Chiltern short-forming

[paok]

For many months now Chiltern have been putting out daily messages advising of short-forming due to "more trains than usual needing repairs". They recently put out this statement:

https://www.chilternrailways.co.uk/news/shortformupdate

A message from the Customer Service Director


Dear Customers,

Please accept my apologies for the ongoing disruption caused by trains needing maintenance. I know how frustrating it is when your train turns up and it’s shorter than normal. We recognise that this has caused uncomfortable journeys for customers who have been unable to get seats or not board their service at all. Clearly, this isn’t the service you have come to expect from Chiltern with our industry leading performance and passenger satisfaction scores. Here I have tried to explain why your trains have recently been shorter than normal.

What has gone wrong?
Recently we have been unable to provide the required number of carriages each day to run trains of the lengths intended in our timetable. When this happens, we are forced to make decisions on which services will be shorter than planned in order to minimise disruption for the whole route. This has led to overcrowding on certain services and uncertainty for our customers as to what kind of journey they can expect.

A train that is shorter than usual is called a “short form”. Our commuter trains are made up of one or two shorter trains coupled together to make one long train. If we are unable to couple together the usual amount of trains, we end up with a shorter train than usual. Unfortunately, this means there are fewer seats than usual, which makes peak time trains overcrowded – we are very sorry for the inconvenience this causes.

What causes a short form?
A short form is usually because a train or carriage is out of action. This might be due to a fault or due to damage, or it might be because the train is undergoing one of its routine service checks. There are very strict safety guidelines for train maintenance, which is one of the reasons why the UK’s railways are the safest in Europe.

Why has this happened?
There is no one cause of this situation, but rather several different factors which have come together in the last few months. Chiltern Railways has a variety of train types which have been acquired over the length of our 20-year franchise. Over the years we have provided new services and increased the lengths of trains in response to customer demand. This has put a strain on our fleet as only a very small number of carriages are able to be stopped at any one time for maintenance without impacting the service you receive.

Many of our trains are nearly 30 years old and we have had problems getting parts as suppliers reduce their support in manufacturing new components, particularly around ageing electronic control systems. Another factor is the large number of Wembley events which have reduced the time available for maintenance and repairs to take place and an unforeseen level of wheelset damage which requires the trains to be removed from service until the wheels can be changed or repaired.

Additionally, new legislation is due to come into effect at the end of the year regarding accessibility requirements for trains. This means that our Silver Sets are being sent away, one at a time, for modifications to comply with these standards and this has placed further demand on the fleet. In addition, we have had a number of trains stopped for long term repairs after specific incidents including one train which was derailed and damaged at our depot.

What are we doing about it?
Our engineering and performance teams are working hard to stabilise the position and get back to the point where we can offer the full number of carriages to our customers. We now have a three-month action plan to define the steps we are going to take to address the situation and will be sharing these with the Chiltern Passenger Board. These include:

• Starting a programme to overhaul the electrical power systems on our Class 165 trains which have proven unreliable in recent times, particularly during the hot weather.
• Changing our approach to heavy maintenance to optimise the amount of time this takes on each train.
• Reviewing our processes for how we maintain our trains' wheels in an effort to reduce the current high levels of damage seen.
• A review of the required staffing levels at our depots and ensuring optimised working processes.
• Working with our supply chain to build up stock levels of critical components
• Continuing to seek out all suitable additional rolling stock.

How can I find out if my train is shorter than usual before I arrive at the station?
We publish information about which trains are shorter than normal on JourneyCheck. You can sign up for automatic alerts to your inbox via https://www.journeycheck.com/chilternrailways/

What are our longer-term plans?
Whilst we would like to be in the position of leasing new trains this is unlikely to happen before the end of the current franchise in 2021. There is a national shortage of diesel rolling stock which would be appropriate to run on the Chiltern lines. Even when some does become available, there is a preference from the Rolling Stock Companies who own these trains to lease them to new franchises with longer contracts in place. Instead we are looking at a range of options including standardising the lengths of some types of trains to free up extra seats during the morning and evening peaks, and exploring the expansion of one of our depots to increase our maintenance capacity.

Please be reassured that we are working hard to get the fleet back to the position where we can consistently provide the number of seats required. Thank you for your patience and for bearing with us whilst we implement this plan.

Alan Riley

Customer Services Director, Chiltern Railways

Given the franchise is due to end December 2021 then there can be no realistic opportunity of obtaining further rolling stock unless perhaps it's from a non-ROSCO third party but that's still unlikely.

There's also nothing on the horizon with regards to electrification of the line so how is this going to play out for the remainder of the current franchise but also the new one?

 

[Taunton]

They have always been notably short of stock, for years, which didn't stop them mounting a raid on London to Oxford or London to Birmingham traffic. Fine if you have the stock, but they haven't. It's extraordinary the number of 2-car trains you can always see running in/out of Marylebone. Of course, it suits them double-docking short trains in half of Marylebone, while the other half of the platforms are used as sidings to save taking daytime layover stock out to Wembley.

People actually missed their start in the London Marathon because the first inbound Sunday service on the day was formed 2-car and the competitors from the more inner stations like Gerrards Cross couldn't get in.

 

[Mitchell Hurd]

Well I say Chiltern Railways at least had the decency to apologise considering that they're practically the most trusted operator in the UK!

As regards rolling stock, would the Class 68-hauled pretendolino set be able to be loaned to Chiltern and allow a 16x service to be strengthened at least?

