GWR Intercity Express Train (IEP) initial diagrams & allocations

[irish_rail]

1204 didn't even make it past reading in the event, declared a failure!

 

[jimm]

And that's the trouble. The Cornish local stuff is carting around fresh air. People for whatever reason are choosing to use the quicker London trains. I'm not convinced the Cornish half hourly should ever of got the go ahead, paticualry as it has had a baring on the west country being lumbered with the 5 car 802s instead 9s. I guess it's all too late now and I'm sure the Cornish stuff will be well used in August.

And you know how the numbers are working out because of what? As ever with your assertions, where is the evidence?

Cornwall Council seems to think that the increased frequency available from last May - so not even the full 2/3tph available from December - had already helped to produce a substantial rise in custom between May and last October.

The mainline has seen a 21% increase in recorded local journeys since the introduction of additional services in May 2019.

https://www.cornwall.gov.uk/council...rnwall-s-railways-as-number-of-journeys-soar/

 

[55003]

0723 Carmarthen to Paddington short formed this morning. Only a five car

 

[squizzler]

And that's the trouble. The Cornish local stuff is carting around fresh air. People for whatever reason are choosing to use the quicker London trains. I'm not convinced the Cornish half hourly should ever of got the go ahead, paticualry as it has had a baring on the west country being lumbered with the 5 car 802s instead 9s. I guess it's all too late now and I'm sure the Cornish stuff will be well used in August.

It would seem that passengers are choosing to endure the chairs and general ambience in the IET (which many on this very forum confidently declared as being so bad that passengers would use be put off traveling or use another operator) for marginal journey time benefits over the beloved HSTs!

 

[coradiafan2000]

0723 Carmarthen to Paddington short formed this morning. Only a five car

I've been noticing a lot more five car services than usual on the Paddington to Cardiff/ Swansea route. Is there any particular reason for the change? Seems like only a month or so ago that they were reliably 9 or 10 cars.

 

[Mintona]

A lot of the daytime Cardiff trains are five coaches, which is honestly ample as long as the Swansea trains have 9 or 10.

 

[jimm]

I've been noticing a lot more five car services than usual on the Paddington to Cardiff/ Swansea route. Is there any particular reason for the change? Seems like only a month or so ago that they were reliably 9 or 10 cars.

Several sets need repairs for things like hitting toppled trees, so IET availability has been stretched in recent weeks. I expect Clarence Yard may be able to give more detail on this.

 

[Techniquest]

It would seem that passengers are choosing to endure the chairs and general ambience in the IET (which many on this very forum confidently declared as being so bad that passengers would use be put off traveling or use another operator) for marginal journey time benefits over the beloved HSTs!

IETs are shiny and new, so they're going to appeal to the masses regardless of the seats or whatever.

I thought I'd spend less time on GWR now the long-distance fleet is all IET, but I've grown to love the 800s and 802s. I spend more time on GWR than any other TOC, although how that will play out once the IET fleet with GWR have all been had remains to be seen.

The seats, they get uncomfortable after an hour or so in my experience, but by then I've usually got up and had a stretch of legs so it's not a big issue for me. As for the improved frequency in Cornwall, I'm glad to hear passenger numbers have increased. I'm one of those who got put off by the bizarre service levels west of Plymouth, and now it's more frequent I might actually go back to Cornwall eventually.

I'll not go into the provision of IETs in Devon and Cornwall though, my comments would land me in hot water with the mods...However the lower availability lately due to damage etc would help to explain why last Sunday an 802/0 turned up in Hereford vice the more usual 802/1.

 

[Clarence Yard]

Several sets need repairs for things like hitting toppled trees, so IET availability has been stretched in recent weeks. I expect Clarence Yard may be able to give more detail on this.

The recent disruption has caused repeated misbalances in the fleet so that Maliphant is short for the morning run out, having received insufficient units the night before. This is the same issue that affects Laira and any outstation stabling - at these locations it tends to be only "what goes in - comes out". North Pole and Stoke Gifford is where you will get any spare units to augment, if they exist on that particular morning.

If Hitachi make insufficient 9 cars available anywhere, they may give you a 5 v 9 instead, possibly by splitting a 10 if they are short so in that case you may get a 5 v 9 and a 5 v 10. Today is a good example of that occurring.

There is another issue on the Cardiff route. The relatively late pulling of all the off peak superfast Bristols upset the reasons behind the off peak Cardiff trains being load 5 because the superfast running in front of it would take some of the load. Unfortunately, due to the stock working and platforming at Paddington, it wasn't possible to get them all back as load 9 or 10 in this timetable. Next timetable all the superfasts will be in.

The number of sets out for "damage and vandalism" isn't that high but some of the repairs will take time - for example the damage that was done to 800302 after it hit what is presumed to be PW related material in mid January is quite extensive underneath and it is estimated that it will be out of service until late May. If that had happened to an HST, the results would have been similar. That kind of thing doesn't help your availability when things get tight.

 

[yorkie]

The original topic was to discuss initial IET diagrams and that purpose has been served.

Please feel free to create a new thread (or use an existing one, if there is one) to discuss any topics such as unreliability of IETs, quality of seats, the new timetable, or any other topic.