Transport for Wales 769's

[Nym]

Perhaps because the installation of a system like Nomad costs basically nothing but looks nice for the DfT?

 

[Kyle1]

And why does it need this on a commuter train...?

Because some of us have phones with terrible battery life

 

[Brissle Girl]

Because some of us have phones with terrible battery life

Even my ancient iPhone 6S (nearly 5 years old) has enough battery to get to and from work. And small power packs are light and cheap too.

It feels a bit like saying “It’s important to me that I have data/a fully charged phone at all times, but not so important that I will put my hand in my pocket to ensure I am self sufficient, instead expecting other people to provide the facilities and make them available to me free of charge wherever I go during the day.”

 

[Gwenllian2001]

My thoughts too.
AIUI the 769s are a fairly short term stop gap on the Cardiff valley lines between the four wheel jobbies and the new order Flirts and Civities.
I guess the poster expects to log on with their mobile for the short hop into Cardiff every morning.

No doubt for the same reasons that London to Brighton trains and many others have. What makes the south of England special?

 

[Cardiff123]

It was a franchise requirement mandated by TfW that all of the fleet (apart from the Pacers) got fitted with USB charging points and plug sockets. The installation of Wifi on the fleet originally took place under ATW and was expanded by Welsh Govt to include Wifi on ATW's Pacers as well.
So I can't imagine the 769s not getting Wifi fitted.

 

[Bob Price]

Like to see them working first before I quibble about USB and WiFi. Right now not a single 769 anywhere is in service, years overdue. It is fair to say this has not been Porterbrooks finest hour.

 

[Eccles1983]

Even my ancient iPhone 6S (nearly 5 years old) has enough battery to get to and from work. And small power packs are light and cheap too.

It feels a bit like saying “It’s important to me that I have data/a fully charged phone at all times, but not so important that I will put my hand in my pocket to ensure I am self sufficient, instead expecting other people to provide the facilities and make them available to me free of charge wherever I go during the day.”

Why put in seats then?

It's only on short journeys as you said, so lots of grab handles should do nicely.

Get rid of the toilets as well whilst we are at it.

All nice to haves, but not really essential.

 

[Voyager lad]

I must say I don’t understand the need for wi-fi on trains anymore . Sim only data contracts are relatively cheap for a good chunk of data, so I would have thought most people have them anyway these days. And if people don’t value data enough to pay a tenner a month why should the railway (= other passengers) pay for all the infrastructure to support it?

I’m equally dubious about the need for USB ports on commuter trains, but accept that is probably too well entrenched now to roll back from.

I do slightly agree with this... aside from the cost of installing and running the WiFi on trains, half the time it’s incredibly slow and doesn’t even allow some apps (such as Facebook, Snapchat etc) to open. The only time I ever use WiFi on any train is if there is little to no phone signal for 3G/ 4G, or on LNER Azumas which has the only WiFi which allows every app I use to be run on it. And with regards to data plans, my sim is around £15 a month for 60GB of data so really WiFi shouldn’t be such a high priority on commuter trains.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I do slightly agree with this... aside from the cost of installing and running the WiFi on trains, half the time it’s incredibly slow and doesn’t even allow some apps (such as Facebook, Snapchat etc) to open. The only time I ever use WiFi on any train is if there is little to no phone signal for 3G/ 4G, or on LNER Azumas which has the only WiFi which allows every app I use to be run on it. And with regards to data plans, my sim is around £15 a month for 60GB of data so really WiFi shouldn’t be such a high priority on commuter trains.

Two things, probably.

1. It costs next to nothing and you can shout about it.
2. It is good for families with kids with cheap tablets.

 

[Brissle Girl]

2. It is good for families with kids with cheap tablets.

Agree for longer distance services, but not commuter services (and yes, I know they are used by families off peak, but again, the journey times are not usually that long).

 

[fgwrich]

Two things, probably.

1. It costs next to nothing and you can shout about it.
2. It is good for families with kids with cheap tablets.

Agreed and a third would be:

3. It makes the unit more transferable to another operator once TfW have finished with them.

It's probably a lot easier to commence fitment of such things while the unit is being converted, rather than additionally adding it at a later date (and having to take the unit out of service for).

 

[adc82140]

I must say I don’t understand the need for wi-fi on trains anymore . Sim only data contracts are relatively cheap for a good chunk of data, so I would have thought most people have them anyway these days. And if people don’t value data enough to pay a tenner a month why should the railway (= other passengers) pay for all the infrastructure to support it?