Or one or 2 GWR Turbos?

Both fleets Chiltern would be familiar with. I'm sure most people will prefer a 68-hauled Mark 3 than a normal DMU.

 

[tom73]

Maybe Northern could send a few Class 142 down to cover the shorter distance services. Raise a few eyebrows at Harrow On The Hill.

 

[JN114]

GWR barely have enough Turbos to cover their own work, never mind work on the Chilterns.

 

[67018]

The ‘more trains than usual needing repairs’ message is wearing a bit thin, given that it’s been happening for months. This morning was particularly bad with 9 cancellations and 20 short forms listed on Journeycheck.

At least they got more stock for when the Oxford service started, but it’s been obvious for ages that they were going to run out of capacity given the success of that route and increasing demand across the network. Hundreds of new houses are being built in Banbury and Bicester which will drive more demand.

It’s not uncommon to have trains leaving Marylebone rammed even outside the peaks - any time from 3 to 9pm on a weekday regularly sees people standing as far as Haddenham or Bicester.

Sadly, as they say, there’s not much that can be done with so little time left on the franchise. 142s presumably wouldn’t work due to lack of ability to run on the Met line.

 

[Edders23]

I think the more likely answer is that Chiltern do not want to pay for more stock because I'm sure they could hire in some more coaches and locos and more and more DMU's are getting cascaded perhaps even a couple of short formed HST's could be hired in

There are possibilities but why cut into your profit margins by hiring extra stock when you can run 2 car trains

 

[Parham Wood]

Surely this is where the Regulator should step in, assess the situation and take whatever action is necessary/appropriate, which could include fining their profits or is the contract so poor they do not have much to enforce.

 

[Taunton]

Often nowadays it's not that more stock is needed, but that they have (just) sufficient for with-peak service, everything else is minimalist. Leases have moved progressively from entirely time based to having a substantial mileage component, and NR of course charge by the vehicle-mile as well, so shoulder-peak, midday, weekends, special events, anything that hitherto would have had units doubled up is now short as you can, and the rest of the stock idle in the depot.

 

[Parallel]

The ‘more trains than usual needing repairs’ message is wearing a bit thin, given that it’s been happening for months. This morning was particularly bad with 9 cancellations and 20 short forms listed on Journeycheck.

I think it’s just one of the standard delay/cancellation reasons that can be selected, it’s probably used because it’s the closest description. That said, I think ‘A train requiring maintenance at a depot’ is also a reason which would perhaps be more appropriate, for Chiltern and other operators like TfW that have had a prolonged shortage of train units.

 

[F Great Eastern]

I think it’s just one of the standard delay/cancellation reasons that can be selected, it’s probably used because it’s the closest description. That said, I think ‘A train requiring maintenance at a depot’ is also a reason which would perhaps be more appropriate, for Chiltern and other operators like TfW that have had a prolonged shortage of train units.

Greater Anglia use a little bit nuanced spin for their short forms with have hit approx 100 a day in the past.

Their favourite phrases are either "due to a train fault." or when they are so short of stock they have to start completely stopping services on lines for a period they use "due to a train fault between terminus a and terminus b" and the text on JourneyCheck says that a train has broken down between the stations, to give the impression the line is blocked, when in fact they're just short of serviceable rolling stock.

 

[Parallel]

Greater Anglia use a little bit nuanced spin for their short forms with have hit approx 100 a day in the past.

Their favourite phrases are either "due to a train fault." or when they are so short of stock they have to start completely stopping services on lines for a period they use "due to a train fault between terminus a and terminus b" and the text on JourneyCheck says that a train has broken down between the stations, to give the impression the line is blocked, when in fact they're just short of serviceable rolling stock.

Sounds like they are using the old delay reasons.

The new reasons, such as:

A fault on a train
A fault on this train
A fault occurring when attaching/detaching part of a train
More trains than usual needing repairs at the same time

Would just be announced as ‘a train fault’ at stations where the new reasons haven’t been uploaded.

 

[hooverboy]

Sounds like they are using the old delay reasons.

The new reasons, such as:

A fault on a train
A fault on this train
A fault occurring when attaching/detaching part of a train
More trains than usual needing repairs at the same time

Would just be announced as ‘a train fault’ at stations where the new reasons haven’t been uploaded.

why do I get the feeling that the soon to be redundant 185 fleet would be perfect for chiltern?

 

[F Great Eastern]

GA used to use
"More trains than usual needing repairs at the same time" but they stopped.

And National Express East Anglia used to use:
"Due to a lack of serviceable rolling stock" (or something similar)

But in the last few years everything has become more about making it sound as less damaging as possible.

Same way that TFL now use the work "improvement works" rather than "engineering works" and instead of talking about something failing or breaking down, the reason starts "Whilst we fix a"

 

[hooverboy]

GA used to use
"More trains than usual needing repairs at the same time" but they stopped.

And National Express East Anglia used to use:
"Due to a lack of serviceable rolling stock" (or something similar)

But in the last few years everything has become more about making it sound as less damaging as possible.

Same way that TFL now use the work "improvement works" rather than "engineering works" and instead of talking about something failing or breaking down, the reason starts "Whilst we fix a"

I'm getting a bit annoyed with perception management

 

[Taunton]

Here's some new ones for them to use

http://www.leonardrossiter.com/reginaldperrin/Train.html

 

[satisnek]

Something is definitely going on because I haven't heard the 68s departing Kidderminster these last few mornings.