GWR Class 800

[Siemens Staines]

The latest I have is:
Awaiting Acceptance:
800 301
800 312

Undergoing Acceptance:
800 320

All other 9-cars now in traffic.

800301 has been out on test trains but I don't know whether it was an acceptance train or some other sort of test train. It was on this one;
http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/K03703/2018/12/15/advanced

 

[Typhoon_93]

800312 out today

 

[CMRail]

For the users who are confused with what sizes and shapes go on which route, here is the general allocations.
10Car 800 - Bristol, South Wales (North Cotswolds & South Cotswolds from new timetable will appear at times)
9Car 800 - Bristol, South Wales, South Cotswolds & North Cotswolds.
5Car 800 - South Cotswolds & Thames Valley (new timetable they should go to Bedwyn, Cheltenham, Bristol Fasts and other routes off peak)

10Car 802 - Paddington-West (can stray out onto normal 800 routes however)
9Car 802 - South Cotswolds & Paddington-West (mainly South Cotswolds however they can stray onto all routes)
5Car 802 - (Plymouth-Penzance (split), and some Exeter semi-fasts, however can stray onto other routes)

 

[aar0]

For trolley service those cups with filter lids seem to work quite well. Ryanair have long used them, and I think TPE do now as well, I've certainly had one on a train at some point and it isn't VTWC.

My only issue with that is the physical single use cup - with filter coffee I can pass over my own mug to be used (the last 4 or so events I've been to have given out "real" mugs for this purpose, and as a keepsake/advertisement)

 

[CapitalStar378]

There was no sign of a refreshment trolley on my journey to CDF yesterday and couldn't get any wi-fi, not really progress are they?

 

[AlexNL]

Tweet by Richard Clinnick:

As of today @GWRHelp has accepted all 57 @HitachiRailEU Class 800s for passenger use.

 

[samuelmorris]

Good news! At the risk of sounding overly negative though, how many of those accepted units are currently operable and how many without faults?

 

[swt_passenger]

Tweet by Richard Clinnick:

So 4 months late on the dates given in the 2015 franchise brief. Not really that significant compared to other recent and ongoing new fleet introductions.

 

[The Ham]

For those complaining about the amount of at station catering and comparing Plymouth with Reading maybe you should consider that Reading has circa 17 million passengers whilst Plymouth has circa 2.5 million passengers.

That puts somewhere like Basingstoke (circa 6 million, two on platform cafe & some vending machines) way above that, even Farnborough Main (circa 3 million, one platform cafe & some vending machines) in the same sort of ball park. However Plymouth has a lot of local services for which it is the destination, so less demand for coffee purchases for on route.

Yes there does need to be some form of catering on long distance services, however when I'm traveling on my own I'm going to avoid using a buffet because I'd need to leave my seat, which given how busy train services are there's a chance I'd come back to someone else sitting there (even before you consider the issue over either ensuring you've got your high value items or leaving unattended items on a train). I can see why people would answer (assuming that everything write be otherwise fairly equal) that they would prefer a trolley.

As for commuters socialising in the buffet, there may well be some, but not enough (and certainly not a large enough spend) to justify not having 10 extra seats (and most former GWR buffets would occupy far more space than that).

 

[Reliablebeam]

With all this talk about seats and buffets it would be nice to get all these things operating under electric mode when riding under the wires. I must be very unlucky or there's a lot of diesel only ops going on. Yet again this morning diesel only didcot to paddington. I think the unit i was in may have had a GU out too. I've noticed lately at Didcot it's getting rarer to see a HST..

 

[samuelmorris]

For those complaining about the amount of at station catering and comparing Plymouth with Reading maybe you should consider that Reading has circa 17 million passengers whilst Plymouth has circa 2.5 million passengers.

That puts somewhere like Basingstoke (circa 6 million, two on platform cafe & some vending machines) way above that, even Farnborough Main (circa 3 million, one platform cafe & some vending machines) in the same sort of ball park. However Plymouth has a lot of local services for which it is the destination, so less demand for coffee purchases for on route.

Yes there does need to be some form of catering on long distance services, however when I'm traveling on my own I'm going to avoid using a buffet because I'd need to leave my seat, which given how busy train services are there's a chance I'd come back to someone else sitting there (even before you consider the issue over either ensuring you've got your high value items or leaving unattended items on a train). I can see why people would answer (assuming that everything write be otherwise fairly equal) that they would prefer a trolley.

