Greater Anglia Class 755s (Regional Trains)

[dk1]

Curiously, a friend of my wife claims to have boarded this train at Shelford earlier, travelling south: https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/F45860/2020-01-16/detailed

Her words to my wife (passed on to me) were "It's a new train and it was terminating at Bishop's Stortford", and the time she gave corresponded.

Are these 5Qxx paths carrying passengers?

Edit: Turns out she didn't get on it, but was a little confused by the trains's destination being shown as Bishop's Stortford in spite of not being in service.

The destination is put into the PIS for the schedule as part of training.

 

[Shunter_69]

Final Sudbury testing was completed last night so it looks like 755’s operating the branch is almost here.

 

[gingerheid]

Disruption has been reported to services between Ipswich and Cambridge.

The 17:20 will have 4 instead of 8 coaches due to a train fault.

Haha

 

[trebor79]

Cleaners need to wipe down the walls in the space saver toilets, clearly getting splashed with wee wee.

 

[Roger B]

Have all the 755s now been accepted into service, and if not, which ones are still outstanding for acceptance? And if it were possible to advise which units (if any) have been accepted into service so far this year that would be most appreciated. Many thanks.

 

[43096]

Have all the 755s now been accepted into service, and if not, which ones are still outstanding for acceptance? And if it were possible to advise which units (if any) have been accepted into service so far this year that would be most appreciated. Many thanks.

755325/401/403/405/406/408 are those not accepted yet.

755326/328/329/337 are those commissioned so far in 2020.

 

[sloaneesq]

Really impressed with the (edit) 755 on the Felixstowe branch this week. The 0854 FLX-IPS was delayed by another very late running freight service at Derby Road.

https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/L47872/2020-01-16/detailed

We made up 7 minutes on the journey and arrived in Ipswich on time. In the past, the 153 would likely have been out for the rest of the day.

The new trains are such an improvement on my local service.

 

[fenman35]

When was the Felixstowe branch electrified, I must have missed it

 

[sloaneesq]

When was the Felixstowe branch electrified, I must have missed it

Thanks for pointing out my obvious typo.

 

[DannyMich2018]

755325/401/403/405/406/408 are those not accepted yet.

755326/328/329/337 are those commissioned so far in 2020.

That's great to know so out of 38 majority are accepted, interestingly the previous fleet had 5 153s, 9 156s and 12 170s so 26 units,maybe 27 if you included the hauled short loco set ideally be about enough to cover all services now. When all 38 are accepted this will be a big increase over the previous fleet.

 

[170TurboFan]

That's great to know so out of 38 majority are accepted, interestingly the previous fleet had 5 153s, 9 156s and 12 170s so 26 units,maybe 27 if you included the hauled short loco set ideally be about enough to cover all services now. When all 38 are accepted this will be a big increase over the previous fleet.

The extension of the Norwich to Cambridge to Stanstead will probably add a couple more units to be required for a complete service. I would say 29 would be needed to cover for all providing a couple of spares. I believe there was originally 23 diagrams covered by 26 units and the short set so 38 will provide extra capacity and resilience for certain

 

[Class 170101]

And less fuel miles due to smaller fuel tank

 

[eastdyke]

The extension of the Norwich to Cambridge to Stanstead will probably add a couple more units to be required for a complete service. I would say 29 would be needed to cover for all providing a couple of spares. I believe there was originally 23 diagrams covered by 26 units and the short set so 38 will provide extra capacity and resilience for certain

About 6 units were needed to cover other additional services now with deferred or cancelled introduction:
Peterborough-Ipswich service increase to 1tph from 1tp2h plus extension to/from Colchester.
Sudbury-Marks Tey serice extended to Colchester Town.
1-2 units for service not yet due:
Lowestoft-Ipswich extended to Liverpool Street, 4tpd. [Possibly running as 8 car Ipswich-London???]
That's without consideration of use on any Norwich-London. At one time it was mooted that they could be used on Ni90 services ....

