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Seamless introduction of 125mph locos

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yorkie

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Class 67 locomotives successful introduction to the West Highland Line

10 June 2006

First ScotRail's Caledonian Sleeper service to and from Fort William has been successfully hauled by the first Class 67 locomotive.

The 125mph ultra reliable Class 67s replace the always late Class 37s which have operated the Caledonian Sleeper on the Fort William route from 1980 up until now.

The main benefit of the changeover is improved reliability which, has already been proven to be the case. The more seamless overall journey experience was demonstrated today when a delay of over 2 hours was incurred due to brake problems, "The delay of 2 hours shows how seamless the experience is", said a spokesman "passengers were able to get amazing value for money by spending even longer in their berths, and a longer time to have breakfast. Our research shows most passengers do not want to wake up before 9am, and we have achieved that for passengers for our popular Corrour stop".

Andy Mellors, Engineering Director at First ScotRail said: "The changeover to the Class 67s brings with it a number of benefits, most specifically improved reliability, which means we can provide a better service for our customers. This better service has been proven as today's 2 hour delay was the best performance ever. Class 37s were always 3 hours late"

The change was implemented before the start of the summer timetable, with the first service running successfully and more seamlessly than ever before on Saturday 10 June.

Network Rail have welcomed the move, congratulating us on using such track friendly locomotives, a spokesman said "The first of these 125mph locomotives was a huge success, average speeds are close to that of a milk float, which is far better than the 37s ever achieved. It is the most efficient design of locomotive ever, our track loves it!"

We are sure our staff welcome the seamless change from 12 to 14 hour shifts, although no sleeper staff were available for comment.

ENDS

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This morning 1Y11 has been a compleate and utter DISASTER!

the sequence of events:

last 37 arrived into edinburgh on time

90 arrived into Edinburgh on time

STUPID fsr put a driver on the night shift who hadent even started the 67 training course!

This cause a delay of 55 mins

Then the 67 was away 55 mins late from Edinburgh

Got to Helensburgh Upper RETB wouldnt work! They hadent connected ity up properly! Then the brakes wouldnt Work a Air Leak or something

This has meant that this train will be 2 hours late into Fort William, an in convienience to passengers (who will presumaly get their money back) and staff!

FSR/EWS IS YOU ARE GOING TO INTRODUCE THE 67'S FINE, BUT GET MORE DRIVERS TRAINED ON THEM FIRST AND CHECK THE LOCO BEFORE IT LEAVE PLEASE!
 

Jordy

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Wow, what a fantastic improvement! I will travel on the Fort William sleeper so much more often now....;)

:lol:

Jordy
 

TheSlash

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Am i the only person who thinks a daily 3 hour delay is a total disgrace, or a badly constructed timetable?
 

yorkie

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TheSlash said:
Am i the only person who thinks a daily 3 hour delay is a total disgrace, or a badly constructed timetable?
<FSR PR mode>
I am very sorry you are unhappy at our new seamless service, but I can assure you that our market research shows that people want more time in their berths, and more time for breakfast. This new seamless service gets rid of incredibly old, and unreliable locomotives, and the new 125mph express service is far more seamless for our passengers. This new seamless service, combined with extra reliability and robustness, allows us to operate a more seamless service. I hope that all our customers appreciate the seamlessness of this service, and we hope you enjoy the welcome time in your berth.

You will be pleased to know that we will not require customers to pay additional money for the extra time spent in their berths, it is all part of our improved service.

Additionally, this means passengers are able to miss out on the incredibly old, unreliable 'Jacobite' steam service. Passengers should, instead, take the modern Class 156 service to Mallaig instead, this is more seamless for passengers.

Thankyou for travelling with First Group, and we hope you have a seamless day.
</FSR PR mode>
;)
[EDIT]
The 67 seamlessly arrived at the Fort at 11:55, a total of 132 seamless minutes late.

This has caused a seamless delay to the following service to Mallaig, even though that train did not depart Queen St until 08:20!
 