As for commuters socialising in the buffet, there may well be some, but not enough (and certainly not a large enough spend) to justify not having 10 extra seats (and most former GWR buffets would occupy far more space than that).

I would have preferred to answer that survey with 'both'. I often sat in the unreserved half-carriage at the rear of standard class on VTEC services and the advantage of that was having the buffet close enough to have line of sight to my seat. If I was further up the train I'd want the trolley for the reasons you describe.

 

[Bayum]

Currently sat outside Acton on the 1201 from Reading. We haven’t moved for ten minutes as the driver and guard are ‘trying to work out what the fault is with the train’

 

[ptreanor]

Currently sat outside Acton on the 1201 from Reading. We haven’t moved for ten minutes as the driver and guard are ‘trying to work out what the fault is with the train’

Just seen it drift into PAD. It's interesting to see how the vinyls have faded on the earlier units.

 

[fgwrich]

Just seen it drift into PAD. It's interesting to see how the vinyls have faded on the earlier units.

I have to say some of them are looking awful now. Not just has the shine really faded to a dull and drab matt green, but some have been starting to peel already - Notably around the nose but also around the door entrances.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I have to say some of them are looking awful now. Not just has the shine really faded to a dull and drab matt green, but some have been starting to peel already - Notably around the nose but also around the door entrances.

The white around the doors looked awful from day one.

 

[northernbelle]

Just seen it drift into PAD. It's interesting to see how the vinyls have faded on the earlier units.

I have to say some of them are looking awful now. Not just has the shine really faded to a dull and drab matt green, but some have been starting to peel already - Notably around the nose but also around the door entrances.

It's not that the colour in the vinyl has faded, but more a film that has built up on the surface - presumably caused by the detergents used in the carriage wash. A good scrub/polish up brings the colour back up - have a go with your finger and you'll see! Agree though that the finish on the painted sets is far superior - much like, in FGW days, the difference between the tatty full-vinyl Turbos and the later painted gloss blue ones.

 

[TractiveEffort]

There was no sign of a refreshment trolley on my journey to CDF yesterday and couldn't get any wi-fi, not really progress are they?

The WiFi is a GWR specified system, they chose the same supplier as they use on the HST - which wasn’t that reliable and it is next to useless on HST when more than half a dozen people are on the train. The power to the system is Hitachi, from there on (routers etc.) it is down to GWR and their supplier NOMAD to sort out problems.

 

[TractiveEffort]

Currently sat outside Acton on the 1201 from Reading. We haven’t moved for ten minutes as the driver and guard are ‘trying to work out what the fault is with the train’

Can’t see anything reported, maybe it wasn’t a train fault?

 

[samuelmorris]

The total delay only being 15 minutes and probably not causing any meaningful delay to anybody boarding the service as it happened after the last calling point with possibly enough turnaround time to mitigate most of the delay, I doubt GWR would have said anything publicly about it.

 

[Mag_seven]

With all this talk about seats and buffets it would be nice to get all these things operating under electric mode when riding under the wires. I must be very unlucky or there's a lot of diesel only ops going on. Yet again this morning diesel only didcot to paddington. I think the unit i was in may have had a GU out too. I've noticed lately at Didcot it's getting rarer to see a HST..

Anecdotally I would estimate about 1 in 4 appear to be operating in diesel mode only. Hitachi really need to start getting their act together on this.

 

[JN114]

Currently sat outside Acton on the 1201 from Reading. We haven’t moved for ten minutes as the driver and guard are ‘trying to work out what the fault is with the train’

Can’t see anything reported, maybe it wasn’t a train fault?

The total delay only being 15 minutes and probably not causing any meaningful delay to anybody boarding the service as it happened after the last calling point with possibly enough turnaround time to mitigate most of the delay, I doubt GWR would have said anything publicly about it.

Track Circuit failure ahead of the train in the Acton West area, causing signal to revert from Green to Danger in front of the train, train passed the signal at danger as a result.

After such an event the on-train safety systems take a few minutes to recover; driver is checked with to see if they’re happy to continue or need a moment to collect themselves etc. 10-15 minutes to get on the move again is wholly not unreasonable.

