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johoare
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« on: May 09, 2010, 22:13:25 » |
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I was on this train today.. When I got on it was fairly obvious the heating was on far too high.. It was a turbo (the air conditioned variety) so no windows to open either.. Is the temperature controlled by the driver? Or does the heating work as badly as the air conditioning on these trains and decides what temperature to set the carriages all by itself.. It was warm to be almost unpleasant, and because the Sunday timetable is only half the frequency of the Saturday one, so only half hourly stopping service, by the time we got to Paddington it was packed.. I'm sure the people standing crushed in the doorway were feeling even hotter than us sitting down.. And I guess there is nothing anyone can do about such a situation, short off hopping of the train at a stop and telling the driver the heating seems to be turned up too high and even then would anything be done? And when we arrived at Paddington, the minute the train stopped, all the lights turned out which made getting off vaguely interesting..  |
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adc82140
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« Reply #1 on: May 09, 2010, 22:16:10 » |
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It's a class 166- air-con is probably broken, so it's likely there's very little the driver could have done.
On a more far reaching scale though, these Sunday services are popular- FGW▸ need to splash out for a bit more diesel and stick an extra couple of carriages on. It's not like they're all in use on a Sunday.
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Chris from Nailsea
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« Reply #2 on: May 09, 2010, 22:20:09 » |
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Erm ... may I suggest http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/ContactUs.aspx ?  Sorry to hear about your rubbish travel experience, though. Chris.  |
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William Huskisson MP▸ was the first person to be killed by a train while crossing the tracks, in 1830. Many more have died in the same way since then. Don't take a chance: stop, look, listen.
"Level crossings are safe, unless they are used in an unsafe manner." Discuss.
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johoare
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« Reply #3 on: May 09, 2010, 22:23:14 » |
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The heating was definitely on though, the train I got home was a comfortable temperature and was a non air con train.. This morning it was definitely being heated up for some unapparent reason.. I've known for years that the air con doesn't work and finally FGW▸ have agreed with this..Assuming the broken air con doesnt decide sometimes to be heating instead then it felt as if someone had decided to turn the heating on? And yes I totally agree.. The Sunday timetable is sadly lacking.. I quite often drive on a Sunday as parking is free on London's streets but my weekly ticket for going to work was still valid so I felt I should use it.. And thanks Chris, I might do that, although I've found in the past it's pretty ineffectual complaining unless I like reading standard replies and nothing being done about it   |
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Electric train
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« Reply #4 on: May 09, 2010, 22:33:30 » |
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I dread a 166 being on the service home from work during the summer, the trains are appalling.
FGW▸ are not to good with the heating and ventilating of their 165's and 166's always its seems they place a ration on heat in the winter and totally incapable of maintaining functioning windows on 165's; being very reluctant to stay shut in the winter and the ones that are shut impossible to open in the summer
May be the refresh will fix all these but its a long time coming.
Sunday services do seem to be neglected as far as capacity is concerned with the the concept of 7 day railway may be something FGW may need to get to grips with
Not really knocking FGW as they operate the TV services with limited amount of rolling stock
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Starship just experienced what we call a rapid unscheduled disassembly, or a RUD, during ascent,”
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Chris from Nailsea
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« Reply #5 on: May 09, 2010, 22:34:54 » |
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And thanks Chris, I might do that, although I've found in the past it's pretty ineffectual complaining unless I like reading standard replies and nothing being done about it Nevertheless, Jo, TOCs▸ are measured on their 'complaints received' - so it can make a difference! However, I do agree that the quality of the initial response you might receive is indeed questionable: quite often, it's clearly a 'standard paragraph' letter. The trick at that stage is to reply in a further letter, pointing out their 'errors or omissions': then, a human being at FGW▸ has to deal with the followup, and you'll get a much more sensible reply. It's sad, but that's how many big organisations try to deal with complaints from their 'customers'.  |
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William Huskisson MP▸ was the first person to be killed by a train while crossing the tracks, in 1830. Many more have died in the same way since then. Don't take a chance: stop, look, listen.
"Level crossings are safe, unless they are used in an unsafe manner." Discuss.
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IndustryInsider
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« Reply #6 on: May 09, 2010, 22:36:00 » |
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The air-con on a 166 (in common with lots of other trains) is a HVAC system (Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning), Temperature sensors tell the system what the temperature should be and the system will combine heating, venting or cooling to achieve this temperature. I believe there is also a back-up heating system?
