Seems to have gone a little quiet on this thread. A sure sign that the new trains are settling in quite nicely.
I managed to have my first trip yesterday - I took 1B40, the 13:45
PAD» -
SWA» as far as Cardiff Central, and returned on the other sets working 1L76, 15:29 SWA-PAD which I stayed on until Reading. Here are my thoughts:
Performance and timekeepingBoth trips were largely punctual, except for a 10 minute delay after leaving Bristol Parkway on the down service. We were held waiting a late running Pompey to Cardiff service to go ahead. We left Paddington on electric power just under two minutes late and with my trusty GPS app I was able to note that we reached 100mph just before Acton so had to be held back as the 125mph limit starts just after there. No diesel train would ever reach 100mph before the 125mph board. After that we accelerated to 125mph by just past Hanwell - at which point you'd expect to be doing around 115mph in a 180 or 110mph in a
HST▸ . We then effortlessly rolled along at around 125mph until the changeover point at Maidenhead. As others have reported, you can hardly tell you've switched power source. We dropped about 5mph immediately and that steadily reduced from then onwards to around 105mph when we started braking for Reading. Arrival at Reading was on time in a shade over 23 minutes.
With next stop Swindon I was eager to see what speed we'd reach on diesel power. Initially the acceleration was quite quick, but I was slightly disappointed with the rate of acceleration from 60mph onwards. We had an unchecked run into Swindon, enroute the speedo briefly touched 108mph but the average over many minutes of recordings was a steady 104mph. Nevertheless we arrived Swindon over a minute early. A similar run from Swindon to Bristol Parkway saw an on time arrival and the same 104mph average. After that we got delayed and followed another service so performance wasn't really worth monitoring.
Coming back the other way saw us leave Cardiff a minute late and we had made that up by Bristol Parkway and ran early into Swindon, before arriving Reading 2.5 minutes early - despite a check for another train at Didcot which slowed us to around 50mph for a brief period. Performance on the return was
much better. We averaged over 120mph in diesel mode for several minutes on the gently falling gradients between Chipping Sodbury and Wootton Bassett and also until we were checked at Didcot Parkway. On two occasions the reading was 125mph, but whether we actually reached that or not is open to debate given the possibility of an inaccurate reading from the GPS. I'm very confident that we were doing those 120+mph averages though as it was recorded over several minutes.
Why the difference in maximum speeds on each trip? Well, there could be a combination of four reasons at play. 1) The engines on the down service were running in 'muzzled' configuration, 2) Engine output wasn't optimal for some reason (one isolated maybe?), 3) Generally the gradients favour the up direction, or 4) Given we were running to time, the driver was driving to the timetable rather than maximum speed on the down service.
Dwell times were pretty much bang on two minutes at all stations, except Swindon on the way back where we were waiting time. Certainly it appears there are no problems keeping to HST schedules as long as the signals stay green!
The travelling 'experience'Unsurprisingly given the time of day I had no problems getting a seat in either direction. Here are my opinions of the interiors, with a four grade marking system from
'Great', to
'Good' to
'Undecided' to
'Poor'.
Seats were surprisingly comfortable, given comments on their hardness by others.
Leg room was ample. I sat in both priority seats and normal seats and can report back that the rumours and worries of poor legroom simply aren't true with much more space than on the existing
GWR▸ HST interiors.
A couple of nice little touches include the inner arm-rest by the windows being able to be moved into the upright position so you can lean against the window without it digging into your ribs. Also there's a nice window ledge which is wide enough to rest your elbow and arm on. Indeed it was wide enough that my phone could rest on it.
A nice ambience inside, a little bland maybe, but not the claustrophobic feel you get in a Pendolino or Voyager, and lower seat backs than on the HST's help. Lighting less harsh, but still nice and bright. Large windows, the majority of which have seats aligned well with them.
Ride quality was good, considering the state the track is in at the moment!
Luggage space looks a little limited to me. Perhaps the trains for Cornwall will have a little more, but I worry about there being enough room for large cases. The overhead racks are excellent however, nice and deep and very tall so anything but the largest soft bag will fit in them. Additional space between the seat backs is available as well of course.
The three state reservation system was working on the way there, but not on the way back, but the green, yellow and red lights are easy to see throughout the length of the carriage, and the text display above each seat is clear and bright. End of carriage displays are also clear and large. Staff mentioned they will be sticking to paper labels as a back up until the new year.
Too many automatic announcements as usual. About five listing all the stations before we left Paddington, more at every station call and the
TM‡ was also making occasional manual announcements as well. When is the message going to get through that people don't want to be bombarded with announcements the whole time! It wasn't so bad given the number of station calls we made, but anything more intensive, such as the Cotswold Line, will have people reaching for cotton wool. Hopefully it will be reconfigured. On the plus side the automated system worked perfectly in both directions.
Internal doors are floor pressure pad operated which surprised me a little. They are quick to open (you hardly have to break your stride) and very, very quiet. On the outward trip I was sat in the composite carriage and I literally could not hear them opening right behind me. Having a pressure pad still means that they will be opening and closing constantly when a vestibule wanderer is on their phone, though the levels of noise in the vestibule means they won't be shouting so loudly and the doors themselves being quiet is a great improvement on the HST internal doors. There was an annoying rattle on the composite compartment door when travelling at speed though.
A trolley was provided both ways, though didn't come through until we were approaching Bristol Parkway on the way to Cardiff which is too long. Seemed well stocked for a trolley and a total of five runs past me took place over both trips.
Door release sounds are far too loud and prolonged. A distinct noise when closing is a necessary evil, but every generation of train seems to make the door release noise more unnecessarily annoying.
Temperature seemed consistent and 'about right' throughout the train, except for one end of one carriage which was quite cool.
Engine noise is very well dampened. There's only three engines per five car train (and will be five per nine car train) anyway, but the location of the engines is towards one end of the carriage rather than in the centre. On the outward trip I sat about two thirds of the way towards the other end of the carriage to where the engine is and you can barely hear it. I purposely sat right above an engine on the way home and whilst you can hear it, it's far from obtrusive and very minimal vibrations can be felt. I must admit I don't mind the low drone of an engine as it drowns out the annoying drone of other passengers, but for those that like a quiet ride you will more than likely not even know there's an engine in your carriage.
One problem with two 5-car units attached is that if the first class portions are both positioned together at the coupled ends, that means there is a gap of three carriages (nearly 70 metres) between standard class accommodation right in the middle of the platform where most people are likely to be waiting. That is where your potential dwell delays at stations might occur, especially as the two crew doors for the kitchen are not as obviously 'not for public use' as they might be. Although operationally convenient in some regards (first class all in the middle), I feel that it will be best to try to marshall them so first class is at each end of the train.
Didn't have chance to check out the cycle facilities and toilets.
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised. I am looking forward to hearing the views of others, but for me a potentially worthy HST replacement.
For those stat fans amongst us, I've attached a chart with the data I recorded. First chart has the running times and station dwell times. The second chart has the average speeds recorded over 2 minute intervals for the 'down' journey, and the third chart has the same average speeds for the 'up' journey but broken down into one minute intervals.
