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

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Errrrr, isn't 802101 a 9 car? The one that has been outside North Pole recently

Yes - shouldn't believe everything anything I read on Devon Live

[JayMac]

This is 802002, taking test runs between Stoke Gifford and Penzance this week.

[SandTEngineer]

The carriage end overhang is quite impressive and the number of inter-carriage connecting cables is considerable.  Unfortunately I was on the wrong platform to judge the stepping distance from the door to curved platform (Saltash Down Platform).  The doors do look very narrow.

As BNM has stated above this was five-car set No.802002.


Image (c)2017 SandTEngineer

[Tim]

The carriage end overhang is quite impressive and the number of inter-carriage connecting cables is considerable.  Unfortunately I was on the wrong platform to judge the stepping distance from the door to curved platform (Saltash Down Platform).  The doors do look very narrow.

As BNM has stated above this was five-car set No.802002.


Image (c)2017 SandTEngineer

My impression was that the doors were of comparable width to an HST^▸ (High Speed Train) door. 

[TaplowGreen]

Water pouring in again and an evacuation of one of the new trains due to "fumes" this morning apparently.

[ray951]

Water pouring in again and an evacuation of one of the new trains due to "fumes" this morning apparently.

Was this on the 0700 Paddington - BTM^▸ (Bristol Temple Meads (strictly, it should be BRI))? It left Paddington 27 late and has just left Chippenham 54 late.
The automatic announcements at Didcot said it was because it had arrived late from the depot (which appears to be true according to RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website)).

[TaplowGreen]

Water pouring in again and an evacuation of one of the new trains due to "fumes" this morning apparently.

Was this on the 0700 Paddington - BTM^▸ (Bristol Temple Meads (strictly, it should be BRI))? It left Paddington 27 late and has just left Chippenham 54 late.
The automatic announcements at Didcot said it was because it had arrived late from the depot (which appears to be true according to RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website)).

If that is the same train then the passengers are telling a somewhat different story.....quite possible/likely that more than one have fallen over though.... it is a tad chilly after all.

[stuving]

Last Friday evening was bad too. One IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) got in the papers after it was cancelled RDG^‡(resolve)-BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains) (1C27, problem with the train (M8)).

However, this was an evening with loads of other absentees:
All day (and all HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train), I think) a string of: "problem at the depot (MU^▸ (Multiple Unit))"
An HST over RDG-PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains): "1L76, problems with the doors (M7)"
And even this oddity for RDG-PAD: "1J99 incident at a level crossing (XD)"

It's at times like this you look to your shiny new trains to be the reliable ones, isn't it?

[IndustryInsider]

Water pouring in again and an evacuation of one of the new trains due to "fumes" this morning apparently.

Was this on the 0700 Paddington - BTM^▸ (Bristol Temple Meads (strictly, it should be BRI))? It left Paddington 27 late and has just left Chippenham 54 late.
The automatic announcements at Didcot said it was because it had arrived late from the depot (which appears to be true according to RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website)).

If that is the same train then the passengers are telling a somewhat different story.....quite possible/likely that more than one have fallen over though.... it is a tad chilly after all.

Different train.  The smell of fumes was on 06:33 BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains)-PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) which was delayed by 9 minutes at Swindon as a result, though then lost its path (5 extra mins) and had a door issue at Reading (3 extra mins) and arrived Paddington 18 minutes late, so not a serious delay.

You are of course going to get the odd problem with brand new trains and crews that are getting used to them.

[martyjon]

" smell of fumes "

Didn't we have a similar problem when the HST^▸ (High Speed Train)'s first entered service. The smell was attributed to the brakes and it was suggested that drivers power down earlier and  'coast ' for a distance before applying the brakes and wasn't the composition of the brake pads altered which to a large extent eliminated the  " fumes ".

[Gordon the Blue Engine]

I agree with II.  The IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train)’s seem to be settling in reasonably well, considering how different they are from HST^▸ (High Speed Train)'s.  One of the main potential issues was poor timekeeping because of lack of power on diesel, but this has been largely overcome by running the engines at their full power rating (though no-one has said anything about the financial settlement with Hitachi to allow this).

Presumably the S&T^▸ (Signalling and Telegraph) interference problem on electric between Reading and Didcot has been fixed, again no information about this.  Maybe the “leakers” on the inside have been told to keep quiet.

[Tim]

" smell of fumes "

Didn't we have a similar problem when the HST^▸ (High Speed Train)'s first entered service. The smell was attributed to the brakes and it was suggested that drivers power down earlier and  'coast ' for a distance before applying the brakes and wasn't the composition of the brake pads altered which to a large extent eliminated the  " fumes ".

IIRC^▸ (if I recall/remember/read correctly), the problem of brake smells on the HST was mitigated by fitting a flap to the brake mechanism which closed an aircon intake when brakes were applied. 

[Thatcham Crossing]

brake smells on the HST^▸ (High Speed Train)

The "hot brakes" smells still occur (or maybe I have a sensitive nose!) on HST's, especially when braking to a stop (or near stop) from 125. Quite noticeable sometimes.

[Adelante_CCT]

Glad I'm not the only one TC^‡(resolve)!

[IndustryInsider]

All depends on how quickly the brake is applied and whether the ‘flap’ has time to close or not.  Moving the brake controller straight to emergency or full service will give you the smell, going through the braking steps steadily by selecting initial, then step two, three etc. will mean little or no smell.  The driver sometimes doesn’t have a choice of course.