Class 230 units training/introduction on the Borderlands line: updates

[Matt_pool]

I saw 006 and 009 at Chester on Thursday morning.

009 went off towards Wrexham while I was waiting for my delayed train to Shrewsbury. My train eventually turned up (there were major signal problems on the North Wales Coast line) and as we approached Wrexham we passed 009 going back in the opposite direction.

 

[wobman]

I saw 006 and 009 at Chester on Thursday morning.

009 went off towards Wrexham while I was waiting for my delayed train to Shrewsbury. My train eventually turned up (there were major signal problems on the North Wales Coast line) and as we approached Wrexham we passed 009 going back in the opposite direction.

The engineering train damaging the axle counters on the n Wales coast caused havoc, I think 009 went onto Alstom for fuel via the angle.
Plus 006 is knackered with severe wheel flats, so it's been stabled on R3 in the yard at Chester until tfw can get it onto the lathe at crewe.
110 is still waiting for mods to make it fit for testing, but tfw need 2 of the 230's fit for service to run the training runs which hasn't happened a lot recently.

 

[Peter Sarf]

The engineering train damaging the axle counters on the n Wales coast caused havoc, I think 009 went onto Alstom for fuel via the angle.
Plus 006 is knackered with severe wheel flats, so it's been stabled on R3 in the yard at Chester until tfw can get it onto the lathe at crewe.
110 is still waiting for mods to make it fit for testing, but tfw need 2 of the 230's fit for service to run the training runs which hasn't happened a lot recently.

I was wondering why is it 110 rather than 010 in sequence with the others (006-009) ?. I think I have seen is mentioned before as 110.

 

[wobman]

I was wondering why is it 110 rather than 010 in sequence with the others (006-009) ?. I think I have seen is mentioned before as 110.

It's 010 but my predictive text auto correct

 

[Peter Sarf]

It's 010 but my predictive text auto correct

Ah, oh, OK thanks. I am beginning to wonder about auto correct. My miss spellings are more meaningful than the corrections. Darn technology !.

 

[Bob Price]

006 went to Crewe today. Seen on the webcams on 5Q42

 

[Zontar]

Not seen much activity on this front either on th forum or real life.

I note the lunch time service that was pulled to allow the 230 training train to run, is now back in public service.

Seems like it's all slowly grinding down to a halt.

Anyone got any updates?

 

[D821]

I've not seen them at BHN on my commute for a while now.

 

[wobman]

Not seen much activity on this front either on th forum or real life.

I note the lunch time service that was pulled to allow the 230 training train to run, is now back in public service.

Seems like it's all slowly grinding down to a halt.

Anyone got any updates?

A full week of traincrew training happened last week, it was the first full week completed for a long time.
The training is still continuing depending on reliability, the plan is still for them to be in service ASAP.

There's even a plan to install a fuel road at Birkenhead North now, I dare not say much more as I get accused of biased....

 

[Zontar]

I've not seen them at BHN on my commute for a while now.

Yes similar for me. I'm not a daily commuter, but often out and about. Think I've seen one at wxm in the last month

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 1 Dec 2021 ==

A full week of traincrew training happened last week, it was the first full week completed for a long time.
The training is still continuing depending on reliability, the plan is still for them to be in service ASAP.

There's even a plan to install a fuel road at Birkenhead North now, I dare not say much more as I get accused of biased....

Does sound like progress all the same....all problems sorted with the units and it's purely training?

 

[wobman]

Yes similar for me. I'm not a daily commuter, but often out and about. Think I've seen one at wxm in the last month

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 1 Dec 2021 ==


Does sound like progress all the same....all problems sorted with the units and it's purely training?

They are still consume fuel far more than planned, so are being fueled every day as a result of that. They are just training traincrew, they are about 1/3rd of drivers at Chester trained so far.
Things will speed up as covid restrictions are over and it's usually 2 drivers each week if they complete the week of training.

 

[Zontar]

They are still consume fuel far more than planned, so are being fueled every day as a result of that. They are just training traincrew, they are about 1/3rd of drivers at Chester trained so far.
Things will speed up as covid restrictions are over and it's usually 2 drivers each week if they complete the week of training.

Are they actively trying to tackle the fuel consumption issue? Doesn't really fit in with the Welsh govt green agenda

 

[wobman]

Are they actively trying to tackle the fuel consumption issue? Doesn't really fit in with the Welsh govt green agenda

That's best answered by the Vivarail experts on the forum to be honest, the geo fencing seems not to work as planned so far.
Having the 3rd rail shoes refitted could help charging the batteries at Bidston, but how much extra would that cost !

 

[Caaardiff]

Are they actively trying to tackle the fuel consumption issue? Doesn't really fit in with the Welsh govt green agenda

At the moment just trying to get the things to work properly I expect.