So, if it's not working properly (as it often isn't) then it will heat the train when it should be cooling or venting. This can be due to a number of reasons including faulty sensors. What is worth bearing in mind for the future, Jo, is that each separate carriage has three totally independent zones, so on a 3-car set there are nine zones - if one section of the train is very hot then try another part as the other end of the carriage might well be fine!
The driver has no direct control over the Air-Con save being able to switch it on or off in the vehicle he/she are driving from (there is a way of forcing the equipment to heat or cool when it wants to do something else, but it times out after about 10 minutes, so is pretty ineffective). Other vehicles have separate MCB▸ 's (miniature circuit breakers) which can be operated by staff - but obviously not the driver if driving.
It's worth telling the driver if it is oppressively hot as they might well not know, but make sure you tell them what carriage, and if it's not the one they are driving from then they might not be able to do anything about it until the destination station. If there's a Conductor on board they might be able to sort it out straight-away, but in either case if it's a hot summers day and all they can do is switch the system off it will still be very warm - the only way of sorting it out properly is when it goes on depot.
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To view my GWML▸ Electrification cab video 'before and after' video comparison, as well as other videos of the new layout at Reading and 'before and after' comparisons of the Cotswold Line Redoubling scheme, see: http://www.dailymotion.com/user/IndustryInsider/ |
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Ollie
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« Reply #7 on: May 09, 2010, 22:36:46 » |
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Probably some form of engineering constraints, the only service that seems to get a full one out of Paddington on a Sunday is Heathrow Express.
Heathrow Connect - hourly
Stopping services - half hourly
Bristol TM‡ - hourly
South Wales - hourly
Above based on how it generally seems to be...
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johoare
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« Reply #8 on: May 09, 2010, 22:40:11 » |
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Thanks Industry insider.. The train was packed (due to half hourly service mentioned earlier) so no chance of moving really and also no chance of then getting out to tell driver (I'd not have got back on and didn't want to wait another half hour for the next train..
I can't believe we all pay so much for this... I've never known another "train type" like it...
And yes I agree with Electric train.. Should the summer turn out warm.. It's going to be nasty travelling on those "sealed" carriages..
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devon_metro
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« Reply #9 on: May 09, 2010, 22:53:14 » |
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166 windows opened last time I was on one! The ac was active but at an unpleasent temperature so decided that human intervention was needed.
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johoare
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« Reply #10 on: May 09, 2010, 22:56:46 » |
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Well yes.. But I've been told many times (on here) that opening the windows is what makes the train even hotter (tongue firmly in cheek here ) |
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eightf48544
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« Reply #11 on: May 09, 2010, 23:11:21 » |
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Agree 166/5 heating and ventalation is bad has been from the start not sure the 166 a/c worked properly even in NSE▸ days it certainly didn't in Thames days.
Does anyone know if 201 is better with 170 type rack mounted units?
In a 165 the windows are either closed and no ventalation or one gets open and those further down the coach get blown away.
Also agree that TV Sunday service is inadequate. We keep getting told when asking for a Sunday service at Taplow it's because it's two track timetabe, to cater for engineering work.
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johoare
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« Reply #12 on: May 09, 2010, 23:20:18 » |
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..and they still keep taking all our (lots of) money |
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IndustryInsider
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« Reply #13 on: May 10, 2010, 00:12:40 » |
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We keep getting told when asking for a Sunday service at Taplow it's because it's two track timetabe, to cater for engineering work.
Especially annoying given that there's two 7-car platforms on the main lines that would be perfectly serviceable if it wasn't for the fact they are deemed too low! |
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To view my GWML▸ Electrification cab video 'before and after' video comparison, as well as other videos of the new layout at Reading and 'before and after' comparisons of the Cotswold Line Redoubling scheme, see: http://www.dailymotion.com/user/IndustryInsider/ |
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johoare
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« Reply #14 on: May 10, 2010, 00:16:22 » |
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And how low is too low.. When I arrived at Paddington this lunchtime, my train, although only a 3 car turbo, because it had to stop behind another train on about platform 10 (I think).. had the biggest gap to jump over to get to the platform.. I could easily have fallen down there as well as my children.. So what is safe and what is not I imagine?
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