 

[ccityplanner12]

Trip report:

The other day I travelled from Peterborough to Colchester on the North Country Not-so-Continental*, which on that day was being run by a 755.
First impression: really cramped. This train is not for the claustrophobic. There is not much space to move around in them (the gangway is by my estimation less than 2ft wide). A trainee staff member expressed concern about being able to take his (relatively small) rucksack through the corridor into the cab. Are AGA really intending to run trains with this bodyshell on commuter routes into London?
The LCD indicators kept switching between prose format & schematic format, with the latter notable for its sparse distribution of information in a small font size.† AGA have gone for a sensible, tried-&-tested voice in Julie Berry (rather than dodgy & ugly text-to-speech).
There was one incident that ought to be a grave embarrassment for the manufacturer: this is a train that is supposed to switch between electric & autonomous propulsion en-route, yet Stadler (already notorious on the continent for making very technically complex trains) have made it unable to pan up with the doors open. The long-suffering citizens of Stowmarket had to wait 45 seconds. Siemens can make trains that pan up with the doors open; the computer-free 313s could pan up with the doors open; so Stadler's software engineers must have at some point thought "this requires low-level knowledge" & given up.
If travelling on the 745s yields a similar experience to riding the 755s, I can't see the fleet replacement being particularly good news for users of the London–Norwich trains (what I call the "IC3 East Anglian"), especially if they have luggage. When we were stopped in Manningtree, I noticed that the Mk.3s in the opposite platform composing 1P64 had a much higher floor-height (even compared to my seat in a raised-floor section), so I wonder if it is a loading-gauge issue. In the case of the IC3, I hold this to be a casualty of the leasing system, which encourages operators to have only just enough trains to run the service, & a small surplus. Greater Anglia don't run any intercity routes other than this one, so it is potentially economically disadvantageous to have a dedicated fleet of 5 intercity trains just for this route. Another cause of this could be Crossrail. The only Greater Anglia depots I can name off the top of my head are those at Colchester, Norwich & Ilford, the latter also the main depot for the Shenfield branch of Crossrail. Crossrail services will be more frequent & run further than the existing Shenfield Electrics, so will require more trains.‡ This potentially means less depot space for long-distance services, requiring a reduction in fleet size on top of that promoted by the leasing system.

*Nickname that I devised for the 19:50 from Peterborough to Colchester, code 2L83. This train follows the route of the North Country Continental after March as depicted in the 1947 LNER rural timetable (when it was still diverted to Colchester as a result of the German occupation of the Netherlands, despite the latter having already ended), & with roughly the same stopping pattern (the NCC didn't call at Manea & stopped additionally on request at Kennett). The reason why it's not-so-continental is because the earliest time passengers using this service can arrive at Harwich (by changing at Manningtree) is 2 minutes after the check-in for Stena Line closes.
†Schematic format: names of calling points are shown as labels next to circles on a horizontal line. A considerable portion of the display was taken up by a dashed section representing the stations which the display couldn't accommodate, although after this disappeared the sparseness of information gradually increased, until after Manningtree, when Colchester was shown as a lone circle on the end of a comically long line, & I jested that the circle must be lonely, as it only had one other circle (the O in Colchester) to keep it company.
‡The existing TfL Rail East service is up to 12tph, with a return journey taking 86 minutes (86 ÷ 60 × 12 = 17.2, so a minimum of 18 trains are required). The proposed peak-time Crossrail Shenfield Branch service is 12tph Shenfield to Paddington (existing route 20¼ miles, new route 24¼ miles or about 20% longer. Assuming the same average speed in the tunnels, 86 ÷ 5 × 6 = 103.2; 103.2 ÷ 60 × 12 = 20.64, which rounds up to 21), & an additional 4tph Gidea Park to Liverpool Street HL (63 ÷ 60 × 4 = 4.2, which rounds up to 5). 21 + 5 = 26, which is 8 more than the minimum requirement before, without accounting for surplus in-case of breakdowns. These trains will have to be stored somewhere.

 

[F Great Eastern]

First impression: really cramped. This train is not for the claustrophobic. There is not much space to move around in them (the gangway is by my estimation less than 2ft wide). A trainee staff member expressed concern about being able to take his (relatively small) rucksack through the corridor into the cab. Are AGA really intending to run trains with this bodyshell on commuter routes into London?

Funnily enough I didn't find the gangway that cramped at all myself, my problem was more that the legroom for the standard airline seats was very poor and the niche being no substitute for proper legroom. Unfortunately the seat was picked as the niche makes it easier to have high density seating layouts. Cantilever and ducting is also annoying.

And if you think the gangway is narrow on the 755s, wait till you see the 720s that will run into London....

