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Class 701 'Aventra' trains for South Western Railway

DMckduck97

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So we wait 4 1/2 years for these trains and no-one has yet hammered out how they will be used....

Couldn't make it up.
The issue is the company ordered these with the goal of full DOO pre covid. Forgetting PTI risks, accessibility requirements and cheap on train equipment.

These trains are designed to be operated DOO, will be interesting to see how full and standing works with the guard on board somehow

Do railworker unions behave like this in other countries, I wonder?
I imagine they would aswell if the company had gone against the agreement and not followed it
 
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Monty

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Do railworker unions behave like this in other countries, I wonder?
Are you having a laugh? If anything the unions on the continent make us look relatively tame.

People on this forum have taken wibble, rumour and six month old press releases and came up with their own conclusions, there was no realistic prospect of a 'soft' launch for the reasons I had explained several posts ago and people are quick to jump on the anti union band wagon with no evidence other than a single press release despite the fact there have been indications for weeks now that the company had not gotten everything ready to allow an entry into passenger service. Absolute beggars belief.

The issue is the company ordered these with the goal of full DOO pre covid. Forgetting PTI risks, accessibility requirements and cheap on train equipment.

These trains are designed to be operated DOO, will be interesting to see how full and standing works with the guard on board somehow

I think the other issue is the exact scenarios for degraded working, the feedback for the DOO monitors have not been positive from the drivers and and there is no indication these will be replaced. Last time I spoke with some involved in the project the list for when degraded working had to be implemented was so long it made the case for DOO/DCO on this traction type look very weak.
 
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Nicholas Lewis

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The issue is the company ordered these with the goal of full DOO pre covid. Forgetting PTI risks, accessibility requirements and cheap on train equipment.

These trains are designed to be operated DOO, will be interesting to see how full and standing works with the guard on board somehow
The industry has nearly 40 years of DOO working that by now there must be a set of agreed technical standards that the trains and infrastructure have to comply with to allow it to be implemented. Why SWR continue to try and do their own thing is beyond me.
 

Cowley

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Can we keep things calm and constructive where possible please folks.
Thanks. :)
 

DMckduck97

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The industry has nearly 40 years of DOO working that by now there must be a set of agreed technical standards that the trains and infrastructure have to comply with to allow it to be implemented. Why SWR continue to try and do their own thing is beyond me.
pretty sure it was all to do with ABDO and making sure whether it is 2 5s or a single 10, its the exact same length.

For some reason they decided to try (and fail) to be creative. Spending on the cheap to get it completed was never going to work, they should have given the contract to Siemens, it might have worked out cheaper at this rate.

DOO is off the cards unless new cameras are retrofitted and considerably improved.
 

Carlisle

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The industry has nearly 40 years of DOO working that by now there must be a set of agreed technical standards that the trains and infrastructure have to comply with to allow it to be implemented.
Given rightly or wrongly that the industry’s kicked most of its DCO expansion plans into the long grass in recent years the lack of progress in the areas you highlight is hardly surprising.
 
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D365

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For some reason they decided to try (and fail) to be creative. Spending on the cheap to get it completed was never going to work, they should have given the contract to Siemens, it might have worked out cheaper at this rate.
Aside from the DOO/DCO debacle, the cab sizing has been a hot topic, having been constrained by a requirement to standardise door positions between 2x5 car and 10 car trains. So, at the risk of taking this into speculative territory - what could have been done differently by ordering from a different supplier?
 

pompeyfan

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For some reason they decided to try (and fail) to be creative. Spending on the cheap to get it completed was never going to work, they should have given the contract to Siemens, it might have worked out cheaper at this rate.

DOO is off the cards unless new cameras are retrofitted and considerably improved.
It was mentioned a lot of times at the beginning of the thread, but Desiro Cities didn’t meet the franchise requirement at the time as they couldn’t accommodate a theoretical number of standing passengers.

Regarding the cameras, that’s a pretty bold statement. Without risking yourself or your source, can you tell us why you are led to believe this?
More or less the same as on a 455? Unless I’m missing something.
On a fixed 10 car there would be no safe refuge for the guard during crush loading and still be able to despatch from a sensible position.
 

Fincra5

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pretty sure it was all to do with ABDO and making sure whether it is 2 5s or a single 10, its the exact same length.

For some reason they decided to try (and fail) to be creative. Spending on the cheap to get it completed was never going to work, they should have given the contract to Siemens, it might have worked out cheaper at this rate.

DOO is off the cards unless new cameras are retrofitted and considerably improved.
Surely they're the same Cameras that are fitted to 710s and 720s... which both operated DOO.
 

