458/5 delivery update

[whole diary]

[stuving]

Just to reinforce the message about the protracted nature of the commissioning process on the first new train, today I saw the same pair (451+453) sidling through Wokingham as was pictured in early December (above). I presume this is the first pair that was to do 5000 miles of commissioning.

[Lee]

Minister Stephen Hammond unveils first of 108 additional carriages - https://twitter.com/transportgovuk/status/441933633973002240/photo/1

[JayMac]

Good to see, in that tweet, that the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) went with 'additional', rather than 'new', as has often been reported elsewhere.

Can just about get away with saying they are 'new' to SWT^▸ (South West Trains), but they are still rebuilds of 14 year old Class 460 stock.

[Lee]

More on the Waterloo-Windsor launch - http://www.globalrailnews.com/2014/03/11/new-10-car-south-west-trains-service-launched-from-waterloo/

[stuving]

The CP5^▸ (Control Period 5 - the five year period between 2014 and 2019) Enhancements Delivery Plan (link loads PDF) now contains, and so confirms, the timescale for 10-car trains to run to Reading (and Ash Vale).

Activities and milestones

Milestone	Description	Date	Status
GRIP▸ (Guide to Railway Investment Projects) 3 completion	Single option selection	June 2015	Regulated Output
GRIP 4 completion	Single option scope defined	September 2015	Indicative
GRIP 6 start	Start on site	April 2016	Indicative
GRIP 6 completion	Infrastructure ready for use	May 2017	Indicative

What it does not say is how many platforms are to be lengthened to 204 m (or longer), and how many left for SDO^▸ (Selective Door Opening) to cope with. All it has is this rather ambiguous statement:

The project includes a review of options to allow 10 car services to stop at Feltham, Egham and Chertsey.

Just a minute - there's another bit further down - but no, that only covers the ASDO^▸ (Automatic Selective Door Operation) infrastructure and platform works to Windsor and Weybridge via Virginia Water, and on the LSW Main Lines. These are already well past GRIP 3, so presumably deciding what gets done to which station only gets done during GRIP 3.

[paul7575]

It's odd that they've even mentioned Chertsey in the context of the Reading route, having already decided to use ASDO^▸ (Automatic Selective Door Operation) there on the existing project of 10 car trains to Weybridge (via Hounslow).

The only thing I can think of is this - could it be because when Reading services are diverted that way they take over calls at stations where ASDO would normally be OK, on trains terminating or starting at Weybridge, but would be much busier when running through to Waterloo?

I guess the point about Egham itself is that the Reading trains are probably the busier trains at the moment because they are the fastest to Waterloo, so there was less of a case for lengthening the Weybridge trains while  they are the only 10 car, but once all trains are 10 car the BCR^▸ (Benefit Cost Ratio) changes? 

PS - I heard there's another pair of 458/5s out on trial this week...

Paul

[stuving]

It's odd that they've even mentioned Chertsey in the context of the Reading route, having already decided to use ASDO^▸ (Automatic Selective Door Operation) there on the existing project of 10 car trains to Weybridge (via Hounslow).

My reading of "The project includes a review of options to allow 10 car services to stop at Feltham, Egham and Chertsey" is that the earlier decision to not extend their platforms should be reconsidered. OK, Chertsey isn't on the way to Reading, but it's still logical to do it as part of this package which involves doing the same for a whole load of other stations.

[paul7575]

My reading of "The project includes a review of options to allow 10 car services to stop at Feltham, Egham and Chertsey" is that the earlier decision to not extend their platforms should be reconsidered. OK, Chertsey isn't on the way to Reading, but it's still logical to do it as part of this package which involves doing the same for a whole load of other stations.

They've certainly done similar to that before, certain platforms on the Southern side at Clapham Jn were rolled up into the 'Wessex route' suburban 10 car lengthening, because it made more sense to have one contract at one location.   As you say it may just have been found cheaper in the long run to add Chertsey to the other dozen or so stations on the additional routes...

Paul

[stuving]

Maybe someone has come up with something that alters the cost/benefit balance that led to the original decision to not extend the platforms. It could be a cheaper way to do it, or a better case for it - I would not have thought SDO^▸ (Selective Door Opening) was really a good idea at Feltham, for example.