The LCD indicators kept switching between prose format & schematic format, with the latter notable for its sparse distribution of information in a small font size.† AGA have gone for a sensible, tried-&-tested voice in Julie Berry (rather than dodgy & ugly text-to-speech).

Like this?

 

[ccityplanner12]

Like this?

View attachment 72926

I was referring to something different, but it did also do that, & got on my nerves especially when multiple pages were used despite all the text being fittable onto one.

 

[TheEdge]

The other day I travelled from Peterborough to Colchester on the North Country Not-so-Continental*, which on that day was being run by a 755.
First impression: really cramped. This train is not for the claustrophobic. There is not much space to move around in them (the gangway is by my estimation less than 2ft wide). A trainee staff member expressed concern about being able to take his (relatively small) rucksack through the corridor into the cab. Are AGA really intending to run trains with this bodyshell on commuter routes into London?

There are many worlds that could be used to describe the 755s but I'm not entirely sure that cramped could be one of them. Yes the corridor through the power pack is narrow, but then it isn't designed for extended occupancy and only really exists to allow people in coaches A and B access to the toilet and to let traincrew walk through. The rest of the train has to be one of the lightest and airiest currently on the network in the passenger saloons. As to the corridor into the cab it really isn't that bad. I've never struggled and I'm not the smallest of blokes on earth and carry the normal standard issue

There was one incident that ought to be a grave embarrassment for the manufacturer: this is a train that is supposed to switch between electric & autonomous propulsion en-route, yet Stadler (already notorious on the continent for making very technically complex trains) have made it unable to pan up with the doors open. The long-suffering citizens of Stowmarket had to wait 45 seconds. Siemens can make trains that pan up with the doors open; the computer-free 313s could pan up with the doors open; so Stadler's software engineers must have at some point thought "this requires low-level knowledge" & given up.

Simply incorrect. They will happily pan up, pan down, start diesels, stop diesels and perform a power changeover with the doors open. I've personally done all of the above.

...so it is potentially economically disadvantageous to have a dedicated fleet of 5 intercity trains just for this route.

Not sure where you got 5 from. There are 10 745/0s dedicated to the Norwich - London Service, another 10 745/1s for Stansted which will form some of the intercity services as they rotate to and from Crown Point. It seems also likely that the 755s will do the odd trip to and from London and the 720s.

These trains will have to be stored somewhere.

Well you have the large sidings at Gidea Park, new sidings at Shenfield, reopened sidings between Ilford and Manor Park plus wherever Crossrail plan to store and service their stock on the west of the city as well.

 

[eastdyke]

Trip report:

The other day I travelled from Peterborough to Colchester on the North Country Not-so-Continental*, which on that day was being run by a 755.
First impression: really cramped. This train is not for the claustrophobic. There is not much space to move around in them (the gangway is by my estimation less than 2ft wide). A trainee staff member expressed concern about being able to take his (relatively small) rucksack through the corridor into the cab. Are AGA really intending to run trains with this bodyshell on commuter routes into London?
The LCD indicators kept switching between prose format & schematic format, with the latter notable for its sparse distribution of information in a small font size.† AGA have gone for a sensible, tried-&-tested voice in Julie Berry (rather than dodgy & ugly text-to-speech).
There was one incident that ought to be a grave embarrassment for the manufacturer: this is a train that is supposed to switch between electric & autonomous propulsion en-route, yet Stadler (already notorious on the continent for making very technically complex trains) have made it unable to pan up with the doors open. The long-suffering citizens of Stowmarket had to wait 45 seconds. Siemens can make trains that pan up with the doors open; the computer-free 313s could pan up with the doors open; so Stadler's software engineers must have at some point thought "this requires low-level knowledge" & given up.
If travelling on the 745s yields a similar experience to riding the 755s, I can't see the fleet replacement being particularly good news for users of the London–Norwich trains (what I call the "IC3 East Anglian"), especially if they have luggage. When we were stopped in Manningtree, I noticed that the Mk.3s in the opposite platform composing 1P64 had a much higher floor-height (even compared to my seat in a raised-floor section), so I wonder if it is a loading-gauge issue. In the case of the IC3, I hold this to be a casualty of the leasing system, which encourages operators to have only just enough trains to run the service, & a small surplus. Greater Anglia don't run any intercity routes other than this one, so it is potentially economically disadvantageous to have a dedicated fleet of 5 intercity trains just for this route. Another cause of this could be Crossrail. The only Greater Anglia depots I can name off the top of my head are those at Colchester, Norwich & Ilford, the latter also the main depot for the Shenfield branch of Crossrail. Crossrail services will be more frequent & run further than the existing Shenfield Electrics, so will require more trains.‡ This potentially means less depot space for long-distance services, requiring a reduction in fleet size on top of that promoted by the leasing system.

