. For the first few weeks after the May 2018 debacle, Northern's MD hid in his bunker and refused to speak to the press. The Manchester Evening News (no match for the EDP IMHO) publicised the fact that he had refused to talk to them and eventually he had to break cover and was also on local TV. Most of it was "not my fault gov", it's all NR's fault as promised infrastructure hadn't been delivered in time. Partly true, but only half of the picture, conveniently forgetting Northern's lack of trained staff, complex diagramming etc etc.

At the same time GTR were constantly at the top of the news agenda, followed by Northern. At least some senior GTR managers fell on their sword. TPE had a similarly rubbish service but their problems were masked because of the enormity of the Northern cock-up.

Northern and TPE's service is still rubbish, but their PR holds to the line that things are getting better as new trains are coming in and never answers the justifiable criticisms. Most savvy punters can see this puffery is just a smoke-screen and if they think they are preserving the brand with all this stuff, they are sorely mistaken.

Their relations with some of the local press are heavily strained as a result of this but then again many journos nowadays only have time to cut and paste press releases word for word instead of asking penetrating questions. So its good to see the EDP putting all these questions to GA and I hope they will keep pressing to get their questions answered.
 

WroxhamTroll

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My first post after months of just reading what has proven to be a very valuable resource as our local services have crumbled.

In recent weeks I had taken to sending the EDP various links and even YouTube videos of the 170's and now the 153's leaving the region.

Email back today says there is now a dedicated journalist on the story, which the set of questions seems to verify.

We so want the 755's working and we cut GA some slack if they just stopped the spin.

Anyway a belated hello and thanks to all the forum posters for giving me info where GA did not.

WT
 

Aureol Colin

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the EADT questions seem quite sensible, although I think the flange lubricators may be a red herring
 

DaveHarries

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I have just been having a look at the Mid Norfolk Railway on Google Earth and noticed this in the sidings at Kimberley Park. A look in the opposite direction shows a couple of blokes in orange hi-vis, one of whom looks to be photographing the train parked up. Postcode, for anyone interested, is NR18 9HB.

Image Date: 07/2019.
755_epmnr.jpg
HTIOI,
Dave
 

Abbo

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I have just been having a look at the Mid Norfolk Railway on Google Earth and noticed this in the sidings at Kimberley Park. A look in the opposite direction shows a couple of blokes in orange hi-vis, one of whom looks to be photographing the train parked up. Postcode, for anyone interested, is NR18 9HB.

Image Date: 07/2019.
View attachment 71424
HTIOI,
Dave
My first post after months of just reading what has proven to be a very valuable resource as our local services have crumbled.

In recent weeks I had taken to sending the EDP various links and even YouTube videos of the 170's and now the 153's leaving the region.

Email back today says there is now a dedicated journalist on the story, which the set of questions seems to verify.

We so want the 755's working and we cut GA some slack if they just stopped the spin.

Anyway a belated hello and thanks to all the forum posters for giving me info where GA did not.

WT

Like Wroxham Troll I have been reading this thread for some time with great interest since any information as to what's happening, let alone accurate information is non existant at Sheringham.

There is a new timetable due next week with a Norwich - Stansted service...........................no comment on that.
 

LAX54

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the EADT questions seem quite sensible, although I think the flange lubricators may be a red herring

The Lubricators have been removed from all the 755s as far as I know, in an attempt to cure the problem, and WHEN will the press STOP saying ...it's a Network Rail Signalling problem ? Staff are getting a little jarred off right now !
 

ashkeba

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The Lubricators have been removed from all the 755s as far as I know, in an attempt to cure the problem, and WHEN will the press STOP saying ...it's a Network Rail Signalling problem ? Staff are getting a little jarred off right now !
Probably after GA stop telling the press that! They still have a front page link to a page calling it a "major signalling problem".
 

Abbo

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The Bittern Line was by some distance the last route out Norwich to be FLIRTED. Why ? Were there concerns that were being addressed but not published into the public domain and then AGA were 'forced' to put them into service on the Bittern Line when it dawned on AGA that with the legacy units going away they would be left without any trains for this service. One can only be thankful that the Norwich Road crossing incident was only a ( very ) near miss.
 

dk1

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The Bittern Line was by some distance the last route out Norwich to be FLIRTED. Why ? Were there concerns that were being addressed but not published into the public domain and then AGA were 'forced' to put them into service on the Bittern Line when it dawned on AGA that with the legacy units going away they would be left without any trains for this service. One can only be thankful that the Norwich Road crossing incident was only a ( very ) near miss.
No conspiracy. Simply awaiting Sheringham stations rebuild & getting ASDO passed for traffic so as to stop at Worstead, Gunton & Roughton Road.
 

LAX54

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Yes quite a few.
Are there any 755s actually in service today?

And as they can;t be guaranteed to work any track circuit, they are being dealt with under 3.5 working, that is, "Train out of Section" before another can follow, the signals have to be controlled signals and not "autos", the downside is this affects the 153's and 170 by deafult, and increases the workload of the Signaller too
 

eastdyke

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Perhaps they are using Red Herring Oil instead of the correct lubricant.
Close, according to reports by the local media (EDP) citrus oil is being used to decontaminate the wheels.
https://www.edp24.co.uk/business/greater-anglia-new-trains-problems-citrus-oil-1-6417275
An email, sent on Monday by union organiser Nigel Gibson and deputy director at Greater Anglia Richard Packer, outlines the measures now being put in place on the new trains.
It includes treating the wheels with citrus oil to remove any "contamination" on them.
Any unusual noises would be the pips squeaking?
 

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