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Author Topic: IETs into passenger service from 16 Oct 2017 and subsequent performance issues  (Read 543771 times)
IndustryInsider
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« Reply #2250 on: January 26, 2020, 11:18:00 »

If journey check is to be believed, there are a number of short forms running today, particularly Bristol and the W.o.E.

It isn't to be believed...  Roll Eyes

Looking at the next few services starting at Paddington listed as 5-car:

12:03 Paddington to Exeter is a 5-car 800009

But...
12:43 Paddington to Swansea is 10-car 800017/022
13:43 Paddington to Carmathen is 9-car 800315
14:00 Paddington to Bristol is 9-car 800303

More shortforms than there should be mind you.
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grahame
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« Reply #2251 on: January 26, 2020, 11:30:11 »

Looking at the next few services starting at Paddington listed as 5-car:

12:03 Paddington to Exeter is a 5-car 800009

But...

And I would suspect it will not be overcrowded.  However, at 15:10 back from Exeter to Paddington it may be a different story, as is may be at 18:03 from Paddington to Exeter.   Final run 21:15 Exeter to Paddington should be quiet as is wanders between Taunton and Reading, not calling at major hubs like Westbury!
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bobm
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« Reply #2252 on: January 26, 2020, 11:39:19 »

If journey check is to be believed, there are a number of short forms running today, particularly Bristol and the W.o.E.

It isn't to be believed...  Roll Eyes

Looking at the next few services starting at Paddington listed as 5-car:

12:03 Paddington to Exeter is a 5-car 800009

But...
12:43 Paddington to Swansea is 10-car 800017/022
13:43 Paddington to Carmathen is 9-car 800315
14:00 Paddington to Bristol is 9-car 800303

More shortforms than there should be mind you.

Is a nine car to Carmarthen unusual?  In my experience normally it is a 10 car with the rear five on arrival at Swansea detaching and continuing to Carmarthen.
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bobm
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« Reply #2253 on: January 26, 2020, 11:40:58 »

Looking at the next few services starting at Paddington listed as 5-car:

12:03 Paddington to Exeter is a 5-car 800009

But...

And I would suspect it will not be overcrowded.  However, at 15:10 back from Exeter to Paddington it may be a different story, as is may be at 18:03 from Paddington to Exeter.   Final run 21:15 Exeter to Paddington should be quiet as is wanders between Taunton and Reading, not calling at major hubs like Westbury!

Some may have decided not to travel west of Exeter this weekend because of the rail replacement transport between St Davids and Plymouth.  I know I did!
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« Reply #2254 on: January 26, 2020, 11:48:47 »

If journey check is to be believed, there are a number of short forms running today, particularly Bristol and the W.o.E.

It isn't to be believed...  Roll Eyes

Looking at the next few services starting at Paddington listed as 5-car:

12:03 Paddington to Exeter is a 5-car 800009

But...
12:43 Paddington to Swansea is 10-car 800017/022
13:43 Paddington to Carmathen is 9-car 800315
14:00 Paddington to Bristol is 9-car 800303

More shortforms than there should be mind you.

Is a nine car to Carmarthen unusual?  In my experience normally it is a 10 car with the rear five on arrival at Swansea detaching and continuing to Carmarthen.

Platform lengths restrict formations to Carmarthen,
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« Reply #2255 on: January 26, 2020, 11:57:12 »

Is a nine car to Carmarthen unusual?  In my experience normally it is a 10 car with the rear five on arrival at Swansea detaching and continuing to Carmarthen.

Platform lengths restrict formations to Carmarthen,

Since changed to 10-car 800027/029 with 029 going all the way.  800313 now working 13:03 to Exeter.
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« Reply #2256 on: January 26, 2020, 13:00:51 »

Some may have decided not to travel west of Exeter this weekend because of the rail replacement transport between St Davids and Plymouth.  I know I did!

What - no alternative services at all via Bridestowe?  Grin
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« Reply #2257 on: January 27, 2020, 08:11:22 »

Another long list of 5 vice 9/10s today. Its become a daily occurance once again that leads me to ask what the problem is with Hitachi supplying the required amount of trains? Once again its the paying passenger that suffers not GWR (Great Western Railway) who get compensated when the correct number of trains isn't supplied.

(Usual how accurate is Journeycheck applies)
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« Reply #2258 on: January 27, 2020, 08:46:41 »

Another long list of 5 vice 9/10s today. Its become a daily occurance once again that leads me to ask what the problem is with Hitachi supplying the required amount of trains? Once again its the paying passenger that suffers not GWR (Great Western Railway) who get compensated when the correct number of trains isn't supplied.

I have followed up on this at http://www.passenger.chat/22825 in our "Transport Scholars" area - giving some thought to the financial ramifications of short forms for First. 

Members can elect to be added to "Transport Scholars" - where we go into some deeper topics - if they wish;  if you are not there (you can see if the link works for you if you're not sure), please send me a personal message, or "like" this post, and I will add you.
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« Reply #2259 on: January 27, 2020, 09:47:59 »

Another long list of 5 vice 9/10s today.
It was hard work trying to get onto a service from Reading to Paddington this morning. I let 3 5-cars go in succession between 7:35 and 8:00 before a 9 came in that wasn't entirely rammed.
The Twitter feed was is good voice with a few pictures of unpleasant looking onboard conditions.
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« Reply #2260 on: January 27, 2020, 10:29:18 »

It was hard work trying to get onto a service from Reading to Paddington this morning. I let 3 5-cars go in succession between 7:35 and 8:00 before a 9 came in that wasn't entirely rammed.
The Twitter feed was is good voice with a few pictures of unpleasant looking onboard conditions.
Perhaps someone should repeat the mantra to all those who complained on Twitter this morning that a short train is better than no train!
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« Reply #2261 on: January 27, 2020, 10:44:04 »

Another long list of 5 vice 9/10s today. Its become a daily occurance once again that leads me to ask what the problem is with Hitachi supplying the required amount of trains? Once again its the paying passenger that suffers not GWR (Great Western Railway) who get compensated when the correct number of trains isn't supplied.

