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Author Topic: IETs to Bedwyn initially delayed - now running from May 2019  (Read 37806 times)
bobm
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« on: November 27, 2018, 07:23:07 »

I understand from two reliable sources that the introduction of IET (Intercity Express Train) services to Bedwyn, planned for January, has been delayed.

Apparently there is an issue with the cameras required for Driver Only Operation.  Work is being carried out to rectify this and gain safety approval.   In the meantime the Turbos will continue on that route.

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SandTEngineer
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« Reply #1 on: November 27, 2018, 10:10:34 »

From elsewhere:
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ASLEF» (Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen - about) have advised the company that they are no longer willing to use the bodyside cameras until modifications are made by Hitachi. The Oxford services can continue to run as they are dispatched by platform staff, but the Bedwyn services rely on the cameras at all stations after Reading.

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It's to do with the way the images are stitched together on screen.  The principle of DOO (Driver-Only Operation (that is, trains which operate without carrying a guard)) IET (Intercity Express Train) on LTV (London [and] Thames Valley) routes was agreed in the harmonization pay deal this year.
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IndustryInsider
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« Reply #2 on: November 27, 2018, 13:36:05 »

The quality of image can be very poor.  I’m not surprised this action has been taken, though hopefully it’ll be a fairly simple fix.
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SandTEngineer
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« Reply #3 on: November 27, 2018, 13:36:56 »

As quoted on the WNXX (Stored Unserviceable, Mainline Locos HQ All Classes) Forum:

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It is to do with the cameras themselves. They get dirty very quickly. ASLEF» (Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen - about) has raised the issue and a cleaning regime was put in place but late last week, after extensive investigations, including looking into individual journeys where severe degradation was noted during the journey itself, as well as hearing the news from ASLEF HQ (Headquarters), GWR (Great Western Railway) took the decision that in Driver Only dispatch using the Hitachi cameras, there was a real risk of trap and drag and therefore it cannot be allowed.

Where there are station dispatchers, DOO (Driver-Only Operation (that is, trains which operate without carrying a guard)) operation will continue but the Bedwyn services stop at unmanned stations so the IET (Intercity Express Train) conversion of those services can't go ahead until the trains are suitably modified and judged, by unions and GWR alike, to be safe to operate in full DOO mode.

Hitachi have been pointed towards the cl.387 camera arrangement, itself a rip-off of a Siemens design.
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Lee
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« Reply #4 on: November 27, 2018, 14:17:53 »

It must be fate - Send them to Portsmouth-Cardiff instead!  Grin

[ducks...]
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Adelante_CCT
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« Reply #5 on: November 27, 2018, 15:15:05 »

Or introduce guards on the services?

(ducks further)
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grahame
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« Reply #6 on: November 27, 2018, 15:30:36 »

Or introduce guards on the services?

(ducks further)

And if you do that extend them all to Westbury.  (ducks even further)
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Western Pathfinder
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« Reply #7 on: November 27, 2018, 16:04:02 »

I do have a number of spare tin hats if anyone feels the need !.
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Thatcham Crossing
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« Reply #8 on: November 27, 2018, 16:06:44 »

Ah well, at least we will hopefully get some 387's (as far as Newbury) on the B&H (Berks and Hants - railway line from Reading to Taunton via Westbury) in January  Roll Eyes
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SandTEngineer
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« Reply #9 on: November 27, 2018, 16:57:45 »

Never did understand why its IETs (Intercity Express Train) to Bedwyn.  Better to have a full 387 service Paddington/Reading - Newbury (with occaisional stops on West Country trains), with a 165/166 diesel shuttle from Newbury to Bedwyn (the latter being covered by one unit all day).
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Adelante_CCT
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« Reply #10 on: November 27, 2018, 17:27:11 »

The Bedwyn brigade did not like that suggestion one bit!
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bobm
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« Reply #11 on: November 27, 2018, 17:28:43 »

SandTEngineer, I'd borrow one of Western Pathfinder's tin hats and pop to Bedwyn, Hungerford or Kintbury….  Wink
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paul7575
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« Reply #12 on: November 27, 2018, 17:41:20 »

Never did understand why its IETs (Intercity Express Train) to Bedwyn.  Better to have a full 387 service Paddington/Reading - Newbury (with occaisional stops on West Country trains), with a 165/166 diesel shuttle from Newbury to Bedwyn (the latter being covered by one unit all day).
That was of course the intention stated in the 2015 stakeholder brief. 

I guess they must have forgotten to consult the right stakeholders, because it didn’t survive long at all...

Paul
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SandTEngineer
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« Reply #13 on: November 27, 2018, 17:58:32 »

I would be interested to know (if anybody does), what the actual rail usage each day is from Bedwyn/Hungerford/Kintbury that justifies an hourly 5 coach through service to Reading/London?  I accept that a through service may be justified in the peaks.

I don't need to wear a tin hat as I have a thick skin grown over many years of hard graft in the S&T (Signalling and Telegraph) trade..... Tongue Grin
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grahame
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« Reply #14 on: November 27, 2018, 19:10:36 »

Berks and Hants services are a very interesting study.

Today, there's a though train from London to Bedwyn every hour, a Reading to Newbury train every hour, and West of England expresses about every hour with some extras and some being not-quite-express. All have been diesel, though some of the West of England trains are starting to run under electric power from London to Reading.

Come the new year and planned timetable changes, there will be a though train from London to Bedwyn every hour, a Reading to Newbury train every hour, and West of England expresses about every hour with some extras and some being not-quite-expresses every two hours.   Note strike through and underline changes.

Agreed - not ideal.   But then many service from London load heavily from the termini and get thinner further out - I remember in my youth riding between Knockholt and Dunton Green on stoppers that weren't exactly crammed, even though the 10 car program had been put into place to add the two extra carriages on the line.   You see the same thing of buses that go out from town centres to boondocks - you can't remove the final bit from the run; not only do you get a lot of flack and really upset people's livelihoods, but you also slice off bits of the inner traffic too and render the next bit uneconomic too ... and so on until you have no bus left.

Idea.

At present, 5 trains every 2 hours head west from Newbury.   Reduce that to 4.  The two West of England Expresses remain - an hourly service for the businesses of Plymouth who, as we all know, would shrivel and die if the train takes a minute over 3 hours  Wink ... and the other two from London and Reading then Newbury, Hungerford, Kintbury, Bedwyn, Pewsey and Westbury, continuing on (hourly, I would hope!) to Castle Cary, Taunton and Exeter St. David's.

Hungerford and Bedwyn get a proper service west.  The quite trains you forecast west of Newbury to Bedwyn have other flows using them.  Pewsey - very much a growth station is up to hourly and there are decent connection from the Kennet Valley and Vale of Pewsey to Trowbridge, Bath and Bristol.  Traffic connecting westward at the Westbury hub has an hourly service in a high quality train (sorry Broadgage - no buffet, just a trolley) where at the moment there are four hour gaps.   Oh - and you release one slot every 2 hours between London and Reading.

The planned electric shuttle between Reading and Newbury, if I have my calculations right, will require 2 units; that would only go up to 3 for a half hourly service, making proper use of all that expensive electrification and allowing some work with intermediate stopping patterns.

Like I say - "idea".   I too have a tin hat - not sure whether or not I'll need it ...
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