I’m equally dubious about the need for USB ports on commuter trains, but accept that is probably too well entrenched now to roll back from.

The heat reflective glass on many modern trains kills 4G signals. As does the inherent design of the train, which is in effect a giant Faraday cage. The on board WiFi is fed from 4G via antennas on the roof.

 

[PHILIPE]

Just the second trip running today and worked, according to WNXX, by 769002

 

[ainsworth74]

Just a reminder that this thread is about the 769s not wider points about whether or not commuter trains should have wi-fi and power sockets. If people do want to discuss that in general there's nothing wrong with that (it's an interesting topic!) but it needs to be in a new thread please

 

[kieron]

Agree for longer distance services, but not commuter services (and yes, I know they are used by families off peak, but again, the journey times are not usually that long).

If TfW fitted 769s out to a lower spec than their existing fleet, then they would end up doing Pembrokeshire-Manchester runs sooner or later.

 

[PHILIPE]

Just the second trip running today and worked, according to WNXX, by 769002

According to RTT only seems to have got as far as the Heath.

 

[6Gtraincrew]

According to RTT only seems to have got as far as the Heath.

Plus they've changed units. 002 was allocated earlier, but now 008 is on it.

 

[Senna1210]

Correct and 3 pin plugs and wifi.

nope just usb

 

[Senna1210]

Plus they've changed units. 002 was allocated earlier, but now 008 is on it.

002 was out on its first today short hop to trial it

 

[Nym]

nope just usb

So, no Qualcomm Quick Charge or anything else, just a basic power only supply from the lowest bidder...

And no ability to charge laptops, or anything else.
Oh, and still needing to carry a USB A to Micro B / C / Lightning cable...

 

[Senna1210]

So, no Qualcomm Quick Charge or anything else, just a basic power only supply from the lowest bidder...

And no ability to charge laptops, or anything else.
Oh, and still needing to carry a USB A to Micro B / C / Lightning cable...

nightmare isnt it #firstworldproblems

 

[Nym]

Or... just fit BS1363 Receptacles like we've been doing for years, since anyone who needs to charge while out is either carrying a battery bank, or their wall wart anyway.

But wait, that wouldn't be modern, nor would that be able to be produced by people who can take a cheap piece of kit from Morson or some Chinese copy of it with an EN50155 certification slapped on the side of it (if you're lucky), and just dump nearly 5V into a USB A Socket with a 250mA or maybe 500mA supply behind it, rather than the much more expensive, doing it properly with either USB charging or a BS1363 socket.

 

[plugwash]

I suspect the issue with fitting BS1363 sockets to existing multiple units is that even if you put up "laptops and phones only" signs you still need to provision for much more power than you do with slow-charge USB sockets. I could well imagine that on many trains you could squeeze in slow-charge USB provision off the existing auxiliary supplies while providing for laptop charging would require a rather more radical solution.

New trains do seem to be getting BS1363 sockets, presumably in these cases the power demands are planned for from the start when designing the trains auxiliary supplies.

 

[Bletchleyite]

So, no Qualcomm Quick Charge or anything else, just a basic power only supply from the lowest bidder...

And no ability to charge laptops, or anything else.
Oh, and still needing to carry a USB A to Micro B / C / Lightning cable...

They're for local journeys. If your laptop battery won't do half an hour you need a new one.

 

[Caaardiff]

2 runs in the past 2 days, and 2 failures out on the network. Heard they won't be in service before December.

 

[CapitalStar378]

I feel that these repurposing projects may be a waste of everyone's time and money

 

[Nym]

They're for local journeys. If your laptop battery won't do half an hour you need a new one.

A more apt point perhaps for mobile phones?

 

[D365]

I feel that these repurposing projects may be a waste of everyone's time and money

It’s Porterbrook’s money. They’re taking the risk and I’m sure suitable compensation will be made available for the TOCs that have been affected by the 769 delays.

 

[Envoy]

Sounds like they might just as well pack it in!

 

[berneyarms]

Fixating on USB ports and WiFi, which frankly would be a relatively minor part of the refurb, is in my view losing sight of the main issue here.

Getting a reliable unit.

The USB ports and WiFi are minimal parts of the project which have little or no impact on delivering a reliable unit.