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Greater Anglia Class 321/4 Refresh

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SprinterMan

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After rumours of this not happening, according to Wikipedia and another thread on this site, apparently it has started and a unit has gone for refurbishment. Has anyone heard/seen anyone about this and does anyone know what unit has gone?
 
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Boothby97

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Greater Anglia 321s are all going for refurbishement and repaint at Doncaster. Don't ever recall it stopping.
Hope this helps, Sam
 

david_VI

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I missed this news.. Is there a link?
What are they being repainted into? I thought stock was remaining in neutral colours as the franchises last so little time..

David
 

Jordy

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The Greater Anglia livery is all over white with red doors, so yes - neutral!
 

387star

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Yeah but all 321/4 have been 'refurbished' with no internal work done so this internal?
 
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david_VI

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Saw this new 'neutral' livery today, it looks alright considering. Makes the trains look a bit like giant underground trains though.

I'm a bit confused how this franchise stuff works? Could anyone tell me why franchises last so little time? Surely they can do very little for improvements as it won't really benefit them..
Apologies, I'm new here and trying to understand how this mess of TOC's works, if anyone could point me to a page or thread that explains this I'd be really appreciative.

David
 

swt_passenger

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After rumours of this not happening, according to Wikipedia and another thread on this site...

Never substantiated at the time, mainly because it totally contradicted the DfT press release that explicitly stated that the 17 x 321s would be done?

--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Saw this new 'neutral' livery today, it looks alright considering. Makes the trains look a bit like giant underground trains though.

I'm a bit confused how this franchise stuff works? Could anyone tell me why franchises last so little time? Surely they can do very little for improvements as it won't really benefit them...

The current (recent) change to Greater Anglia is a bit of a one-off, because NXEA's franchise had come to an end, but was re-tendered before the present government had made their decision to generally offer 15 year franchises. So in this particular case, the new franchisee is basically on a very short term 'caretaker' deal, with the real competition for the long GA franchise yet to happen.
 
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SprinterMan

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Never substantiated at the time, mainly because it totally contradicted the DfT press release that explicitly stated that the 17 x 321s would be done?

Was it the rumour that was never substantiated?
NXEA refurbished the 321s outside but not inside. I am talking about the internal refurbishment of the 321/4s.
 

swt_passenger

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I am talking about the internal refurbishment of the 321/4s.

I was thinking of this from the DfT:

"...and the whole the train fleet will be deep cleaned (except the class 379s), including all surfaces and floor coverings, toilets and lighting. In addition the interior of the class 321 units will be refreshed and CCTV will be fitted to 68 class 321 vehicles."

At the same time as the DfT announced that, someone posted here saying that an Abellio person had said that nothing whatsoever was going to be done to the 321s.

I don't think it was ever cleared up at the time...
 

SprinterMan

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Are both of these correct?

Wikipedia said:
In March 2012, Greater Anglia commenced an interior 'refresh' on these units and installation of internal CCTV (CCTV had already fitted to the rest of the Greater Anglia fleet at the start of the NXEA franchise). The refresh consists of new floor coverings and seat covers throughout, replacement of some interior panels and re-painted grab poles and door handles. Tables are also removed, to ensure consistency with the rest of the Class 321 fleet.


no they wont! the seats are falling to bits! take the dirt away and thats the end of them.....321/4s internal refresh underway....1st unit being done....new panels, seat covers lights etc etc.....at least to bring them up to late 20th century standards............
 

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Ah well they must be recieving some work then cheers for that look forward to the pics shame about the tables. I take it 68 dosen't tally though.

Out of interest how do class 321 seats differ from class 319?
 

ginger

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Are both of these correct?

according to an e mail I received from GA.....they confirmed the first unit was being worked on and the other 16 will follow

the work is an internal refresh....new panels, carpets, floor, lights, seat covers etc.....they are in a desperate state!
 

387star

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Is that carpets in First Class?

Be interesting to see the interior design! Don't suppose you know the unit in question
 

ginger

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Is that carpets in First Class?

Be interesting to see the interior design! Don't suppose you know the unit in question

alas no....they did not say.....took ages to get them to confirm it was happening...hence the speculation over whether it had been cancelled....

strange that even this minor bit of good news was not gleefully confirmed by GA....after all in the caretaker franchise there will be little or no other improvements!
 

SprinterMan

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according to an e mail I received from GA.....they confirmed the first unit was being worked on and the other 16 will follow

the work is an internal refresh....new panels, carpets, floor, lights, seat covers etc.....they are in a desperate state!

Thank you :)
Is there an emailing list you need to sign up to to get info like this?
Thanks :)
 
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387star

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Don't forget they are embarking on a major class 156 programme after the class 153s... the 153s had less work done because it is not practical to make them DDA compliant yet
 

ginger

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Thank you :)
Is there an emailing list you need to sign up to to get info like this?
Could you pleeeeeeeeeeease forward me the email, I am very interested in the railways of East Anglia :)

Thanks :)

The e mail simply says the following:

QUOTE

Thank you for your email.