*Nickname that I devised for the 19:50 from Peterborough to Colchester, code 2L83. This train follows the route of the North Country Continental after March as depicted in the 1947 LNER rural timetable (when it was still diverted to Colchester as a result of the German occupation of the Netherlands, despite the latter having already ended), & with roughly the same stopping pattern (the NCC didn't call at Manea & stopped additionally on request at Kennett). The reason why it's not-so-continental is because the earliest time passengers using this service can arrive at Harwich (by changing at Manningtree) is 2 minutes after the check-in for Stena Line closes.
†Schematic format: names of calling points are shown as labels next to circles on a horizontal line. A considerable portion of the display was taken up by a dashed section representing the stations which the display couldn't accommodate, although after this disappeared the sparseness of information gradually increased, until after Manningtree, when Colchester was shown as a lone circle on the end of a comically long line, & I jested that the circle must be lonely, as it only had one other circle (the O in Colchester) to keep it company.
‡The existing TfL Rail East service is up to 12tph, with a return journey taking 86 minutes (86 ÷ 60 × 12 = 17.2, so a minimum of 18 trains are required). The proposed peak-time Crossrail Shenfield Branch service is 12tph Shenfield to Paddington (existing route 20¼ miles, new route 24¼ miles or about 20% longer. Assuming the same average speed in the tunnels, 86 ÷ 5 × 6 = 103.2; 103.2 ÷ 60 × 12 = 20.64, which rounds up to 21), & an additional 4tph Gidea Park to Liverpool Street HL (63 ÷ 60 × 4 = 4.2, which rounds up to 5). 21 + 5 = 26, which is 8 more than the minimum requirement before, without accounting for surplus in-case of breakdowns. These trains will have to be stored somewhere.

I have yet to ride a well loaded 755, I will be doing that soon (hopefully). I found the gangway ok, it is just that so I didn't have an issue.
All 755s and 745s are based and maintained by Stadler at Norwich Crown Point.
I am sure that the PIS will be optimised in due course. There has been great pressure to get the units into service to replace the gaps left by legacy stock cascades to other TOCs.

Commuter stock will be Aventra Class 720, again a dedicted thread exists. 720s will run perhaps 1tph Norwich eventually but will not be based or maintained there. I do agree that there may be stock storage issues for the 720s especially during commissioning, staff training and introduction to service but that is for the other threads.
And as @TheEdge has said there are siding options in the suburban area.

 

[JonathanH]

In the case of the IC3, I hold this to be a casualty of the leasing system, which encourages operators to have only just enough trains to run the service, & a small surplus.

As opposed to what? Are you suggesting that if the government or train operators bought the trains directly there would be a load of spare stock in sidings not paying their way.

If they had been bought by the operator, purchasing an 11th unit would represent a 10% higher cost than they have paid.

 

[ccityplanner12]

The driver of the train switched to A/C power at Stowmarket before opening the doors, adding a delay to passengers' journeys of 1.5 timetabling units. On assessment I deemed the most likely cause to be a computer science issue with the way the train's software is set up.

"5" is an estimated minimum number needed to run an hourly service on the fastest intercity between Liverpool Street and Norwich via Ipswich, assuming a round-trip of 4 hours, with 1 unit on standby in-case of a breakdown (admittedly 1 standby unit can only be so useful, as it still has to be stationed somewhere, & one in Ipswich is not very useful if the driver of the 8am departure from London enters the allocated train & finds that it won't turn on). With the benefit of hindsight, I would have written "a minimum of 7" & clarified my estimation method in a footnote.

My Crossrail calculation doesn't include the Reading and Heathrow to Abbey Wood routes. A new depot has I'm told been built at Abbey Wood, but whether any of the trains stabled there will go to Shenfield is a matter that cannot be clarified until the Crossrail WTT is published.