(Usual how accurate is Journeycheck applies)

There are indeed errors on JourneyCheck again (I won't bother listing them again today), but, yes, there are still too many shortforms for my liking, especially on the West Country route where a higher percentage of journeys to/from London are longer distance ones.

It was hard work trying to get onto a service from Reading to Paddington this morning. I let 3 5-cars go in succession between 7:35 and 8:00 before a 9 came in that wasn't entirely rammed.
The Twitter feed was is good voice with a few pictures of unpleasant looking onboard conditions.

The 07:29, 07:37, 07:56 and 08:01 were 9-cars (according to the allocations list anyway), but sandwiched amongst them, at a critical time of the morning, were the 07:34, 07:40 and 07:50 which were all 5-cars as you say, and no doubt packed.  In addition to that the Reading departure at 07:20 from Swansea was cancelled, as was one of the Superfasts that's due to run non-stop through Reading at 07:48, but of course its passengers were having to find other services to cram on.
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« Reply #2262 on: January 27, 2020, 12:08:26 »

Is there any clear plan of action to reliably run full length trains ?
The new timetable does not seem to have improved matters.

Or is this the "new normal" and we should simply get used to it ?

We seem to have moved on from "all peak trains to or from Paddington will be full length" and towards "short trains are not that bad"
Even paying the first class fare is of little help since first is de-facto declassified on short trains. Enforcement of first class is patchy even on full length units.
Reserving a seat does not help as the reservation system is still unreliable, and reservations are voided on half length trains.
And as for catering, the trolley service still hides more often than not, and is often in the other portion of a full length service.
And the new units have proved vulnerable to the adverse but well known conditions at Dawlish, despite the promises made.

I have avoided frequent comment on this subject, and in particular have avoided remarking on my own unsatisfactory journeys, However the absence of frequent criticism from me does not mean that I consider the present situation satisfactory.
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A proper intercity train has a minimum of 8 coaches, gangwayed throughout, with first at one end, and a full sized buffet car between first and standard.
It has space for cycles, surfboards,luggage etc.
A 5 car DMU (Diesel Multiple Unit) is not a proper inter-city train. The 5+5 and 9 car DMUs are almost as bad.
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« Reply #2263 on: January 27, 2020, 14:12:38 »

Is there any clear plan of action to reliably run full length trains ?
The new timetable does not seem to have improved matters.

Or is this the "new normal" and we should simply get used to it ?

There will be short formations on occasions, that is a given.  It is a question of how many is acceptable and personally I think that an average of one diagram a day (so perhaps six services) is the maximum that we should be seeing, otherwise a plan to build more trains or lengthen others should be carefully considered.  I have seen an improvement since the new timetable, but it is still not good enough - with the end of last week and today particularly poor.

We seem to have moved on from "all peak trains to or from Paddington will be full length" and towards "short trains are not that bad"

Who has said that short trains in the peak are not that bad?

Even paying the first class fare is of little help since first is de-facto declassified on short trains. Enforcement of first class is patchy even on full length units.

Short formed trains on occasion maybe, but that represents a small percentage of the total number of trains.  I've seen little or no declassification for trains that are booked to be 5-cars as generally that is what is suitable for the service, though there are exceptions of course.  I have seen no less enforcement of first class on full-length trains than when HSTs (High Speed Train) operated the services.

Reserving a seat does not help as the reservation system is still unreliable, and reservations are voided on half length trains.

Reservations have improved a great deal.  There is an ongoing problem with the Cheltenham trains which was due to a last minute change of letter used in the headcode for the new timetable and that is being addressed.  There are still sometimes problems with trains attaching and detaching, but otherwise I rarely see reservations not being displayed.  Please let's not pretend reservations were always put out and displayed on HSTs, where if they were they were difficult to read and prone to people removing them.

And as for catering, the trolley service still hides more often than not, and is often in the other portion of a full length service.

I would agree that the trolley service isn't consistent enough by some way yet, but would argue with the statement that the trolley hides "more often than not", and from my own observations is slowly getting better.

And the new units have proved vulnerable to the adverse but well known conditions at Dawlish, despite the promises made.

Agreed.  Still a lot of work to be done there, despite modification to various settings.

I have avoided frequent comment on this subject, and in particular have avoided remarking on my own unsatisfactory journeys, However the absence of frequent criticism from me does not mean that I consider the present situation satisfactory.

I'd quite like to hear reports of everyone's journeys, both satisfactory and unsatisfactory so we can start to more accurately turn your 'seems to be the case' into 'is the case' or 'isn't the case'.  The only thing that many of us would rather not see is just repeating the same thing ad nauseam.  So I am grateful you are doing that a little less often recently.
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« Reply #2264 on: January 27, 2020, 15:41:44 »

Not just short forms today but also cancellations on the Bristol line.  When I arrived at Bath this morning I noticed that both the 0913 and 1013 departures to Paddington were showing as cancelled together with the 0924 to Bristol (0802 from Paddington).

According to RTT» (Real Time Trains - website) the 0913 from Bath ran but was diverted from Bristol to run via Badminton - so still a cancellation at Bath and Chippenham
« Last Edit: January 27, 2020, 16:22:56 by rogerw » Logged

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