ScotRail HST Introduction - Updates & Discussion

[Bletchleyite]

I see the bins still won’t shut properly, like every other HST ever

 

[FFB6C1]

Had first class to entirely myself from Aberdeen to Arbroath where someone else got on; I got off at Dundee. My first impressions were very good, Wabtec seem to have done a great job of the refurbishment and the ambience on board is good, it does truly feel like a step up over the 170s in terms of quality. The rest of the train was busy and from what I saw there were a lot of baffled passengers wandering up and down looking for non existent seat reservations. The first class offering is the usual ScotRail complimentary choice with the addition of porrage or a microwaved bacon roll (soup or a wrap after 11am). I had the honour of consuming the first Inter7city bacon roll...

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You must have been on the same train as me and got off at the same stop haha. You weren't the one at the end of the platform watching it leave were you? I live tweeted the journey and got some attention from ScotRail and Alex Hynes. I was in standard class sadly but it was still a nice journey. I'm pretty impressed although the standard seats aren't too good

 

[Highlandspring]

You must have been on the same train as me and got off at the same stop haha. You weren't the one at the end of the platform watching it leave were you?

No I had to go straight upstairs as I had somewhere else to be. For the record I paid an eye watering £78 for a first class Dundee - Aberdeen return; I certainly didn’t get much value for money on 1A47 (170426) on the way up as there wasn’t a trolley though I did at least get a seat. The return journey bought me the most expensive bacon roll and cup of tea in history. I only went for first class because I expected the train to be absolutely heaving, which it wasn’t as far as I could see.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Looks pretty decent to me - in particular the worst feature - the awful lighting - has been replaced.

 

[FFB6C1]

No I had to go straight upstairs as I had somewhere else to be. For the record I paid an eye watering £78 for a first class Dundee - Aberdeen return; I certainly didn’t get much value for money on 1A47 (170426) on the way up as there wasn’t a trolley though I did at least get a seat. The return journey bought me the most expensive bacon roll and cup of tea in history. I only went for first class because I expected the train to be absolutely heaving, which it wasn’t as far as I could see.

Ouch! I went up on 1A43 which was 170413. In standard class it was pretty busy. I don't think there were many seats left in my carriage. Just checked the menu i've got and jesus it really was expensive. £4.10! For a roll and bacon. That's shocking.

 

[Clansman]

Sampled the set this morning also, and have nothing but plaudits for everyone involved in the refurbishment process - regardless how late it was. Food was excellent, and the free hot chocolate made up for the high prices! Much better than anticipated and honestly think that the state of LNER/GWR's sets don't come close to that of this refurbishment program - although as others mentioned the PIS needs sorting out. Definitely going to be a hit with everyone once the full fleet is in service.

Edit: Just for the record there were no creaks in the vestibule!

 

[SWTrainspottin]

I've created a thread related to the diagrams for these sets as they're phased in: https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/scotrail-inter7city-hst-diagrams.171933/

Please do post any updates to the diagrams of these sets on this thread so I can keep it updated. Thanks!

 

[jingsmonty]

I'll never understand why so many organizations insist on not allowing you to have a bacon roll after 11am. Gregg's is the same thing. Yet I find they make a much more pleasant quick lunch than a cold sandwich/wrap. A one man operation food van will happily sell you bacon rolls at all times of day, I don't see why these big corporations find the concept so challenging.

Totally agree with that - this should be fed back to Scotrail (no pun intended). Still, any sort of hot food is a big upgrade & as others have said, the Inter7city HST will be serious competition for LNER North of Edinburgh.

Can't wait to see the HML experiencing this upgrade too!

 

[Aictos]

Looks pretty decent to me - in particular the worst feature - the awful lighting - has been replaced.

Don't think there was anything wrong with the lighting in any case it was better then the lighting it had before now that was awful!

Totally agree with that - this should be fed back to Scotrail (no pun intended). Still, any sort of hot food is a big upgrade & as others have said, the Inter7city HST will be serious competition for LNER North of Edinburgh.

Can't wait to see the HML experiencing this upgrade too!

Indeed and Scotrail are seriously ramping up the competition to LNER in Scotland although correct me if I'm wrong but there will still be 170s on these services with the HSTs on the busiest services?

OR is the intention to just operate HSTs on the Inter7city services?

 

[Journeyman]

I only went for first class because I expected the train to be absolutely heaving, which it wasn’t as far as I could see.

I was on the first-ever Class 385, which I took from Linlithgow to Glasgow. Like you, I expected it to be packed, but was very surprised to find it almost had more Hitachi engineers than passengers. I suppose it was at godawful-o'clock in the morning, though.

I hope ScotRail introduce decently-priced First Advances now they have the extra capacity, but if they don't, the £6 weekend upgrade looks well worth the money.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Don't think there was anything wrong with the lighting in any case it was better then the lighting it had before now that was awful!

That's what I meant - the awful old GWR daylight tubes have been swapped for (I suspect) LEDs at a far lower intensity. Not my preference of warm white spots, but not bad by the looks of it.

 

[Waverleystu]

Any hints to the next refurbished set leaving Doncaster?

