Severn Beach line turbos off to a good start - not

[D6975]

Well, the turbos took over the Beach line today and..
0629 0836 0915 1115
departures from Avonmouth all cancelled.
Not sure if it's the turbos or some other problem, but not a good start.

 

[Mojo]

Are both trains running with Turbos or just one? The 09.16 from Temple Meads still ran as a Turbo as booked there was a launch event with the GWR and Network Rail Western Route MDs, as well as the new Mayor of the West of England.

 

[High Dyke]

From what i understand 166208 suffered door problems, unable to close them; thus causing delays or cancellations. Possibly 208 also suffered engine problems which meant other cancellations as the unit was rescued.. So all in all not an auspicious start for them.

 

[Parallel]

Have the faults been rectified with the Turbos still remaining on the beach line, or have 150s taken over duties for the rest of the day?

 

[Rich McLean]

166205 and 166212 are on the diagrams but they are struggling keeping to sprinter timings due to poor acceleration.

 

[Deepgreen]

The North Downs line comes to Severn Beach! So no-one thought to compare the two unit types' performance before allocating them to the service, or amending the timetable accordingly? Great work from FGW/GWR again.

It calls into question which is the 'faster' name - 'Sprinter' or 'Turbo'?

 

[Deepgreen]

Are both trains running with Turbos or just one? The 09.16 from Temple Meads still ran as a Turbo as booked there was a launch event with the GWR and Network Rail Western Route MDs, as well as the new Mayor of the West of England.

I haven't heard of this role - since when do we have Mayors of areas of the country, rather than towns or cities?

 

[swt_passenger]

I haven't heard of this role - since when do we have Mayors of areas of the country, rather than towns or cities?

Just since they stupidly described a relatively small area around Bath and Bristol as being the 'West of England' for elected metro mayor purposes. Happened just a few weeks ago.

 

[richw]

Several turned around at Clifton Down. Others ran fast Bristol to Avonmouth only calling at Clifton Down.

 

[cactustwirly]

The North Downs line comes to Severn Beach! So no-one thought to compare the two unit types' performance before allocating them to the service, or amending the timetable accordingly? Great work from FGW/GWR again.

It calls into question which is the 'faster' name - 'Sprinter' or 'Turbo'?

They seem pretty reliable on the TV stoppers, though on a hot day the 166s don't accelerate as well as the 165s.

 

[HowardGWR]

If you follow this link

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/search/advanced/CFN/2017/07/03/0600-2000?stp=WVS&show=all&order=wtt

it would appear that the GWR fanfared 16x service is not functioning well. Anyone know why it was so bad today, all day?

RTT still shews a 15x service, perhaps they haven't caught up yet.

 

[bb21]

RTT shows what the path is timed for, and I see no reason why it would change in the near future, at least until the December timetable update. It doesn't show what is booked.

 

[causton]

RTT still shews a 15x service, perhaps they haven't caught up yet.

As posted on the forum roughly every three to five days

• RTT do not provide the data, "they" are given whatever is input in the schedule by the operator/Network Rail.
• The schedule just gives what the "timing load" is.
• The "timing load" can bear no resemblance to the actual booked train.
• In situations such as this, as the times should be the same, the schedule may not be updated anyway.

So if the schedule ever will say a Turbo is used as the timing load, it will not be until the timetable next changes, so probably December, and even then it may not change (London Midland still have 321 timed services and they went a long time ago!)

 

[Class 33]

What a day! From this morning - delays, cancellations, services being terminated short at Clifton Down instead of Avonmouth or Severn Beach, services running non-stop from Temple Meads-Clifton Down to make up in time and passengers waiting at the intermediate stations watcing frustratingly as the trains go sailing by! It's been like this for most of the day, from regularly checking the live departures on the internet. Not a good day atall! Though services seem to be running to time at the moment. Let's see what it's like tomorrow...

Doesn't help though the Severn Beach line being only single track!!! Where a delay on a service in one direction usually means this causes a delay on a service going the opposite direction, and then this can lead to a domino effect of more delays on the proceeding Severn Beach line services for a while! As was evident today. If the whole line was re-doubled, it would mean delays(and cancellations) on the scale that happened today wouldn't happen. There appears to be no plans atall in the near future to re-double the Severn Beach line! Ridiculous, especially with the upcoming Metro West project of improving local rail services and opening new stations(or re-opening old closed down stations!) in the Bristol area. I would have thought that surely re-doubling the Severn Beach line would have been part of that project??!!

But on a positive note - great to see 3-car Turbo's on Severn Beach line services. They're so much nicer and more seating than the usual 2-car 150's that were on there up till yesterday! And on peak time services we've been unable to get a seat and have to make do with standing up!

 

[Class 170101]

Turbos have been operation according to TRUST over what looks like the Severn Beach route.

 

[Dhassell]

Yep, Turbos have been in operation all day!
According to what people have said on WNXX Forum, the first few trains where apparently cancelled due to network rail "Not briefing a signaller" and then 166208 failed and was swapped for 166212

 

[PHILIPE]

Turbos have been operation according to TRUST over what looks like the Severn Beach route.

Because they are supposed to be. Has been discussed for ages on the Forum.

 

[Mojo]

Just since they stupidly described a relatively small area around Bath and Bristol as being the 'West of England' for elected metro mayor purposes. Happened just a few weeks ago.

