Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
Yeah, it's mostly been staff issues. The standby bus has been outside rather a lot!
That said, given that the problem is primarily overheating and it's been cold I think the issue may just be masked rather than fixed.
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What is the cause of unreliability of Vivarail Class 230 trains?
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Yeah, it's mostly been staff issues. The standby bus has been outside rather a lot!
That said, given that the problem is primarily overheating and it's been cold I think the issue may just be masked rather than fixed.
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DarloRich
Veteran Member
agreed!
Rather cynical
Yes they could just sit back and do nothing, for the problem to return during the next hot spell, or they could be working on a solution to the problem, with no way off knowing if it has worked, until next summer
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samuelmorris
Established Member
Indeed we have no way of knowing, because nobody's said anything. Given how much disruption it caused last Summer and how much Abellio like to big themselves up I'm surprised there hasn't been an announcement about the fault having been rectified, if indeed it has been.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
While Vivarail like to keep their cards close to their chest, I'm unconvinced it has been fixed, and if the things last that long before another conflagration I can see the problems starting again in May or thereabouts as the weather gets warmer.
samuelmorris
Established Member
Is my concern as well - while the 230s have lifted themselves off the bottom of the reliability chart, if things are only going to revert to how they were once warmer weather appears, things will still be dire - staffing issues notwithstanding. Imagine if last summer had been like 2018's instead. There'd have been bus replacement on the route every day for months.
Neen Sollars
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Thanks for the updates on reliability issues. I have been following this D78 to 230 programme with interest but clearly things have not gone to plan. If I remember correctly Vivarail were going to use another manufacturers diesel engine, and new batteries from either another supplier or upgraded ones from the original. Everything has gone so quiet with the TfW 230`s that you wonder if they will use the new diesel engines, perhaps these will be better cooled than the Ford ones. The 230`s selling point is ease of power configuration with the under slung rafts so if any improvement is seen with new engines, I hope the Marston Vale 230`s are upgraded as soon as possible.
DarloRich
Veteran Member
The street word is now that the problem today was contaminated brake blocks caused by nr grinding work!
Xenophon PCDGS
Veteran Member
Is that type of occurrence something that occurs often on the National rail network?
philthetube
Established Member
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Nobody in their right mind would make an announcement about overheating problems being fixed until proper testing had taken place, and this will not be possible until we have hot weather.
DarloRich
Veteran Member
It can happen but it sounds "convenient"
Silverlinky
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Two separate occasions of "brake block contamination" at the back end of last week. Yes NR had been rail grinding down there as other contamination had built up on the rails causing track circuits to fail. That was though to be from the 230 sanders as it was worst on approach to the stations.
43096
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It isn't "convenient", it's fact.
DarloRich
Veteran Member
Are we saying the swarf from grinding is contaminating brake blocks? If so how? Is the waste product not too big for that?
I have only ever seen large scale waste removed from the machinery. If the small waste still causes issues I will bow to your knowledge. I assumed it was all burnt up!
you only get true swarf from cutting tools that shave metal off
grinders wear away the surface and the resultant discharge is metal particles and grit from the grinding wheels or it is with the speno when we piloted it ??
fflint
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No entries since 2nd Feb is no news good news?
DarloRich
Veteran Member
Cold weather, reduced service, level crossing melt down and more important things to worry about.
We have still had issues
Peter Sarf
Established Member
And the above was 24/03/2020, two months ago. So has the recent hot weather beaten the engine cooling or does that appear to have been improved ?.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
There has been no service for a couple of months!
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
That's one way of solving the problem
Well, at least the service is operating precisely as per the published timetable!
(I believe RRBs have now been reinstated)
Peter Sarf
Established Member
Doh. That crossed my mind and then I decided surely not !.
Surely by now the need for public transport has grown enough ?. Where I live there are plenty of people who do not have a car and are having to rely on ever filling busses. Or perhaps the schools going back will tip the balance.
Lets hope the engineers have had time to use the opportunity to tinker thoroughly with the 230s at Bletchley.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
They've put RRBs on which is more than enough capacity, it is not, other than the school trains, a busy service.
I believe when it was unserved completely they had made arrangement with a small number of key workers for alternatives, I guess taxis.
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