 

[Clansman]

Don't think there was anything wrong with the lighting in any case it was better then the lighting it had before now that was awful!



Indeed and Scotrail are seriously ramping up the competition to LNER in Scotland although correct me if I'm wrong but there will still be 170s on these services with the HSTs on the busiest services?

OR is the intention to just operate HSTs on the Inter7city services?

The intention is to have HSTs replacing 170s on all Intercity services by the end of 2019, rather than just the busiest ones.

 

[Clansman]

Currently sitting in coach C on the HST from Dyce, and was lucky to get a seat. Full and standing and at least 4 bikes onboard, one kf which I passed in the disabled area in coach B. Its pretty clear that four coaches wont be enough in the future, even if they only just cope with peak loadings at the moment. Also its clear that the adequacy of the onboard bike storage has been extremely underrated.

 

[InOban]

The intention is that the Aberdeen services will have 5 coaches.

 

[Craig2601]

Also there will be an improved service on local services to help reduce numbers on intercity trains.

 

[route101]

Have you still got it to yourself? I'd imagine that's very pleasant indeed. Can you confirm what freebies you've been offered?

Was pleased to see there's four individual airline seats in the first class vehicle, which should make it reasonably easy to bag one. I was under the impression there were fewer of them than that.

Yeah , i prefer the single airline seats , not everyone is travelling with someone .

 

[route101]

Anyone know if the diagram is running on Saturday?

 

[The Nomad]

Am I alone in thinking that the Inter7City name is verbally awkward?

 

[jopsuk]

Am I alone in thinking that the Inter7City name is verbally awkward?

No, it's exceptionally clunky

 

[_toommm_]

No, it's exceptionally clunky

Interci7y or in7ercity or in7erci7y? I prefer the first...

 

[marks87]

Am I the only one who sees the "Inter7City" as purely stylistic, and actually reads it as "InterCity 7"?

 

[JohnMcL7]

Am I the only one who sees the "Inter7City" as purely stylistic, and actually reads it as "InterCity 7"?

No, that's just what I was going to say.

 

[superalbs]

Am I the only one who sees the "Inter7City" as purely stylistic, and actually reads it as "InterCity 7"?

Well I'm going to be doing that from now on. Clunky names are ghastly!

 

[Highlandspring]

I was speaking with the ScotRail brand manager on Monday’s first run and asked whether it’s “Inter Seven City” as the conductor announced on board or it’s just “Intercity”. She told me the 7 isn’t silent and the intention is that you are indeed supposed to pronounce it in the middle. So there you go.

 

[Clansman]

The intention is that the Aberdeen services will have 5 coaches.

Aye but its a worrying sign for when the Inverness services kick start. Can only hope that the upcoming increased HML frequency spreads out the patronage for atleast a good couple of years. Heres hoping it all works out.

 

[jingsmonty]

Aye but its a worrying sign for when the Inverness services kick start. Can only hope that the upcoming increased HML frequency spreads out the patronage for atleast a good couple of years. Heres hoping it all works out.

I'm not sure exactly where the increased HML frequency will come from, without sone additional expenditure on infrastructure (in addition to what's currently happening at Aviemore & Pitlochry) - Inverness will also currently struggle to cope with 2+5 HSTs, due to platform lengths. I believe this, along with the current work at Queen St, was a consideration in having a mixed 2+4 & 2+5 fleet.

My hope is, that once the service is bedded in, the full HST timetable is running & these issues have been overcone, that we will see coaches being added & the fleet being mainly 2+5 (as someone else said, there's supposed to be a couple of 2+6 sets in the future as well).

 

[Altnabreac]

I was speaking with the ScotRail brand manager on Monday’s first run and asked whether it’s “Inter Seven City” as the conductor announced on board or it’s just “Intercity”. She told me the 7 isn’t silent and the intention is that you are indeed supposed to pronounce it in the middle. So there you go.

When there is the next UK City Status competition I wonder if Scotrail will be lobbying against bids for City Status from Paisley, Ayr and Dumfries?

Probably the easiest solution would be to support a city status bid from Elgin and just change to Inter8City.

 

[jingsmonty]

When there is the next UK City Status competition I wonder if Scotrail will be lobbying against bids for City Status from Paisley, Ayr and Dumfries?

Probably the easiest solution would be to support a city status bid from Elgin and just change to Inter8City.

I actually quite like the 'Inter7City' branding - it taps into the history of the HSTs (as 'InterCity' trains), without coming across as too 'retro' & being a modern brand. The only thing I'm not quite convinced about is the livery - I'm not sure how easy this will be to keep clean! They would have looked ok with the standard Scotrail 'Saltire' livery, but I totally get the decision to market the HST 'Inter7City' as a separate & premium product.

A lot of the original Scotrail internal training stuff & publicity stuff had an artist impression of the HST in 'Saltire' livery - I liked it, but they do look good in the 'Inter7City' colours!

 

[Journeyman]

A lot of the original Scotrail internal training stuff & publicity stuff had an artist impression of the HST in 'Saltire' livery - I liked it, but they do look good in the 'Inter7City' colours!

To me it bears more than a passing resemblance to the reversed blue/grey carried by the prototype HST, and I rather like it for that reason.