Thameslink/ Class 700 Progress

[AM9]

We should just send them to scrap, they're worthless trains, they can't even run a normal service without breaking down!

Northern is your friend.

 

[tsr]

That was 319002/319454. Check before jumping to conclusions

Indeed, there have been quite sufficient numbers of Class 700 faults and failures over the last few days, we don't need incorrect attribution as well!

 

[Stew998]

I've come to the concusion that much of the info currently displayed on the PIS is pretty pointless anyway. If you are in a rammed carriage then the odds on there being room elsewhere or managing to get through the crush to get there is close to zero. If the carriage has room to move about in then you should be able to see whether any room exists elsewhere without waiting for the display to cycle round! What needs to be displayed far more freqently is the next station - especially when the GN services start running through the core as well.
The map/status of the toilets is useful though - you can amuse yourself on a long journey by betting on which one will be the next to go red

I caught the 7.15 from Wivelsfield to Blackfriars this morning and from where I was standing (for over an hour) I could see 5 PIS displays. One cycled through the usual displays of loading, loos and underground service status while the other 4 showed that we had arrived at our destination for the entire journey!

 

[All Line Rover]

The 19:40 and 20:40 from Bedford to Brighton were both cancelled this evening due to "unavailable drivers", leaving an hourly service through the core. Were these due to the shortage of drivers trained to drive the 700s?

London Midland is bad for cancellations (unsurprisingly given the parent company), but Thameslink is something else. The last time there were no cancellations between Bedford and Brighton is Monday 10 October! (And, on this exceptional day, there were also no cancellations between Brighton and Bedford and services terminating/starting at Three Bridges / Gatwick Airport.)

 

[Class2ldn]

The 1940 was because of defective stock I believe, not sure on the other one

 

[urpert]

Got my first one on the Catford Loop this morning. PIS working perfectly and no problems at Nunhead. Lots of people expressing pleasant surprise at the new train (it's otherwise pretty solid 319s down here, often just 4 coaches, so it's quite an upgrade for us).

 

[Peter Sarf]

Last night I got 700107 back from the London Meal. All that way from StPancras to East Croydon. I sat in the rear "first class" section. Its going to be spoilt by those pesky announcements giving the secret away. I wonder how many first class ticket holders realise they should walk all the way to the front for exclusivity . They might complain if they did. Anyway first class is more comfortable as the armrest gets you further away from the ducting on the floor/side. I still found myself wanting to sit with my feet skewed towards the walkway. Visual displays were working.

 

[Verulamius]

I was on the late running 18.22 from Blackfriars which managed to catch up 3 mins on route to St Albans City. That is quite impressive since it is booked to do the journey in 28 mins but achieved 25 mins. Most of the time appears to have picked up in the Core, so quick doors and reduced December patronage helped.

 

[urpert]

Today's variant on 2E47: audio PIS working fine, screens stuck on 'This train is not in service'.

 

[FlippyFF]

Today's variant on 2E47: audio PIS working fine, screens stuck on 'This train is not in service'.

Was that the 15:44 from Blackfriars to St Albans? That had the same issue.

Yesterday's 15:38 BFR to Bedford was showing 'Calling pattern has changes' & ' Next stop Luton Airport Parkway'.

 

[jonboy]

Dose anyone know what one was delivered today thanks

 

[urpert]

Was that the 15:44 from Blackfriars to St Albans? That had the same issue.

Yesterday's 15:38 BFR to Bedford was showing 'Calling pattern has changes' & ' Next stop Luton Airport Parkway'.

Don't think it can have been as it was at Nunhead 1557.

 

[spark001uk]

And a broken down train at Farringdon this morning (again). You couldn't make this up.

That was 319002/319454. Check before jumping to conclusions

Indeed, there have been quite sufficient numbers of Class 700 faults and failures over the last few days, we don't need incorrect attribution as well!

Sorry, forgive me if I've misread somehow, but how does "a broken down train" specify it was a 700 exactly?!

 

[Deepgreen]

Experienced my first train loading indication failure yesterday on my Blackfriars to Redhill run - coach 7 of my 12 car train was shown throughout as light green (plenty of seats) when it was actually heavily-loaded (many standing). I hope I am wrong and this is a one-off, but I feared from the start that this information technology would be too fragile to be reliable for long. When the system plays up, coaches are supposed to show as 'no information' rather than a false reading.

I was also disappointed that the information shown did not reflect the revised stopping pattern (Purley, Coulsdon South and Merstham added) - not flexible enough to account for such (quite common) changes, it seems.

 

[Domh245]

Sorry, forgive me if I've misread somehow, but how does "a broken down train" specify it was a 700 exactly?!

Well, this is the class 700 thread...