Demps

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but i though we were rail fans, surely the stop of the 37 on the sleeper is very sad :(, ut it doesent sound that way, and a three hour delay how the hell can this occur !, probably only implamented on purpose to make a big comparison with the 67's, the only reason why they have put the 67's on is becuase of their lack of use, its only rail charters and a very few of infastructure trains, hence their loss on the serco deal ! :D that should be good seeing some haulage better than the noiseless skips, can anyone tell me what the haulage for the serco train is now ?
 

yorkie

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dvn1357 said:
Is that first post a p*ss take yorkie ;)
I got their laughable joke of a press release, and just changed it slightly.

The true joke of a press release is at http://www.firstgroup.com/scotrail/content/news/view-scotrail-press-release.php?id=00000000152

Combined with their unbelievable FCC fares, First Group have the biggest cheek out of any TOC when it comes to press releases. They put so much spin on stories that it makes me wonder where they get their PR people from - must be ex MPs!
[EDIT]
960012 said:
GRRRRRR!! better not be late when i go to do the jacobite during the summer
It's far too risky, you now have only got about 35 minutes and it could EASILY be 35 minutes late. If this happens you will have to get a 156 to Mallaig and get the steamer from there, unfortunately.

It's your risk, but I am not taking it, I cancelled our booking for 8 people in Summer, and the Jacobite forum trip is cancelled. (It will be reinstated if 37s are reinstated).
 

16CSVT2700

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yorkie said:
It's your risk, but I am not taking it, I cancelled our booking for 8 people in Summer, and the Jacobite forum trip is cancelled. (It will be reinstated if 37s are reinstated).

What if 37s are not reinstated?
What are you gonna do then?
 

Met Driver

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50149 said:
What if 37s are not reinstated?
What are you gonna do then?

Then the trip will remain cancelled I assume. After all, why spend £££s on the sleeper and Jacobite in advance when there's a substantial risk that the sleeper won't get to Fort William in time?
 

Max

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...or cycle up there. I hear the wild plains of Rannoch are ideal for cycling at this time of year.

;);)
 

Coxster

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laverack222 said:
...or cycle up there. I hear the wild plains of Rannoch are ideal for cycling at this time of year.

;);)
I still think I'd join 50149 on the sleeper if I was going ;)
 

Sprog

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*yawn*

another First Group bash

BOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRING

next please..........
 

Guinness

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Don't care if it's a 67 it's still a loco. Something rare on the Mainline nowadays. Hell I'll even take a 08 Shunter.
 

devon_metro

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I agree with Chaz, be grateful for what there is. Surely a 67 is better than a pacer on the sleeper?
 

Met Driver

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ikar said:
There's allways a risk with everything.

Yes, but when a vast amount of money has been spent in advance, I'd rather play it safe thanks...
 

yorkie

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50149 said:
What if 37s are not reinstated?
What are you gonna do then?
As I said, the trip has been cancelled.

I hardly think WCR will give us your money back just because the sleeper is late, so it is a far too great a risk to take.

We had a successful meet last year, and I'll always remember that, but this year we'll do other stuff instead. Wales beckons! :D
 

yorkie

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ikar said:
Depends where the faliure was... most of the faliures came from the Skodas, last week a 92 viced a failed Skoda on the Up sleeper.
It was on time from Edinburgh.

This week the 67s have been late on every journey (3 northbound and 2 southbound so far), typically 15-20 late due to being unable to keep to the timings (yes even the slower timings!), with the mega 132 min delay due to various farces on the first day.

Not once has any of these failures been down to a problem south of Edinburgh, and the stock to form the Fort William train has been ready at the required time.

However, a major concern is in the event of a delay south of Edinburgh, the 37s had the ability to make up to 45 minutes of lost time, due to slack timings. This ability has now been lost, the timings are 9 minutes longer AND the 67s are around 15 minutes late in addition. This means that if a train was to leave EDB 2 hours down, it may have only been 1 hour 15 late into Fort William before, but now it will remain at 2 hours down and lose an additional 15 minutes.

Slack time exists for a reason, to remove it all completely AND increase timings AND still always be late, is a very backwards step.
 
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