I have received confirmation from the depot that the LM Refresh has commenced. Unit 1 will be finished within a fortnight. The other 16 Units will be complete before the end of the year,

Once again, thank you for contacting us.

UNQUOTE

The specification is contained in the Dft announcement of the caretaker franchise award.....

alas there is no e mail list.....you just have to contact Customer Services and ask the question 7 times bbefore you get a straight answer!
 
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ainsworth74

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I would suggest editing you email to something like thecatwhogotthemilk{at}hotmail{dot}co{dot}uk as it makes it harder for bots to pick it up and then add it to spam lists.
 

SprinterMan

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The e mail simply says the following:

QUOTE

Thank you for your email.

I have received confirmation from the depot that the LM Refresh has commenced. Unit 1 will be finished within a fortnight. The other 16 Units will be complete before the end of the year,

Once again, thank you for contacting us.

UNQUOTE

The specification is contained in the Dft announcement of the caretaker franchise award.....

alas there is no e mail list.....you just have to contact Customer Services and ask the question 7 times bbefore you get a straight answer!

Thank you very much :)
Can you please edit your comment so my email address is no longer in it so spambots don't get me. Thanks :)
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
I would suggest editing you email to something like thecatwhogotthemilk{at}hotmail{dot}co{dot}uk as it makes it harder for bots to pick it up and then add it to spam lists.

Thanks :)
 

SprinterMan

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Thanks :)
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Don't forget they are embarking on a major class 156 programme after the class 153s... the 153s had less work done because it is not practical to make them DDA compliant yet

I am very impressed that GA are undertaking the 153/156/321/4 refurbishment as they are only the caretaker and they are doing more (train cleaning) than NXEA ever did. This if i'm not mistaken is the heaviest refurb ever done to a 156. I hope they keep the tables with the maps of the norfolk & suffolk branches on them because they are great.
 

iphone76

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GA seem to be doing a lot of things NXEA never did like regularly checking tickets at stations (Wickford almost everyday now for the past 2 weeks), properly explaining delays when they occur (less frequent now), employing more security staff in the evenings and increasing the hours of the customer service department (from May).

I hope they keep up their good work.
 

ginger

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GA seem to be doing a lot of things NXEA never did like regularly checking tickets at stations (Wickford almost everyday now for the past 2 weeks), properly explaining delays when they occur (less frequent now), employing more security staff in the evenings and increasing the hours of the customer service department (from May).

I hope they keep up their good work.

well after 8 years of NX decline it couldn't get any worse! All the stock was just left to fall into a state of advanced decay!

The refurbs are not GA driven - they are mainly ROSCO / DDA driven so don't give GA the credit - they would have been done anyway!

The only addition that GA can take credit for is Red Doors!

and as for cleaning trains, are we in Anglia the only line in the country that has suffered our entire fleet being filthy for the last 8 years? Yes....pretty much! A clean train for £4-5k per year is the least we can expect!!!!
 

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Sorry it was only in response to another post which suggested the figures didn't add up
 

ginger

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let's wait and see whether it is just another patch up botched effort or see if they actually do a half decent job! If anyone knows which unit it is and when it is finished drop a note on here......

actually where is it being done? I had heard Clacton?
 

transportphoto

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For updates on the GA Clean, follow @greateranglia and use #gaclean on twitter :smile:

actually where is it being done? I had heard Clacton?

According to tweets, its being done at Orient Way (near Stratford) and Crown Point (Norwich)

TP
 

jon0844

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National Express did the original 317/1s under Wagn, which looked great for about the first 5 minutes, then the flooring fell apart. This was done in around 2003/4.

The subsequent re-refresh used a much better vinyl flooring and seat coverings, so I hope that GA is going for this on the 321s. If they come out like the 317/1s and 313s are now on FCC, they'll last a while. They won't look visually stunning but they'll be clean - and more importantly - easy to keep clean by staff.
 

CDM

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Clean and 321/4 refresh are 2 different programmes.

321425 back in service today after refresh (this is carried out at Clacton Depot). Catch it out and about and take a look for yourself.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Was it the rumour that was never substantiated?
NXEA refurbished the 321s outside but not inside. I am talking about the internal refurbishment of the 321/4s.

Some of the rail press use the word "refurbished" to describe routine overhauls. So it's not surprising people and messages get confused!

Repairs to the bodyshell and external repainting is a routine overhaul, not what most people would consider refurbishment. Overhauls are done every so many years to tackle corrosion among other things (they also do work to major components under the skin that make the train work).

During the last overhaul on Class 321, the interiors were also refurbished so it was an overhaul and refurbishment. This time the interiors are not being done, so it is just an overhaul.

No refurbishment was carried out by NXEA on Class 321.
 

ginger

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Clean and 321/4 refresh are 2 different programmes.

321425 back in service today after refresh (this is carried out at Clacton Depot). Catch it out and about and take a look for yourself.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


Is that the Unit that sat out of use at Ilford for 2 years?
 
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