 

[Stew998]

Tonight I am enjoying a ride in the declassified First Class section at the rear of the 2052 from Blackfriars to Brighton.

The seats are quite comfortable but there's a very irritating high pitched buzzing from somewhere and I notice that the internal door is already moving about as the train accelerates and slows. Hopefully they won't be like those dreadful internal doors on the 319s that would not stay shut!

Talking of irritating noises why do the 700s sometimes make that electric whirring sound outside like a dodgy 1950s sci-fi sound effect?

 

[Mordac]

Tonight I am enjoying a ride in the declassified First Class section at the rear of the 2052 from Blackfriars to Brighton.

The seats are quite comfortable but there's a very irritating high pitched buzzing from somewhere and I notice that the internal door is already moving about as the train accelerates and slows. Hopefully they won't be like those dreadful internal doors on the 319s that would not stay shut!

Talking of irritating noises why do the 700s sometimes make that electric whirring sound outside like a dodgy 1950s sci-fi sound effect?

Is that just like the 'singing' older Desiros do at low speed?

 

[jon0844]

The first class doors seem rock solid on all the ones I've been on (often walking through the train to get to first class) but I am sure that's going to be weak point in the coming years - especially if you've found one already!

 

[Via Bank]

Talking of irritating noises why do the 700s sometimes make that electric whirring sound outside like a dodgy 1950s sci-fi sound effect?

This is the normal Desiro noise that can be heard on all other Desiros that operate in the UK. Mysteriously the Desiro City units only seem to make the noise when operating on 750V DC; they make a different sound (closer to the continental Desiro trains) when they operate under 25kV AC. Presumably the motors behave in different ways depending on the power source?

 

[samuelmorris]

The high pitched buzzing I believe is the inverters (if it still happens when the train is at rest at a station then that's almost certainly what it is, if only when in motion then it'll be the transformer, but that's only really prevalent in the vehicles that have the transformers in them (2 and 11 I think?)

The warbling noise I thought was an attempt to ensure compliance with signaling interference issues by ensuring that no particular frequency was being omitted long enough to cause EM interference issues whilst still being an appropriate frequency to drive the train at a particular speed.
Presumably on AC with the Desiro City they've managed to render that unnecessary?

 

[AM9]

... The warbling noise I thought was an attempt to ensure compliance with signaling interference issues by ensuring that no particular frequency was being omitted long enough to cause EM interference issues whilst still being an appropriate frequency to drive the train at a particular speed.
Presumably on AC with the Desiro City they've managed to render that unnecessary?

Interesting suggestion regarding the lack of warble on ac power. If the 750VDC bus has 50Hz/100Hz ripple on it owing to its single/two phase rectification supply, there would be a significant power component at those frequencies and their harmonics so maybe the emissions would not have any significant components to suppress by more complex electronic switching speed modulation. I wonder how Bombardier manage with the near smooth inverter frequencies. You can certainly hear them winding up and down at speed, sounding like massive wheelslips.

 

[swt_passenger]

The warbling noise I thought was an attempt to ensure compliance with signaling interference issues by ensuring that no particular frequency was being omitted long enough to cause EM interference issues whilst still being an appropriate frequency to drive the train at a particular speed.
Presumably on AC with the Desiro City they've managed to render that unnecessary?

You're correct, this has been explained a few times. It isn't just the audible frequencies you can hear, but the various harmonic frequencies that you can't. The operation of the conversion process between DC and AC on third rail, and between AC > DC > AC on the 25 kV network has been set up differently with respect to signalling interference issues.

So it isn't so much that it's unnecessary on AC, just the nature of the signalling (e.g. track circuits) is different between AC and DC areas, so the problem and solution on AC is different.

 

[Metroman62]

Had my first ride today from Blackfriars to Farringdon. I would not like having to travel a long distance on the hard seats. I am a visually impaired person and found the interior lighting disappointingly gloomy. The visual displays could be much better. Colour is fine but contrast of text to background is vital. White text on a darkish blue or purple background is OK but which text on a light blue background is very hard to read. Colour should be used to improve readability and not just make things pretty


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Deepgreen]

The first class doors seem rock solid on all the ones I've been on (often walking through the train to get to first class) but I am sure that's going to be weak point in the coming years - especially if you've found one already!

While I approve of the internal doors being manually-operated (far less to go wrong) I have yet to see one that doesn't move at least slightly (and often much more) with the movements of the train. However, given the huge gaps all round, the movement doesn't concern me.

 

[Deepgreen]

Last night I got 700107 back from the London Meal. All that way from StPancras to East Croydon. I sat in the rear "first class" section. Its going to be spoilt by those pesky announcements giving the secret away. I wonder how many first class ticket holders realise they should walk all the way to the front for exclusivity . They might complain if they did. Anyway first class is more comfortable as the armrest gets you further away from the ducting on the floor/side. I still found myself wanting to sit with my feet skewed towards the walkway. Visual displays were working.

