Victoria line new stock

[Gavelex]

The 1967 Stock will be scrapped so I am told and will not be used on the Bakerloo.

This has been in the public domain since the start of the credit crunch when they shelved the plans to extend to Watford (again).

On another note the first built 67 stock went to Acton last tuesday, to be taken off by road and scrapped.

 

[Dstock7080]

Seems a shame to scrap a perfectly working train. The '67 stock is hardly "life expired" in my opinion... maybe I'm the one getting old lol

Like trying to find parts for a 405line TV these days! Auto-boxes aren't what we expect these days.

 

[Metadyneman]

No, those are 73 Stock on the Piccadilly - rather different trains.

Indeed they are... in fact I rather like the '73 stock even in refurbished form. I never quite liked the front end treatment of the '67/72 stock as much as the '73 stock which had a lot to do with the addition of cabside doors on the latter.

 

[Electrostar]

My only gripe about the new stock concerns the two-tone grab rails and the colour of the seat moquette. The light blue fabric on the latter looks old and worn; it's not of course, it's just the colour. It reminds me of when I've compared an Ariva-operated London bendy bus with it's faded-looking turquoise moquette with the same vehicle operated by a competitor that uses darker colours.

 

[MCR247]

I agree, I (by chance) got one yesterday the seats looked really worn, but I liked the way that it says doors will open on the left

 

[jon0844]

Why does it say what side the doors open on the LED display when I thought trains now had a light/arrow to say by the doors themselves. Also, it says it - but is there any sort of ambient noise sensor to adjust the volume (like the Circle Line trains)? I say this because the Victoria Line can be quite noisy in places and I found it near impossible to hear the announcements over the noise.

Also, what's with the flashing light to say when the doors are closing, yet the bright white LEDs stay on until the interlock? I'd have designed it so that once the doors are about to close, the white light changed to red and flashed to show a warning that now is not the time to board or alight.

And, I happened to notice the seats looked very worn too when I was on one yesterday. That's NOT good is it!

I say this now because the first time I went on one I was 'wow - new train'. Yesterday was only the second time but I had more time to look around!

 

[Aictos]

Just quickly, are there any of the 67 stock left on the Victoria line or is it all in the hands of the S stock?

 

[jon0844]

I think there are still relatively few new trains on the Victoria line, but I may be wrong. I don't use the line that often, but I still get the old trains more often than the new (in fact, I've been on the new train only twice!).

 

[Mr Spock]

There is still plenty of old stock running, a couple of weeks ago I spent just over an hour at Finsbury Park and out of around 32 trains only 7 were formed of 09 stock.

 

[Gavelex]

Just quickly, are there any of the 67 stock left on the Victoria line or is it all in the hands of the S stock?

There are 13 '09's now - and about 30 '67's. I would be rather worried to see an S stock on the Victoria line seeing it's surface stock...!

 

[Aictos]

There are 13 '09's now - and about 30 '67's. I would be rather worried to see an S stock on the Victoria line seeing it's surface stock...!

Sorry, I know the Victoria and Met are both getting new stock at the moment so managed to get confused,

 

[Drsatan]

Do the 2009 stock trains tend to be used during weekdays or are they used on weekends only? I went on the Victoria Line last Wednesday and I only rode on 67 stock.

 

[Daniel]

They're used on weekdays too.

 

[Gavelex]

They have now got rid of enough '67 stock that if they don't run any '09 stock in the week they have to cancel trains.

 

[A60K]

Yes, they are generally used everyday - for instanc Sunday just gone had trains 12 and 13 running, possibly more. A weekday peak normally has at least six 09 stock traims running.

 

[317 forever]

When I had to ride the Victoria Line 3 weeks ago the train that came was a 67, but I am now optimistic that I might be able to ride an 09 next time I visit London in October!

 

[causton]

I decided to wait today at about 4pm to see how long it would take for one to arrive. First train was a 67, second one was an 09! The seats already look very worn but the carriage looks a lot more airy... However, I don't like how the screen on the outside says "Destination:" for half the time because people surely know that's what the screen is for!

 

[Daniel]

The outside screen not only scrolls to the destination, but also the next station, so there needs to be something to mark the two.