Monty

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Surely they're the same Cameras that are fitted to 710s and 720s... which both operated DOO.
I'm not quite sure what the deal is with the cameras but I have been led to believe during testing is that the camera mounts suffer from a high amount of water ingress when it rains and in the cab only the slightest amount of sunlight will render the monitors useless.
 

Robin Procter

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I'm not quite sure what the deal is with the cameras but I have been led to believe during testing is that the camera mounts suffer from a high amount of water ingress when it rains and in the cab only the slightest amount of sunlight will render the monitors useless.
.... o_O Is this testing by running on Network Rail after a substantial number of units have been built? Don't industrial designers test such features on a few prototypes before a production line starts rolling?

Given the costs of these machines as well, surely there is a prototype stage in development beforehand. Most serious industrial design always includes not just one but a number of prototypes.

It's possibly a bit academic at this late stage, but could sunlight shields be added to solve this problem?

In ignorance I assume that these are external view cameras and not, if they have any, internal security cameras?
 
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buscoaster

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Sorry to sound ignorant, but why is it that on Thameslink, DOO has been a thing for many years, even initially with just monitors at the end of the platform to check before departure and also through some majorly busy stations in the Thameslink core etc. Why is it they can do it but SWR can't?
 

DMckduck97

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It was mentioned a lot of times at the beginning of the thread, but Desiro Cities didn’t meet the franchise requirement at the time as they couldn’t accommodate a theoretical number of standing passengers.

Regarding the cameras, that’s a pretty bold statement. Without risking yourself or your source, can you tell us why you are led to believe this?

On a fixed 10 car there would be no safe refuge for the guard during crush loading and still be able to despatch from a sensible position.
As with post #6553, a word I've been given that describes them is s*%t. If they were confident in the cameras and their stability there wouldn't be a whole essay worth of degraded working possibilities.

If this soft launch doesn't happen they will move to guard close I'm betting, probably driver open driver close for the off peak launch they had planned. Can't see them risking buggering up the peak with it in winter conditions aswell
 

Monty

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Sorry to sound ignorant, but why is it that on Thameslink, DOO has been a thing for many years, even initially with just monitors at the end of the platform to check before departure and also through some majorly busy stations in the Thameslink core etc. Why is it they can do it but SWR can't?
Different stock, different route and different equipment. The specifications and requirements for new DOO trains seem to change with each generation of train so what was acceptable on one scheme does not necessarily translate to another.

.... o_O Is this testing by running on Network Rail after a substantial number of units have been built? Don't industrial designers test such features on a few prototypes before a production line starts rolling?

Given the costs of these machines as well, surely there is a prototype stage in development beforehand. Most serious industrial design always includes not just one but a number of prototypes.

It's possibly a bit academic at this late stage, but could sunlight shields be added to solve this problem?

In ignorance I assume that these are external view cameras and not, if they have any, internal security cameras?

I think it's worth noting everything is built at a set cost, Bombardier and Alstom for that matter were hardly known for their build quality. I can't speak for the trains being used on other parts of the network, the 701s differ quite a but from the other units previously built as per SWR's specifications and is partly why it's taken so long for them ready for service. As for sun shields, I'm not personally sure how that would work on the set up but I suspect someone has probably given it some thought and it may have already been dismissed as a solution I couldn't say, and yes I was referring to the body side cameras rather than the internal ones.
 

43066

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As with post #6553, a word I've been given that describes them is s*%t. If they were confident in the cameras and their stability there wouldn't be a whole essay worth of degraded working possibilities.

If this soft launch doesn't happen they will move to guard close I'm betting, probably driver open driver close for the off peak launch they had planned. Can't see them risking buggering up the peak with it in winter conditions aswell

So it’s a camera/monitor issue, as I (and many others) suspected. It sounds like driver open guard close may well be the best solution to get the stock into service, even if only temporarily while the cameras are sorted. That would at least avoid the embarrassing farce of these trains entering service four years late, only to start being failed all over the place.
 

Peter Sarf

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So it’s a camera/monitor issue, as I (and many others) suspected. It sounds like driver open guard close may well be the best solution to get the stock into service, even if only temporarily while the cameras are sorted. That would at least avoid the embarrassing farce of these trains entering service four years late, only to start being failed all over the place.
And to think decades ago Derby produced trains with cameras and onboard monitors - 375s and 377s. Then it takes over 4 years to discover this later creation from Derby - the 701s are no good in the same area. And do all these other similar trains - 710s and 720s - have issues.

I am reminded of a phrase that a learned colleague woke me up with when I was a young optimistic lad - BBB = Bull(excrement) Baffles Brains.

Whatever the answer and/or reason is it is embarrasing.
 

43066

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And to think decades ago Derby produced trains with cameras and onboard monitors - 375s and 377s. Then it takes over 4 years to discover this later creation from Derby - the 701s are no good in the same area. And do all these other similar trains - 710s and 720s - have issues.