I haven't experienced any audio announcements regarding first class de-classification, and the visual ones are only in the actual first class anyway, so are almost useless at informing passengers about it. On top of that they are mixed in with the all the other messages and so will only be noticed if one happens to see the display at the right few seconds in the cycle. By the time the message shows again, most people will have vacated the area anyway (in theory).

I noted previously that the internal doors show 'first class' on the side leading to standard - why? Door labelling is supposed to show what is beyond a door, not what is in front of it! 'Design by computer' again?!

 

[jon0844]

While I approve of the internal doors being manually-operated (far less to go wrong) I have yet to see one that doesn't move at least slightly (and often much more) with the movements of the train. However, given the huge gaps all round, the movement doesn't concern me.

A little movement is to be expected, but if it's swinging open and closed then there's a problem. And what's to say that won't happen in the future, from general wear and tear, to having been vandalised?

As long as Siemens maintain the trains properly, it hopefully won't be a problem. Far less to go wrong than sliding/powered doors and I'm yet to be on one where there's anyone making loads of noise that could annoy those on the other side.

 

[Class 466]

Palindromic 700007 entered service today.

 

[jon0844]

Palindromic 700007 entered service today.

Top spot!

 

[ChiefPlanner]

They certainly shift on the AC - watch a 12 car moving northbound out of SAC on the down fast and it is really impressive.

An SAC terminator off the Sutton road had an 8 car 387/2 this afternoon - a Christmas treat for the slow line customers.

 

[Class377/5]

They certainly shift on the AC - watch a 12 car moving northbound out of SAC on the down fast and it is really impressive.

An SAC terminator off the Sutton road had an 8 car 387/2 this afternoon - a Christmas treat for the slow line customers.

There's been no 387/2 working on Thameslink for months.

Meanwhile....

Right the latest update on the UK 700's

Note info is correct as of 24/12/16

UK arrivals
Unit 1 - 700106 - 31/07/15
Unit 2 - 700107 - 30/09/15
Unit 3 - 700108 - 28/10/15
Unit 4 - 700110 - 16/12/15
Unit 5 - 700109 - 06/01/16
Unit 6 - 700111 - 20/01/16
Unit 7 - 700102 - 02/03/16
Unit 8 - 700002 - 09/03/16
Unit 9 - 700112 - 16/03/16
Unit 10 - 700103 - 23/03/16
Unit 11 - 700113 - 30/03/16
Unit 12 - 700114 - 20/04/16
Unit 13 - 700003 - 27/04/16
Unit 14 - 700004 - 04/05/16
Unit 15 - 700005 - 18/05/16
Unit 16 - 700104 - 01/06/16
Unit 17 - 700006 - 08/06/16
Unit 18 - 700007 - 29/06/16
Unit 19 - 700105 - 06/07/16
Unit 20 - 700010 - 13/07/16
Unit 21 - 700115 - 20/07/16
Unit 22 - 700008 - 27/07/16
Unit 23 - 700014 - 10/08/16
Unit 24 - 700101 - 17/08/16
Unit 25 - 700018 - 24/08/16
Unit 26 - 700015 - 29/08/16
Unit 27 - 700019 - 07/09/16
Unit 28 - 700016 - 14/09/16
Unit 29 - 700020 - 21/09/16
Unit 30 - 700021 - 28/09/16
Unit 31 - 700023 - 04/10/16
Unit 32 - 700027 - 02/11/16
Unit 33 - 700030 - 09/11/16
Unit 34 - 700009 - 22/11/16
Unit 35 - 700012 - 30/11/16
Unit 36 - 700017 - 14/12/16
Unit 37 - 700036 - 15/12/16
Unit 38 - 700028 - 21/12/16

In service

700002 - 06/10/16
700003 - 04/10/16
700005 - 26/10/16
700006 - 16/12/16
700007 - 09/12/16
700008 - 03/10/16
700014 - 25/10/16
700015 - 10/12/16
700016 - 24/12/16
700018 - 02/12/16
700019 - 07/10/16
700023 - 25/11/16
700030 - 16/12/16

700009/016 will be in service shortly as this weeks commissioned units

700101 - 01/11/16
700102 - 29/07/16
700103 - 30/08/16
700104 - 12/07/16
700105 - 21/11/16
700106 - 21/11/16
700107 - 04/07/16
700108 - 20/06/16
700109 - 21/06/16
700110 - 02/08/16
700111 - 25/08/16
700112 - 20/07/16
700113 - 25/07/16
700114 - 04/07/16
700115 - 15/11/16