IETs into passenger service from 16 Oct 2017 and subsequent performance issues

[whole diary]

[IndustryInsider]

Good luck Graham - looking good connection wise.  I’ll be interested to hear your views on the new trains.

[grahame]

Good luck Graham - looking good connection wise.  I’ll be interested to hear your views on the new trains.

Connection nicely made ... which is more than can be said for the 19:00 Paddington which is supposed to connect into the train I'm now on - 20:06 from Swindon.   The London train's a few minutes behind us, and I expect station staff at Chippenham will have to provide taxis.

New train - bit of a review last week;  they're much better than voyagers and the look more modern that HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train).   Nice to see the deeper luggage racks.   Lady opposite went off to find the buffet ... came back grumbling that she had to wait for the trolley to come round.   Liked the hard seats ... but then was finding them too hard by the time we got to England.

Noting some of the light grey seats are already showing marks, and remark made by a fellow passenger about how they're going to keep the glass in the luggage racks clean.

I suspect we had all the in-train staff for a 10 car ... plus two Hitachi engineers ... never seen so many GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) staff on a regular service.

Was I on the first 5 car IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) public service from Wales to England?   Think all prior ones have been 10?

Writing this from a 153 ... feels so much like home, sinking into the soft seats ...

[IndustryInsider]

I won’t be surprised if those seat covers get changed sooner rather than later for something a little darker.  Thought lessons would have been learnt from the Turbo and HST^▸ (High Speed Train) set that were fitted with light grey!

[Chris from Nailsea]

I suspect we had all the in-train staff for a 10 car ... plus two Hitachi engineers ... never seen so many GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) staff on a regular service.

Any sign of Mark Hopwood among them? 



Sorry - did I really say that out loud?? 

[TaplowGreen]

And the same for the 13:45 PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)-SWA^» (Swansea - next trains), and also the 17:29 back - Journeycheck says:

Facilities on the 13:45 London Paddington to Swansea due 16:43.
This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.
Will be formed of 5 coaches instead of 10.

.....................already needing repairs? 

[Rob on the hill]

And the same for the 13:45 PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)-SWA^» (Swansea - next trains), and also the 17:29 back - Journeycheck says:

Facilities on the 13:45 London Paddington to Swansea due 16:43.
This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.
Will be formed of 5 coaches instead of 10.

.....................already needing repairs? 

If a HST^▸ (High Speed Train) power car fails the whole set of 8 coaches can often continue in service with the one power car working. The power car can then be repaired or replaced later at the depot. But if a 5 car IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) set fails I wonder if it can continue in service? If not then we get yesterday's scenario with 5 coaches instead of 10. Can a 5 car IET on a 2 x 5 set be easily swapped in the same way as a HST power car?

[stuving]

If a HST^▸ (High Speed Train) power car fails the whole set of 8 coaches can often continue in service with the one power car working. The power car can then be repaired or replaced later at the depot. But if a 5 car IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) set fails I wonder if it can continue in service? If not then we get yesterday's scenario with 5 coaches instead of 10. Can a 5 car IET on a 2 x 5 set be easily swapped in the same way as a HST power car?

Much easier - as long as you have a new one handy, of course. There's lots of complicated requirements, but the key one is:

TS1696 IEP^▸ (Intercity Express Program / Project.) Units must be able to automatically couple or uncouple with each other in no more than 2 minutes.

The coupling or uncoupling time shall be taken from the point at which the original IEP Train (or separate IEP Units, in the case of a coupling operation) cease to be available to operate until the time that the now separated IEP Units (or the coupled IEP Train, in the case of a coupling operation) are available to operate. This shall exclude any traincrew walking time between cabs and the BR^▸ (British Rail(ways))-ATP^▸ (Automatic Train Protection) start up time (provided this does not exceed 4 minutes), but shall include all train borne system reconfiguration activities, for example, ETCS^▸ (European Train Control System), GSMR, TMS and brake proving.

So it's a push-button operation in the cab, but that's already true of most D/EMUs^▸ (Electric Multiple Unit). What the requirement didn't mention is how many people have to stand on the platform and watch  - it always seems to need at least one.

[bobm]

The other snag is if it is a terminal platform, ie Swansea or London Paddington and the "good" IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) is blocked in at the buffer stop end by the faulty one.

[1st fan]

And the same for the 13:45 PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)-SWA^» (Swansea - next trains), and also the 17:29 back - Journeycheck says:

Facilities on the 13:45 London Paddington to Swansea due 16:43.
This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.
Will be formed of 5 coaches instead of 10.

.....................already needing repairs? 

Yeah whats going on with our brand new trains going wrong?

[Chris from Nailsea]

They started 'going wrong' on 16 October ... 

[devonexpress]

I just wondered since the dreadful first day in service, how have the new IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train)'s performed in regular service?

[NickB]

And further to that question how likely is it that the full (now published) timetable will be able to be introduced from 2nd January?

I ask because my annual season ticket expires on 31st December and I’m considering dropping my First Eastbound Only privileges on the promise of all this magical new seating and a doubling of morning services from Maidenhead. That requires the new trains to be operational...

[Chris from Nailsea]

Hmm. 

You're probably both not going to like this, but things apparently have not improved. 

We have another ongoing discussion on the Coffee Shop forum, culminating presently with my own slightly caustic comment at http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=18792.msg224891#msg224891

I'll now look at how best to expand that other topic from a specific calendar diary entry and place it out on the wider forum.

[Chris from Nailsea]

I have now disconnected this topic's link to a specific date in the Coffee Shop forum diary (as that was purely historic) and moved / merged the ongoing discussion here.

Hope this helps! 

CfN. 

[IndustryInsider]

I just wondered since the dreadful first day in service, how have the new IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train)'s performed in regular service?

The train's themselves seem to be doing pretty well.  One diagram was a 5-car one day, but otherwise all have been 10 to the best of my knowledge.  Timings have been kept reasonably well when you consider it's leaf fall season and staff and passengers are getting used to them.  A promising start in my opinion.

And further to that question how likely is it that the full (now published) timetable will be able to be introduced from 2nd January?

I ask because my annual season ticket expires on 31st December and I’m considering dropping my First Eastbound Only privileges on the promise of all this magical new seating and a doubling of morning services from Maidenhead. That requires the new trains to be operational...

There's three reasons why it won't happen.  Lack of trains, lack of trained drivers, or infrastructure not ready.

There's no shortage of 387s (they're parked up everywhere), the number of drivers trained is currently level with where GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) wanted to be at this time with courses ongoing - hopefully what they think they need will actually be enough in practice.  Infrastructure I'm not so sure about but with all the additional possessions it will be frustrating if not.  So, overall, looking promising I'd say.