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Author Topic: Class 387 coming to Thames Valley - ongoing discussion  (Read 459713 times)
johoare
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« Reply #855 on: January 19, 2018, 08:10:31 »

What is the issue at Maidenhead. Lack of fast services or short forms?
Yep ............... both

Also the timing of the Henley branch possibly means the trains a full before they reach Maidenhead.  An example is 06:32 fast from Maidenhead whilst not ram packed there is a shortage of seats

The 7.32 and 8.02 departures  are both overfull now and not everyone can always get on..GWR (Great Western Railway) promised extra capacity and have been doing so for years as a response to how overcrowded the trains were before..Sadly we all believed them and it's just turned out not to be true.
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NickB
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« Reply #856 on: January 19, 2018, 09:07:54 »

If it’s bad today just imagine what it will be like when RBWM build the proposed additional 14,000 homes in Maidenhead...
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lordgoata
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« Reply #857 on: January 19, 2018, 09:14:37 »

If it’s bad today just imagine what it will be like when RBWM build the proposed additional 14,000 homes in Maidenhead...

Plus the 10,000's being built in all the other towns and villages on the line before Maidenhead (as well as after, of course).
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IndustryInsider
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« Reply #858 on: January 19, 2018, 10:20:31 »

That’s why you’re getting Crossrail.  Won’t be long before Maidenhead is a London suburb!
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onthecushions
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« Reply #859 on: January 19, 2018, 11:38:19 »


Caught the 1749 ex-Paddington last Friday, 12 car 387 (a rarity it seems). It was about full, back to car 12, where I was, but not bad for a peak service. The performance was, as OS (Ordnance Survey) Nock would say, "sparkling", with stops at Maidenhead (including crossing to reliefs) and Twyford, arriving into Reading at 1824, the same gross timing as a 47 + 7, non stop. It then took  time to unhitch the rear four, not quite a match for Southern slickness with its 57 and 63 stock.

There were many announcements, quite sexist as the woman's voice was not allowed to do the important "mind the gap/doors" bit, but she did tell me which car I was in. At Maidenhead, the lady sitting next to me asked when we stopped at Ealing Broadway....

The problem is that GWR (Great Western Railway) will have to do that 4 times an hour, >95% of the time. I think that it ought to cancel a 12 car train rather than try running with 4 cars. Surely it is "running in" its 387's....? BR (British Rail(ways)) used to insist on mileage accumulation before stock entered service.

My sympathy for those stuck on the GWR learning curve.

OTC

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Western Enterprise
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« Reply #860 on: January 19, 2018, 11:42:41 »


 The performance was, as OS (Ordnance Survey) Nock would say, "sparkling", with stops at Maidenhead
Smiley Smiley
I bet the fireman was mortgaging the boiler in that case !!!
 Cheesy
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NickB
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« Reply #861 on: January 19, 2018, 16:40:11 »

Both 12-car services are running as 8-car versions tonight due to 'repairs'.
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Sixty3Closure
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« Reply #862 on: January 19, 2018, 17:18:47 »

At least on Fridays its not quite so crowded. Assuming they both run of course....
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NickB
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« Reply #863 on: January 19, 2018, 17:53:41 »

Tell that to the masses that are standing on the 17.49 😀
There is very little floor space left - it’s definitely ‘over full’
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stuving
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« Reply #864 on: January 19, 2018, 18:27:27 »

I found this quote in a piece on Rail Engineer about EGIP:
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It is expected that, as Hitachi ramps up Class 385 production at its Newton Aycliffe plant, the original December 2017 milestone for a full service of seven-car EMUs (Electric Multiple Unit) on the Edinburgh to Glasgow service is likely to be achieved in the next few months. No date has been set for this, however, and ScotRail Alliance’s managing director Alex Hynes has stated that he does not want to jeopardise the line’s current good punctuality and passenger satisfaction by introducing the trains before sufficient numbers are fully tested.

If you (and your friends from Mossad?) wereto corral a GWR (Great Western Railway) manager, and quote that, the reply might be "chance would be a fine thing ... but we're caught between demands and dates we can't control so we just have to cope as best we can". Blame for that can be spread around according to what you believe of the information that's come out, but then blame never made a train run.
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TaplowGreen
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« Reply #865 on: January 19, 2018, 19:14:26 »

I found this quote in a piece on Rail Engineer about EGIP:
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It is expected that, as Hitachi ramps up Class 385 production at its Newton Aycliffe plant, the original December 2017 milestone for a full service of seven-car EMUs (Electric Multiple Unit) on the Edinburgh to Glasgow service is likely to be achieved in the next few months. No date has been set for this, however, and ScotRail Alliance’s managing director Alex Hynes has stated that he does not want to jeopardise the line’s current good punctuality and passenger satisfaction by introducing the trains before sufficient numbers are fully tested.