 

[071]

That's best answered by the Vivarail experts on the forum to be honest, the geo fencing seems not to work as planned so far.

I understood the geofencing as the units only using battery power to accelerate until sufficiently far enough away from a station before starting the diesel engines. This certainly wasn't happening when I saw 230006 departing from Hawarden in October. The diesel engines were running and quite noisy.

Shameless repost of video clip:

 

[wobman]

I understood the geofencing as the units only using battery power to accelerate until sufficiently far enough away from a station before starting the diesel engines. This certainly wasn't happening when I saw 230006 departing from Hawarden in October. The diesel engines were running and quite noisy.

Shameless repost of video clip:

Yes that's the problem, having the 4 gen sets constantly running consumes large amounts of fuel.

 

[D365]

Not surprised it’s noisy when the four gensets are under the trailer.

 

[D821]

One of the units is back at BHN this morning.

 

[wobman]

One of the units is back at BHN this morning.

There's usually 2 at Chester one a rescue train the other for training, 2 more ate at Birkenhead North and 010 is living at crewe atc until room is found for it somewhere and some mods are complete.

 

[Bob Price]

One of the units is back at BHN this morning.

There was a path in from Crewe to Birkenhead this morning 5Q38 which I guess was 006 coming back from the wheel lathe. However no reports came through for it. Possibly didn't run.

 

[wobman]

There was a path in from Crewe to Birkenhead this morning 5Q38 which I guess was 006 coming back from the wheel lathe. However no reports came through for it. Possibly didn't run.

It's getting the staff to move it would be problematic, once at Chester there's no room now P1 has been condemned. The yard is always full and Northern usually take up the parcels / 5 and 6, the DIs are busy with traincrew training again this week and other trainings has ramped up. So 006 would need to be moved onwards to Birkenhead would be problematic.

 

[Chris125]

Are they actively trying to tackle the fuel consumption issue? Doesn't really fit in with the Welsh govt green agenda

It seems the hybrid system remains a work-in-progress, so they aren't yet operating as efficiently as they should - presumably quite a complex bit of bespoke software is involved, especially with the geofencing, so no great surprise IMO.

 

[jamesst]

It's getting the staff to move it would be problematic, once at Chester there's no room now P1 has been condemned. The yard is always full and Northern usually take up the parcels / 5 and 6, the DIs are busy with traincrew training again this week and other trainings has ramped up. So 006 would need to be moved onwards to Birkenhead would be problematic.

I'm amazed the whole station hasn't been condemned, its a mess

 

[wobman]

I'm amazed the whole station hasn't been condemned, its a mess

It's literally falling apart and I think it's just held together by pigeon poo.......

 

[craigybagel]

There was a path in from Crewe to Birkenhead this morning 5Q38 which I guess was 006 coming back from the wheel lathe. However no reports came through for it. Possibly didn't run.

006 is still with 010 in Crewe.

 

[Zontar]

Thanks for all the updates, still seems We're no where near to having to them in service.....and no real solutions for the problems.

 

[wobman]

Thanks for all the updates, still seems We're no where near to having to them in service.....and no real solutions for the problems.

Tfw are doing there utmost to get them into service, it's far more complicated than it seems due to contract commitments from what I've heard.
They are training as many traincrew as possible but the trains have to run to get them trained ! I've heard there will be 1 more week of training then Christmas off due to staff leave then restarting in January.

 

[Zontar]

Tfw are doing there utmost to get them into service, it's far more complicated than it seems due to contract commitments from what I've heard.
They are training as many traincrew as possible but the trains have to run to get them trained ! I've heard there will be 1 more week of training then Christmas off due to staff leave then restarting in January.

From what I understand from recent comments, they've removed the 12.30 path which was specifically for training, they still guzzle fuel and now no training till January. It gives me the impression they're not top of the priority list. I see 197s out more

 

[wobman]

From what I understand from recent comments, they've removed the 12.30 path which was specifically for training, they still guzzle fuel and now no training till January. It gives me the impression they're not top of the priority list. I see 197s out more

The 197s have access to more paths on the N Wales coast and there's 2 lots of drivers testing them, caf use rog drivers and tfw use DIs plus there's going to 77 of the 197s accross more routes so they are a bigger priority than the 5 x 230's.

Tfw are plowing on with ghe 230's trying their best to get them into service, the reliability and fuel consumption is out of the hands of tfw. Vivarail are the ones to resolve them ongoing issues.....

 

[craigybagel]

From what I understand from recent comments, they've removed the 12.30 path which was specifically for training, they still guzzle fuel and now no training till January. It gives me the impression they're not top of the priority list. I see 197s out more

The 230s have been out every day, and unlike the 197s which are still in the testing phase they're actually being used for training.

The top priority is running the normal timetable, which is probably why training is stopped over Christmas as well resources need to be used just to cover passenger services, but rest assured progress is being made. TfW need these units in service ASAP.