Class 466 refurbishment

[KingJ]

The Bromley North Branch will now stay 2 466. A derogation has been granted.

This has now been publicly confirmed in Southeastern's December 2019 Timetable Consultation Report. Specifically;

Ensure all of our train services will comply with the Department for Transport’s accessibility requirements from January 1 2020.*
* With the exception of services on the Bromley North shuttle line which have been granted a dispensation.

It looks like the Sheerness-on-sea branch will go over to Class 375/3 operation;

Spread the benefits of modern rolling stock more evenly across the network, including more modern rolling stock on the Sheerness line.

Some mainline services are being lengthened by 1 carriage, which suggests to me that a 375/3 on those is being replaced by a 4 carriage 375 instead, allowing the 375/3 to be cascaded to the Sheerness-on-sea branch.

 

[brad465]

Yesterday I did the whole length of the Medway Valley Line both ways from Tonbridge-Strood on 466012, additionally went via Paddock Wood for my work Christmas party in Tonbridge and then earlier today visited Crayford, all encompassing my final uses of 466s on this route before the change tomorrow.

Had no derogation been issued for Bromley North I'd have done the same for there, but that's no rush now, and I couldn't do the Sheerness branch due to the power supply alterations (although with peak Networkers still going there I'm not too fussed).

 

[KingJ]

The dispensation for independent Class 466 operation on the Bromley North branch has now been publicly published by the DfT - SouthEastern: accessibility compliance dispensation (full letter available at the link).

It is only valid for 1 year - up until 23:59 on the 31st of December 2020.

 

[brad465]

The dispensation for independent Class 466 operation on the Bromley North branch has now been publicly published by the DfT - SouthEastern: accessibility compliance dispensation (full letter available at the link).

It is only valid for 1 year - up until 23:59 on the 31st of December 2020.

I'd been trying to find the updated version before but no luck, so thanks for sharing. Hopefully by the end of next year they can fix the issue causing 465s to be banned from the line, as I don't see any of the Networker fleet being replaced in 2020.

 

[brad465]

While I was back in Crayford over Christmas, there was a day I spotted two different Networker sets that were 465+466+466. While such formations existed before the derogation, I feel like that maybe more common now that more 466s are present for Metro operations (and confirms a question I never asked about whether or not such a formation is allowed now), and maybe a solution to some formations working services that can't afford to be shorter at all costs.

 

[brad465]

As a consequence of the shuffling of stock required to get two 375/3s into the sheerness branch, 2W96 0743 Ashford- Charing X and 1R92 0922 Charing X - Ashford will be 8 car 377 instead of 375s (which are covering two former 375/3 diagrams from Ashford).

2K91 0737 Sole Street to Blackfriars will be an 8 car 465/9 instead of those 377s. 1G85 1845 Cannon St - Ramsgate will be 8 377 instead of its current formation.

There’s lots of other menial changes as well but these were the ones my contact pointed out.

Further to this it would now appear the 18:07 VIC-MDE service is a 465/9+466, originally an 8 car 377 formation, which makes sense as the aforementioned Sole St to BFR service stock goes to Grosvenor Shed until the evening peak. While I haven't been on this service (I only saw it stabled at Maidstone East after operation), it has lost 2 carriages and joins the other two evening MDE terminators in being of Networker formation (the only Networkers left operating on this route).