If you (and your friends from Mossad?) wereto corral a GWR (Great Western Railway) manager, and quote that, the reply might be "chance would be a fine thing ... but we're caught between demands and dates we can't control so we just have to cope as best we can". Blame for that can be spread around according to what you believe of the information that's come out, but then blame never made a train run.


Leaving aside the (at best patronising, at worst borderline offensive) reference to Mossad, perhaps had GWR adopted a similarly cautious attitude and not spent the second half of 2017 blowing fanfares about how wonderful things were going to be come the new timetable with 8/12 carriage trains transforming the service and reducing overcrowding, they just might not appear to be the woefully failing organisation they once again seem to be.....even an apology/explanation from Hopwood may help, but as always neither have been forthcoming....
« Last Edit: January 19, 2018, 19:25:45 by TaplowGreen » Logged
stuving
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« Reply #866 on: January 20, 2018, 15:47:34 »

I found this quote in a piece on Rail Engineer about EGIP:
Quote
It is expected that, as Hitachi ramps up Class 385 production at its Newton Aycliffe plant, the original December 2017 milestone for a full service of seven-car EMUs (Electric Multiple Unit) on the Edinburgh to Glasgow service is likely to be achieved in the next few months. No date has been set for this, however, and ScotRail Alliance’s managing director Alex Hynes has stated that he does not want to jeopardise the line’s current good punctuality and passenger satisfaction by introducing the trains before sufficient numbers are fully tested.

If you (and your friends from Mossad?) wereto corral a GWR (Great Western Railway) manager, and quote that, the reply might be "chance would be a fine thing ... but we're caught between demands and dates we can't control so we just have to cope as best we can". Blame for that can be spread around according to what you believe of the information that's come out, but then blame never made a train run.


Leaving aside the (at best patronising, at worst borderline offensive) reference to Mossad, perhaps had GWR adopted a similarly cautious attitude and not spent the second half of 2017 blowing fanfares about how wonderful things were going to be come the new timetable with 8/12 carriage trains transforming the service and reducing overcrowding, they just might not appear to be the woefully failing organisation they once again seem to be.....even an apology/explanation from Hopwood may help, but as always neither have been forthcoming....

I was puzzled by that reply, but when I looked at what I'd written I realised what it was responding to. I can only say I'm sorry to you, TG, for what you may have seen as a personal attack, and say that I wasn't thinking on those lines at all. It was perhaps rather flippant, and hurried, but my fault either way.

For a start, I was commenting on the Scotrail statement - which I'd attached to a post by TG, but only as one of a number that it was relevant to. When I wrote "If you ...", I could equally have said "if I ..." or "If one ...", but "you" felt more naturally idiomatic. And that remark about Mossad was just picking up on the comments (not just by TG) about Mark Hopwood's elusiveness - so it ought to offend him, perhaps.

As to the rest, it's mostly what I've said before - though the initial short-term rolling stock shortage, to which GWR added their own staff shortages, has now been compounded by a mysterious difficulty for GWR-trained drivers to couple/uncouple trains known to do this perfectly well in other hands. While scattering blame about doesn't (as I day) help to run trains on the day, identifying causes (not quite the same thing) is of course needed to solve problems eventually. And there's no reason why we shouldn't blame those at fault - or even those not - but then we don't have to run the trains.

So I do hope, TaplowGreen, you will accept my apology for any offence I caused as unintentionally.

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ElectricLad
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« Reply #867 on: January 30, 2018, 20:25:47 »

The 18:12 from Pad tonight, was formed of four rather than the usual 8 387, although an improvement from the 5/6 class 165.

At Ealing Broadway the driver let his tongue lose and had a rant at the train, after three failed attempts at closing the doors the train shuts down or something like that.
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ITGuy
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« Reply #868 on: February 05, 2018, 20:23:37 »

Well tonight was fun  Angry

I especially liked the 1819 being changed to be fast to Reading, and so leaving what looked like virtually empty...as seen from the rammed 1842 (Reading) on the adjacent platform. It's almost as if they don't have a clue.

It would also be nice if the 0733 Mai - Pad would remember it's supposed to arrive at 0755, not 0800 or later.
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Birdie100
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« Reply #869 on: February 05, 2018, 21:03:44 »

Complete shambles this evening. Missed the 19.48 by 1 min. Trying to get to maidenhead. I had two chances to ride a Slough service but the useless gang have pretended to run, then cancelled 2x ..18/48 services and all the stoppers in between. Finally rolling at 21.01!!! Still, hearing the support desk staff publically swearing about the quality of the service from 'the management' shows how everyone's morale has collapsed...
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