No fault or allegation against the units was reported.

 

[samuelmorris]

Track Circuit failure ahead of the train in the Acton West area, causing signal to revert from Green to Danger in front of the train, train passed the signal at danger as a result.

After such an event the on-train safety systems take a few minutes to recover; driver is checked with to see if they’re happy to continue or need a moment to collect themselves etc. 10-15 minutes to get on the move again is wholly not unreasonable.

No fault or allegation against the units was reported.

That seems pretty reasonable all things considered, don't think you could complain about that (other than that the track circuit failed in the first place!)

 

[TractiveEffort]

The total delay only being 15 minutes and probably not causing any meaningful delay to anybody boarding the service as it happened after the last calling point with possibly enough turnaround time to mitigate most of the delay, I doubt GWR would have said anything publicly about it.

I was referring to internally reported, which is why I didn’t suspect a train fault.

 

[Wychwood93]

Track Circuit failure ahead of the train in the Acton West area, causing signal to revert from Green to Danger in front of the train, train passed the signal at danger as a result.

After such an event the on-train safety systems take a few minutes to recover; driver is checked with to see if they’re happy to continue or need a moment to collect themselves etc. 10-15 minutes to get on the move again is wholly not unreasonable.

No fault or allegation against the units was reported.

Real time trains shows a Paddington arrival, platform 5, at 12.44 1/2 and then back to Swansea as the 12.45 1B35 departing 11 late - drifted out to 20+ late and back to 14 late at Swansea.

 

[Bayum]

Can’t see anything reported, maybe it wasn’t a train fault?

The driver and guard both called it a train fault, so that’s what I wrote.

Track Circuit failure ahead of the train in the Acton West area, causing signal to revert from Green to Danger in front of the train, train passed the signal at danger as a result.

After such an event the on-train safety systems take a few minutes to recover; driver is checked with to see if they’re happy to continue or need a moment to collect themselves etc. 10-15 minutes to get on the move again is wholly not unreasonable.

No fault or allegation against the units was reported.

Interesting that it was a circuit failure. A HEX sidled beside us and was halted by a red signal.

Had a few trains pass by us on the slow lines. Not sure if they were intercity, commuter or both.

 

[jayah]

With all this talk about seats and buffets it would be nice to get all these things operating under electric mode when riding under the wires. I must be very unlucky or there's a lot of diesel only ops going on. Yet again this morning diesel only didcot to paddington. I think the unit i was in may have had a GU out too. I've noticed lately at Didcot it's getting rarer to see a HST..

They seem to keep perfect time under diesel so does it particularly matter? Personally I can't tell if it is diesel or not .

It would be nice to use the wires where they exist but the GW electrification west of Didcot has become pretty irrelevant other than closing the line for months on end.

 

[CapitalStar378]

The 800 I took to Cardiff on Thursday had different seats, not as hard and without the 4 horizontal grooves and with a dashed harlequin pattern on them. It was a 10 car and didn't see the number so assume it wasn't an 802.

Any idea why these were different?

 

[samuelmorris]

The 800 I took to Cardiff on Thursday had different seats, not as hard and without the 4 horizontal grooves and a dashed harlequin pattern on them. It was a 10 car and didn't see the number so assume it wasn't an 802.

Any idea why these were different?

That's the new seat covering I believe - the 800/3s and 802s are fitted with those and I think the 800/0s are being modified at some point? As far as I know the LNER, TPE and HT units will be fitted with such covers from the outset. Good to know that there's a perceptable difference in comfort with these, I haven't had the opportunity to try them yet.

 

[CapitalStar378]

That's the new seat covering I believe - the 800/3s and 802s are fitted with those and I think the 800/0s are being modified at some point? As far as I know the LNER, TPE and HT units will be fitted with such covers from the outset. Good to know that there's a perceptable difference in comfort with these, I haven't had the opportunity to try them yet.

Yes, there was definitely more padding and didn't notice any discomfort at all.

Just the lights to dim a bit now and it's going in the right direction.

Unfortunately the 800 I'm on now back to London has the original concrete seating.

 

[samuelmorris]

Good to know, I look forward to trying one at some point. Other people who have tried the units seem less convinced, though still acknowledge an improvement.