Relief lines have now reopened. 1B63 Padd-Carmarthen appears to be the train involved.

800 002 has made a number of runs this week between North Pole and Didcot on AC throughout. Passed it yesterday running on the down relief near Twyford while on 800 005 heading towards Padd (on diesel up to Maidenhead!)

Yes it is, mate is on 1A03 which is a 10 car 800. Currently running 14 mins late at Southall but that's not due to the train, there's a couple of late-running turbos in front of it. Was pretty much right time until after Reading.

I am and remember the introduction of the HST well. Recall waiting at Bristol Parkway one hot day for a delayed HST which rolled in with water pouring out from the louvres of the front power car with the engine shut down. Subsequent run on one engine only got us to Padd but with even more delay. Then there was the fault some time later with the power cars fitted with GEC (I think?) traction motors which caused some of the fleet to be withdrawn. What is now a reliable workhorse did indeed have a chequered start.

So I'm not surprised that there were teething problems with the 800s. Agree that with the Japanese reputation on the line these will soon be sorted out.

I took my first two rides on the 800 on Tuesday from Didcot to Padd and back later to Reading. First impressions were that it was an excellent train and a worthy successor to the HST. Looking forward to more being rolled out.

Ooops sorry, wrong way round. 

Up working 1C03 seems to have had a rather disastrous debut. Arrived at Padd 41 mins late. Failed to switch over from diesel to AC at Maidenhead, so diesel all the way to Padd. Return working 1B12 8:15 to Cardiff has been cancelled.

Down working 1A03 seems to be doing a bit better, 7 mins late at Bath.

No doubt they'll sort it all out eventually but fabled 'Japanese reliability' has taken a bit of a knock!

Excellent! Ideal for dealing with smelly trainspotters 

I infer from this tweet from Ian Prosser, Director of Rail Safety at the ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about) that the 800s are now signed off for passenger use (although it doesn't explicitly say that):

https://twitter.com/IanProsser7/status/ ... 1293811713

So does that mean that it's all go for passenger service introduction next Monday?

Reported elsewhere that they were testing coupling and uncoupling IEP^▸ (Intercity Express Program / Project.) units in the curved platforms at Temple Meads last night, which might account for the rather odd movements on RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website). Apparently successful!

Currently 11 trains backed up between Culham and north of Oxford station on the up line at the time of posting! 

Quite. Looks like I was lucky in managing to miss this. Completed my meetings in London and decided to head home early catching the 14:30 from Padd which was fine - even had working aircon.

Looks like still nothing moving out of Padd. Another screwed up evening peak to come 

Judging from Jason's post I would consider the answer to be 'yes'

Allow plenty of time though because the Marylebone-Oxford trains get quickly wedged once Paddington is stuffed. They're mostly 5 car units every 30 mins (more in the peak with one loco-hauled service.

+1 Thanks for the explanation!

The BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) SSI^▸ (Solid State Interlocking) was a well-proven system and my recollection from 1992 onwards when the Slough New (SN) scheme was implemented was that it was pretty reliable. Given all the inbuilt redundancy you describe I'm wondering what's changed in the past three years to make it fall over so regularly. Can't be the change to axle counters, can it?

That's good news II. They still need to convert the Padd to Stockley Junction OLE^▸ (Overhead Line Equipment, more often "OHLE") to autotransformer (AT) supply before a full electric service can be run but that's several months away yet. As you rightly say it means that the planned service to Maidenhead can be run from next month.

It now appears that the wiring between Maidenhead through the Reading station area to Scours Lane is nearing completion.  That leaves commissioning the AT stations at Twyford and Reading together with testing to complete, so the planned switch-on day in September should be quite achievable. Electrification from Padd to Milton Junction west of Didcot will then be complete theoretically enabling the IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train) to run on AC from October, when they're supposed to be introduced and the 387s from Didcot at the beginning of next year.

Are there any other works which need to be completed before this happens? I know there's platform lengthening planned at Didcot and some of the Thames Valley stations but I thought this was for 12 car 387s which won't be needed straight away

As ellendune points out they are the same place. I presume that you are arriving by Eurostar but where are you connecting to? If you are connecting to the Thalys or DB^» (Deutsche Bahn - German State Railway - about) ICE there are exits part way down the Eurostar platforms (look for "Correspondances") which take you directly to these trains.

If you have an internal connection on SNCB within Belgium, then take the exit at the front of the train, go out through the gates and down the stairs. This will bring you out to the main passageway under the station which gives you access to all the platforms.

As the previous poster says, look out for pickpockets!