 

[MCR247]

I don't like that because when I got to Kings Cross St Pancras I glanced to the side and it said 'Warren St' which confused me but I got on anyway, hoping it was wrong as it is made by bombardier

 

[damian]

Rode on one on Friday for the first time. They're ugly (inside and from the side) and most importantly really uncomfortable, I agree that the seat fabric looks shabby from new. To be fair they are quieter and have slightly better acceleration than the old stock and I think there is more usable headroom (marginally) for standees. They do ride more smoothly too. I don't understand how, or why, you would order new stock that was not a significant improvement, unless the old stock was completely worn out (and the reliability of the old stock suggests it isn't). All in all a 'refresh' program for the old stock would have been a lot cheaper and most customers would have been as happy, if not happier.

 

[MCR247]

But how long would that last?

 

[At_traction]

To be fair they are quieter and have slightly better acceleration than the old stock and I think there is more usable headroom (marginally) for standees. They do ride more smoothly too.

After 40+ years, newly-designed stock is well overdue, if just for the abovementioned reasons. (Fast) acceleration without jerkiness and improved smoothness of ride - as much as that is possible on Underground tracks - are always to be lauded. Even with no A/C. Maybe next century...

 

[jon0844]

Were they built to a price? The seats look incredibly worn, which doesn't make sense. I hope someone demands they're placed at the expense of the manufacturer of the seat covers, not ours!

And I also got confused with the display on the outer screen. Perhaps it would be better to just scroll the information on a loop than have it pause on a station - when you can't now see if that's next station or destination.

Also, they missed a trick with the lack of lights to show what side the doors open, instead of putting it on the LED display - as if that was an afterthought. Instead, they've got a light to warn when the doors are closing on the inside. Generally speaking, people usually rush to get ON when doors are closing, not off.

Still, they're new and brightly lit - so everyone will surely love them. I love travelling on new things, whether a train, car, plane or boat - but I can see why people would think that you could have done most, or all, of this by refurbishing the existing stock. Of course, age was a factor for the mechanics and shell, but we've ended up with something that some people might even think is just a refurbished train!

 

[Electrostar]

The point is the seats aren't worn, it's just the colour of the moquette makes it look worn. I think it's our perception but this is something which the designers should have realised. As I previously said, compare the Arriva bus seat moquette (turquoise which always looks faded and worn) with a darker GoVia or Stagecoach version.

 

[Crossover]

The point is the seats aren't worn, it's just the colour of the moquette makes it look worn. I think it's our perception but this is something which the designers should have realised. As I previously said, compare the Arriva bus seat moquette (turquoise which always looks faded and worn) with a darker GoVia or Stagecoach version.

From memory the seats on Class 378's running on the ELL also look worn as well - must be this thing called modern design :P

I qute liked the 09 though - went on one the other weekend, purely by chance - first thing I saw was VERY bright headlights and thought I may be in luck!

The fact that the new stock is mostly doors (those things are HUGE!) it will surely improve dwell times. The annoucement of which side the platform is on is useful (is this taken from the Germans as in recent trips to Germany I have noticed most of the commuter services annouce this) but the problem in when you are in a tunnel it is actually quite hard to hear which side it is anyway

 

[jon0844]

Can that system (doors open on the left) be added to other stock? It is a good thing to know. The Piccadilly Line was updated fairly recently - so I wonder if they could be updated?

Now, there might be some stations where a train could come in on a different platform, but you could simply leave those out to solve the problem if there's no other clever way for it to know. Does the Victoria Line have any stations where the doors that open could vary from one side to the other?

 

[MCR247]

Not, that I'm aware of, maybe seven sisters?

 

[Daniel]

Walthamstow Central, Seven Sisters, and Brixton are all places where the side on which the doors open can change.


*(Highbury, Kings Cross, Warren Street and Victoria are also reversing points, but crossovers are only available by either a mainline shunt or reverse, so there is no opportunity for uncertainty of which platform is to be used by an approaching train).

 

[jon0844]

So, how does the system on the train know what to announce (left or right)? Does the driver have to do this, or does it just say nothing?

 

[gchst]

Is this about 2009 vic line stock or S stock, ive been on 09 stock from FP to vic.