 

[ccityplanner12]

As opposed to what? Are you suggesting that if the government or train operators bought the trains directly there would be a load of spare stock in sidings not paying their way.

If they had been bought by the operator, purchasing an 11th unit would represent a 10% higher cost than they have paid.

Countries which do not have a leasing system tend to have more trains per course·mile. SBB keeps its old rolling stock & uses it to substitute for newer trains which have broken down. A commonly-cited reason for the disappearance of special trains is the lack of a pool of surplus rolling stock from which to draw these.

 

[eastdyke]

The driver of the train switched to A/C power at Stowmarket before opening the doors, adding a delay to passengers' journeys of 1.5 timetabling units. On assessment I deemed the most likely cause to be a computer science issue with the way the train's software is set up.

"5" is an estimated minimum number needed to run an hourly service on the fastest intercity between Liverpool Street and Norwich via Ipswich, assuming a round-trip of 4 hours, with 1 unit on standby in-case of a breakdown (admittedly 1 standby unit can only be so useful, as it still has to be stationed somewhere, & one in Ipswich is not very useful if the driver of the 8am departure from London enters the allocated train & finds that it won't turn on). With the benefit of hindsight, I would have written "a minimum of 7" & clarified my estimation method in a footnote.

My Crossrail calculation doesn't include the Reading and Heathrow to Abbey Wood routes. A new depot has I'm told been built at Abbey Wood, but whether any of the trains stabled there will go to Shenfield is a matter that cannot be clarified until the Crossrail WTT is published.

It would really be better to raise the issues contained in your latter 2 paragraphs within the relevant dedicated threads.
This thread is just for the so called 'rural' 755s. [Although the 755s will be expected to appear at Liverpool Street!]

 

[TheEdge]

The driver of the train switched to A/C power at Stowmarket before opening the doors, adding a delay to passengers' journeys of 1.5 timetabling units. On assessment I deemed the most likely cause to be a computer science issue with the way the train's software is set up.

Well you were spouting (entirely incorrect) speculation as fact. There are many reasons that could have caused that delay, I, with 99% certainty, guess what the true reason was but I'm not going to present that speculation as it is exactly that, baseless speculation.

"5" is an estimated minimum number needed to run an hourly service on the fastest intercity between Liverpool Street and Norwich via Ipswich, assuming a round-trip of 4 hours, with 1 unit on standby in-case of a breakdown

I'm not entirely sure why you are estimating numbers that are publically available as 10 plus another 10 being used in and out...

 

[Taylorgb19]

What stops would the Lowestoft to Liverpool Street call at

 

[dk1]

What stops would the Lowestoft to Liverpool Street call at

Anybody's guess until any information is released. Still a year away.

 

[thealm]

Are 755s allowed to couple together or not?

 

[dk1]

Are 755s allowed to couple together or not?

Not yet.

 

[samuelmorris]

The driver of the train switched to A/C power at Stowmarket before opening the doors, adding a delay to passengers' journeys of 1.5 timetabling units. On assessment I deemed the most likely cause to be a computer science issue with the way the train's software is set up.

"5" is an estimated minimum number needed to run an hourly service on the fastest intercity between Liverpool Street and Norwich via Ipswich, assuming a round-trip of 4 hours, with 1 unit on standby in-case of a breakdown (admittedly 1 standby unit can only be so useful, as it still has to be stationed somewhere, & one in Ipswich is not very useful if the driver of the 8am departure from London enters the allocated train & finds that it won't turn on). With the benefit of hindsight, I would have written "a minimum of 7" & clarified my estimation method in a footnote.

My Crossrail calculation doesn't include the Reading and Heathrow to Abbey Wood routes. A new depot has I'm told been built at Abbey Wood, but whether any of the trains stabled there will go to Shenfield is a matter that cannot be clarified until the Crossrail WTT is published.

This is a 745 issue not 755, but it's currently a 5 hour cycle - running the 2tph between Liverpool St and Norwich requires all 10 units - there are no spares, the redundancy is provided via one of the 745/1 Stansted units and the 720 fleet deputising as necessary.

 

[Roger B]

755325/401/403/405/406/408 are those not accepted yet.

755326/328/329/337 are those commissioned so far in 2020.

Many thanks 43096 - great info - just the info I was looking for, cheers

 

[_toommm_]

Not yet.

Not even ECS or in an emergency?!