I haven't heard of this role - since when do we have Mayors of areas of the country, rather than towns or cities?

The 'West of England' is effectively an urban area, no different to Greater Manchester, Tyne & Wear or the West Midlands, except it was never made a Metropolitan county when they were created, so it doesn't have the joined up authorities like the Metropolitan counties do. Arguments between the City of Bristol and South Gloucestershire is the reason why the Bristol Tramway failed to get off the ground.

The short lived county of Avon attempted to go some way to rectify the lack of unity in the area, but it was abolished in the mid 90s. The term 'West of England' has been used since the early 2000s as politically neutral name as an alternative for Greater Bristol which in itself is the old county of Avon, in organisations such as the West of England Partnership which worked on things such as the Joint Local Transport Plan.

The West of England Mayor and Combined Authority doesn't actually cover the whole of the West of England subregion, as North Somerset council voted not to become part of it, although I've heard lots locally that they probably will decide to join next time round. They are however part of the Local Enterprise Partnership along with the other four.

 

[craigybagel]

Have they been modified to give conductors full control of closing the doors or does it rely on the guard buzzing the driver 1-2 to tell them to close them?

 

[Parallel]

It's a bit unfortunate that today really should have been a day of celebration for the Severn Beach line but RTT shows that nearly every service has suffered delays. I wonder if it's also possibly because the diagrams have changed a little since the last timetable perhaps, so the Severn Beach line is now more or less self contained. There seems to be less dwell time at Temple Meads too now, for some services. (Which probably hasn't helped delays during turnaround times)

 

[causton]

Have they been modified to give conductors full control of closing the doors or does it rely on the guard buzzing the driver 2-2 to tell them to close them?

Facebook posts have said that the driver opens the doors and there is a modification to allow the guards to close them.

 

[185143]

Have they been modified to give conductors full control of closing the doors or does it rely on the guard buzzing the driver 2-2 to tell them to close them?

I'd assume they've been modified-else there would have been press releases from the unions, as it would be an expansion of DOO.

 

[craigybagel]

I'd assume they've been modified-else there would have been press releases from the unions, as it would be an expansion of DOO.

Not quite - Turbos already work with guards at both Chiltern and GWR, but the guard has to tell the driver to close the doors as they can't control them themselves. If that was the system being used here that would cause even more delays given on the 150s used previously the guards could directly close the doors themselves.

Facebook posts have said that the driver opens the doors and there is a modification to allow the guards to close them.

Thanks, I was hoping for something along those lines.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I'd assume they've been modified-else there would have been press releases from the unions, as it would be an expansion of DOO.

With Voyagers the doors are driver released and the guard gives 1-2 on the buzzer for the driver to close them. This isn't considered DOO and I don't think there were any objections to it, or at least none I read about, despite it being a slightly bizarre method of working.

 

[83G/84D]

There were several issues. A signal problem, trains stopping in a different position at Shirehampton causing passengers to be standing in the wrong place and subsequent station overtime and the problem with 166208.

Hopefully things will be better today.

 

[Rich McLean]

There were several issues. A signal problem, trains stopping in a different position at Shirehampton causing passengers to be standing in the wrong place and subsequent station overtime and the problem with 166208.

Hopefully things will be better today.

They are still stacking up delays. A re time for Dec is surely on the cards (extended running times)

 

[cactustwirly]

I'd assume they've been modified-else there would have been press releases from the unions, as it would be an expansion of DOO.

Um no! How is it DOO when you have a guard onboard?
The system works fine on the NDL and Reading - Basingstoke fine. I have thought that training the guards on the new system would be cheaper than mofifying to door controls.

 

[Rich McLean]

Um no! How is it DOO when you have a guard onboard?
The system works fine on the NDL and Reading - Basingstoke fine. I have thought that training the guards on the new system would be cheaper than mofifying to door controls.

Its not that difficult to modify the cab door controls on a 16x, as has been done by making the door controls live without the desk being keyed in. Before the mod, the drivers desk needed to be live before the door controls could be used. Obviously a guard can't do that in the rear cab pre mod. It's a fairly straightforward re-wiring job.

The reason 10 Bells remains in use on the London Thames Valley (LTV) services is because it's already an agreed method of working where it isn't on West services, where ToCs are different.

 

[cactustwirly]

Its not that difficult to modify the cab door controls on a 16x, as has been done by making the door controls live without the desk being keyed in. Before the mod, the drivers desk needed to be live before the door controls could be used. Obviously a guard can't do that in the rear cab pre mod.

The reason 10 Bells remains in use on the London Thames Valley (LTV) services is because it's already an agreed method of working where it isn't on West services, where ToCs are different.

I see, I thought that the doors would have to be completely rewired, but this obviously not the case.

 

[Class 33]

Well another delay of numerous delays on Severn Beach line services unfortunately. It seemed to be OK when I checked the " live departures" this morning, but then shortly after noticed some delays of about 5 minutes or so coming up. I didn't check all throughout the day. But from late this afternoon when I checked again, delays like 10,15, 25 minutes coming up! Doesn't seem quite as bad as yesterday, but still not good atall with all these delays for the second day in a row.

It is a great shame. We've got these lovely 3-car Turbo's on these services this week. With much nicer and more seating compared to the usual 2-car 150's. Which is great news for passengers. However many passengers of these services will not be so pleased with all these delays that are currently happening!