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Author Topic: When is a short-formation not a short-formation  (Read 12088 times)
TaplowGreen
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« Reply #30 on: February 28, 2018, 19:32:18 »

But you need a seat reservation for an Advance. Are you suggesting they stop selling these cheap tickets

I think the suggestion is quite clearly more about not issuing/offering seat reservations for trains that do not have the facility (ie Turbos)
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broadgage
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« Reply #31 on: February 28, 2018, 19:48:38 »

 Q "When is a short formation not a short formation"
 A "When it has been re-branded as five (hundred) have a great adventure"
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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.
charles_uk
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« Reply #32 on: February 28, 2018, 19:59:35 »

But you need a seat reservation for an Advance. Are you suggesting they stop selling these cheap tickets

I think the suggestion is quite clearly more about not issuing/offering seat reservations for trains that do not have the facility (ie Turbos)

And also about not offering the advertised timetabled stock (and facilities) without advising passengers of the formation change.
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devonexpress
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« Reply #33 on: March 01, 2018, 14:09:33 »

Q "When is a short formation not a short formation"
 A "When it has been re-branded as five (hundred) have a great adventure"

Is there really any need for silly comments like these? I think not.
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grahame
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« Reply #34 on: March 01, 2018, 14:22:14 »

Q "When is a short formation not a short formation"
 A "When it has been re-branded as five (hundred) have a great adventure"

Is there really any need for silly comments like these? I think not.

Each to our own view ... I have considerable kinship with Broadgage in that I look back at some of my posts and feel that in hindsight they weren't exactly the sort of thing everyone might appreciate.  I will admit to having a chuckle at the original post!
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grahame
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« Reply #35 on: March 01, 2018, 14:24:25 »

But you need a seat reservation for an Advance. Are you suggesting they stop selling these cheap tickets

Is that really how advance bookings work on Turbo operated trains? You get given a real seat reference and you don't discover it's not a real reservation until you get on the train and try to find your seat? Wow.

I have seen reservations for Coach * seat ** (and no coach labelled "*" on the train).  It was explained that it means "any carriage, any seat" and that you are guaranteed a seat.  Not sure how widespread or current this is.
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rogerw
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« Reply #36 on: March 01, 2018, 14:53:03 »

This is the system used on SWR» (South Western Railway - about).  It means that you must travel on the specified service but I suspect that you are not guaranteed a seat.  Many people are of the opinion that Crosscountry should do this on their late 'advance' fares to avoid existing passengers being evicted from the seats they occupied when they were showing as not reserved.
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ChrisB
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« Reply #37 on: March 01, 2018, 15:05:00 »

But the original post suggested removing reservations, so pax didn't feel they had a guaranteed seat. My post stands, suggesting that reservations (of any sort) *are* needed for Advance fares, at least.
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charles_uk
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« Reply #38 on: March 01, 2018, 15:34:17 »

But the original post suggested removing reservations, so pax didn't feel they had a guaranteed seat. My post stands, suggesting that reservations (of any sort) *are* needed for Advance fares, at least.

My fundamental issue was that this (and other services) are being operated by inferior units to the ones the GWR (Great Western Railway) timetable says passengers should expect without publicising these changes. This is then compounded by GWR offering seat reservations. I get the point that you need some sort of reservation with an advance fare, but if you have a reservation for coach L, seats 43 and 44 then I don't think it is unreasonable to expect - in the normal course of events - there to be a coach L with seats 43 and 44 reserved.
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YouKnowNothing
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« Reply #39 on: April 06, 2018, 11:58:06 »

Lots of short formations recently. Is this the aftermath of more GWR (Great Western Railway) trains being placed elsewhere on the NR» (Network Rail - home page) network. Surely not all out for maintenance?

How to do short formations get reported on a performance metric? Not like cancellations I assume?
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TaplowGreen
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« Reply #40 on: April 06, 2018, 12:01:41 »

Lots of short formations recently. Is this the aftermath of more GWR (Great Western Railway) trains being placed elsewhere on the NR» (Network Rail - home page) network. Surely not all out for maintenance?



That's another of the regular $64,000 dollar questions - if you can get a straight answer (or any answer beyond a cut/paste) from GWR then you're a better man than most of us on here (Gunga Din!)
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Timmer
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« Reply #41 on: April 06, 2018, 12:27:49 »

Need to get them sorted before the Summer when extra units are needed in the South West.
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grahame
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« Reply #42 on: April 06, 2018, 15:07:33 »

Lots of short formations recently. Is this the aftermath of more GWR (Great Western Railway) trains being placed elsewhere on the NR» (Network Rail - home page) network. Surely not all out for maintenance?

That's another of the regular $64,000 dollar questions - if you can get a straight answer (or any answer beyond a cut/paste) from GWR then you're a better man than most of us on here (Gunga Din!)

The answer I got was that there's a shortage of skilled staff working for GWR as many have moved to Hitachi - especially where their current work is running out (e.g. depot closures).  Add to that new types on the depot (e.g. 166 at Bristol) and you get a backlog of units stopped because maintenance is overdue.   So not more actually being maintained, but a queue of units that can't be used because they have run out of hours.
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hassaanhc
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« Reply #43 on: April 13, 2018, 23:37:45 »

Today's 2R60 1759 London Paddington to Reading was formed of a 5-car 165 (units '127 and '113) instead of the usual 8-car 387 that it has been for a few weeks. There was nothing showing on JourneyCheck about it. On investigation using RealTimeTrains it appears that for today and all weekdays next week (at least) the service is using DMU (Diesel Multiple Unit) timings, and will have to be formed of DMUs as the previous working was the 1K27 1648 Newbury to London Paddington and then the following working for the front unit is the 2L64 1919 Reading to Oxford (rear unit goes into Reading Depot).

Then for Monday 23 April to Thursday 26 April inclusive, it becomes the turn of 1R06 1757 London Paddington to Reading to use DMU timings instead of the usual EMU (Electric Multiple Unit) timings.
« Last Edit: April 15, 2018, 00:16:03 by hassaanhc » Logged
nickswift99
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« Reply #44 on: April 17, 2018, 10:43:18 »

The 0641 Didcot to Paddington has been timetabled as an EMU (Electric Multiple Unit) since the new timetable start.

The first two weeks it ran as an EMU. Since then, it's since either been 4/5 car 165 or cancelled.

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be able to keep to the EMU timings from Maidenhead so when it does run, it runs late into Paddington.
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