I am reminded of a phrase that a learned colleague woke me up with when I was a young optimistic lad - BBB = Bull(excrement) Baffles Brains.

Whatever the answer and/or reason is it is embarrasing.

The 375 and 376s didn’t have cameras, but the 377s did. I wonder if the 376s are the last stock built without in cab monitors, being constricted circa. 2004/2005 (222s were built around the same time and also lack them)?!

I don’t think anyone could disagree with your last sentence!
 

JonathanH

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I wonder if the 376s are the last stock built without in cab monitors, being constricted circa. 2004/2005 (222s were built around the same time and also lack them)?!
350/4s more likely to be the last stock without in cab monitors, but maybe you are only thinking about Bombardier units?
 

norbitonflyer

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The 375 and 376s didn’t have cameras, but the 377s did. I wonder if the 376s are the last stock built without in cab monitors, being constricted circa. 2004/2005 (222s were built around the same time and also lack them)?!

I don’t think anyone could disagree with your last sentence!
That's odd, because the first 377s were originally classified 375 and, as far as a I recall, were built at the same time
 

Goldfish62

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And to think decades ago Derby produced trains with cameras and onboard monitors - 375s and 377s. Then it takes over 4 years to discover this later creation from Derby - the 701s are no good in the same area. And do all these other similar trains - 710s and 720s - have issues.

I am reminded of a phrase that a learned colleague woke me up with when I was a young optimistic lad - BBB = Bull(excrement) Baffles Brains.

Whatever the answer and/or reason is it is embarrasing.
Buses are increasingly moving over to cameras with screens in the cab replacing traditional external mirrors. The cameras look very similar to those on train exteriors.

There are around 1000 so equipped buses already in London. The image is crystal clear in all lighting and weather conditions. If it works on buses why can't train manufacturers get it sorted?
 

Monty

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Buses are increasingly moving over to cameras with screens in the cab replacing traditional external mirrors. The cameras look very similar to those on train exteriors.

There are around 1000 so equipped buses already in London. The image is crystal clear in all lighting and weather conditions. If it works on buses why can't train manufacturers get it sorted?
 

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norbitonflyer

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Buses are increasingly moving over to cameras with screens in the cab replacing traditional external mirrors. The cameras look very similar to those on train exteriors.

There are around 1000 so equipped buses already in London. The image is crystal clear in all lighting and weather conditions. If it works on buses why can't train manufacturers get it sorted?
I don't know the answer, but could it be something to do with the relative lengths? A typical bus is about 12 metres long and has only two doors, one of them right next to the driver. A single railway carriage is 20-23 metres, so you would need between sixteen and twenty cameras to get the same clarity over the entire length of a 10-car train (essentially one per door). And trying to monitor twenty screens at once would not be easy.
 

Monty

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How long as this forum been around now? it should be abundantly clear to most of you by now that the strategy for rolling stock procurement (and running these post covid management contracts when you think about it) is to deliver a product at the lowest possible cost to charge the consumer at the highest possible price. Some of you may argue that's just 'good business' but I would say that the companies (and not just rail related ones but nearly everywhere) have really started to push the boundaries on what is ethically right.
 

Carlisle

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but I would say that the companies (and not just rail related ones but nearly everywhere) have really started to push the boundaries on what is ethically right.
Hasn’t happened so far in mainstream rail industry. Most DCO schemes proposed a few years ago have been kicked into the long grass, alongside ticket office closures & T&C changes that let to the recent national RMT dispute.
 
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Spekejunction

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I’ve often wondered how this would have turned out if Thameslink class 700 would have been ordered.
As a passenger on the Peterborough line they work just fine..
 

Peter Sarf

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@Monty
Such a nice video. I have to laugh as I was waiting for it to end !. Of course like what it illustrates the problem seems to be never ending !.
I don't know the answer, but could it be something to do with the relative lengths? A typical bus is about 12 metres long and has only two doors, one of them right next to the driver. A single railway carriage is 20-23 metres, so you would need between sixteen and twenty cameras to get the same clarity over the entire length of a 10-car train (essentially one per door). And trying to monitor twenty screens at once would not be easy.
There are iirc enough cameras BUT it then leads to the need to find space in the cab for a lot more monitors if the monitor is the same size as that on a bus. But I feel that is no worse than a guard looking up and down a 12 carriage train with their own eyeballs especially if the platform is not straight.

An advantage of the cameras and monitors is the railways know there is a record of activities should something go awry.
 

buscoaster

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I’ve often wondered how this would have turned out if Thameslink class 700 would have been ordered.
As a passenger on the Peterborough line they work just fine..
And actually you see how much more efficient they are than guard operated - stops at stations for just a few seconds sometimes and then moves on - has allowed them to tighten up the timetable no end
 

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