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Was on the 2nd round trip today, starting from Penyffordd - one train in service (230 010) plus a replacement bus.
Like the 397 first day, was running about 10 down throughout, and turned at Wrexham General on the way back to gain some time.
Good ambience inside, seats and view fine, crew very helpful, disabled toilet available.
PIS only working on the first leg, the voice is ATW's familiar Ruth.
Ride mostly OK and better than CAF Civitys, but very poor on jointed track (which is mostly at the Bidston end, and seemingly about to be replaced).
There's a tendency for some vertical bounce on the racing stretch on the Wirral, which I can distantly remember from District Line trips.
Engine noise is a bit thrummy, and sounds just like a Pacer did, though without the accompanying dip and sway.
Made a sprightly run up Aston bank.
The door warbles and intercom buzzer are much too loud.
But otherwise a nice ride, and perfectly suitable for the route.
There was a film crew on board, otherwise not really busy if you subtract the bashers like me.
One passenger out for the day knew nothing about the railway and was astonished he was on a repurposed LU train.
Not so impressed at having to walk to Wrexham Central after we terminated short.
The RRB turned up at Penyffordd and contained one passenger (none off, none on).
It's still a mystery to me how the service economics works out.
TFW have done their best to destroy their commuter and leisure traveller base in the last month on the line, with regulars forced to drive to Merseyrail at Spital, Bromborough and Hooton (the nearest station to the Welsh station) when commuting in Liverpool direction. Not got a clue about how it effects the flows towards Wrexham. The bus take double the time (and its been reported sometime 3 times as long). I probably won't return until its back to an hourly train as bustiitution is a joke on the line.
Sadly not in the evening peak until they get the freight path/junction sorted out south of Shotton … that’s the big Achilles heel in all this for the commuter market…
Due to passenger numbers the line could probably cope as an hourly service during the day, with half hourly at peak - this would then allow the freight to arrive during quieter times whilst increasing the capacity at busier times which is likely to drive upturn in usage.
Obviously there are numerous reasons that mean the cement works have to operate to the time table they do. It's a pity that it couldn't be fixed by better sidings or some other fix.
Seems to have trouble keeping to time - successive arrivals at Bidston have been 4, 8 and 12 minutes late, the most recent (1232 arrival) despite turning short at Wrexham Central
Not uncommon for new fleets to be operated a little conservatively while staff gain experience, it was very obvious with the 484s. I gather the Borderlands service has very short turnarounds which can't help.
It’s so ironic that they look remarkably similar to the 150s which are outgoing. I hope they don’t try and advertise them to local users as new trains.
I knew Jen would be there on opening day. She doesn’t hang about!
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Edit: They have Ruth announcements! Brilliant - not in keeping with the other new trains, not that these are new in the usual sense of the word, but far nicer to hear than the horrid Welsh accent ones.
The yellow front will look rubbish when they’re eventually working predominantly alongside 197s which will lack it, but I suppose they considered it not worth while to fit new headlights.
Must admit, I had low expectations, but I'm quite impressed. A good mix of longitudinal and "proper" seats, they are very firm ironing boards of course.
Doesn't seem to be any genuine passengers though, just bashers! Hardly surprising though is it.
The announcements aren't working, so can't comment on those.
The ride isn't the best, but it's not too bad. The air con seems OK.
The yellow front will look rubbish when they’re eventually working predominantly alongside 197s which will lack it, but I suppose they considered it not worth while to fit new headlights.
Must admit, I had low expectations, but I'm quite impressed. A good mix of longitudinal and "proper" seats, they are very firm ironing boards of course.
The seats reminded me of the Merseyrail 50x seats.
About the same level of hardness, highish backs with a bit of space between, but no armrests.
Excellent view out though, in the airline seats behind the table bays, with decent legroom.
Ruth does the announcements as on 175s - great.
In passing, quite a lot of renewals have been done on the line, including new lighting at stations.
The last mile or so into Bidston, which is jointed rail, had new steel sleepers and rail waiting to go in.
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Indeed, that is the issue.
Due to passenger numbers the line could probably cope as an hourly service during the day, with half hourly at peak - this would then allow the freight to arrive during quieter times whilst increasing the capacity at busier times which is likely to drive upturn in usage.
Obviously there are numerous reasons that mean the cement works have to operate to the time table they do. It's a pity that it couldn't be fixed by better sidings or some other fix.
Absolutely - if you look at google maps, you can see how daft the current situation is & why it takes such a chunk out of the paths available. There was an interesting letter in the March Modern Railways from one of the engineering consultants involved with the pathing review, which seemed to imply the simple and cheaper solution hadn't even been costed properly.
The seats reminded me of the Merseyrail 50x seats.
About the same level of hardness, highish backs with a bit of space between, but no armrests.
Excellent view out though, in the airline seats behind the table bays, with decent legroom.
Ruth does the announcements as on 175s - great.
In passing, quite a lot of renewals have been done on the line, including new lighting at stations.
The last mile or so into Bidston, which is jointed rail, had new steel sleepers and rail waiting to go in.
Sorry to be so pernickety, it's not the same as the 175s, but the same as the Sprinters. Ruth uses different recordings for the latter, which like the 230s is fitted with TrainFX, and her work on 175s is shared with the miserable sounding "Alison."
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I travelled on both the 1034 from Bidston to Wrexham General, where we terminated, and back to Heswall on the 1334 from Wrexham Central, pretty impressed, personally prefer them to the 777s. The fault light appeared on the 1334 from Wrexham at Neston, presumably it failed once it had returned to Wrexham.
About the train
I do think as much as it looks like TfW have done a nice job with them, once there’s a half-hourly service with a mixture of these and 197s, local regular commuters will start to hope for the 197s. The two are very different. It’s a little like putting a 444 alongside a refurbished 455; compared with the 197 the 230 may feel old and a bit inferior to some.
Hellfire. Well, literally. We've had half of Parkgate on fire last year, seems the rest of our green and pleasant Wirral is now also destined to be incinerated.
If the mileage before failure on these gets above 10K I'll be very surprised but for the moment much of my weekend trip planning will still include Uber to & from either Spital or Hooton.
Sorry to be so pernickety, it's not the same as the 175s, but the same as the Sprinters. Ruth uses different recordings for the latter, which like the 230s is fitted with TrainFX, and her work on 175s is shared with the miserable sounding "Alison."
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That's arguably a more notable achievement than riding the D-Train these days. You won't have that opportunity come December
Is Alison the one that says about putting rubbish in the bins provided on trains and stations? Cant recall another other announcements on the 175s other than Ruth?
Is Alison the one that says about putting rubbish in the bins provided on trains and stations? Cant recall another other announcements on the 175s other than Ruth?
These 230s have Ruth.
67+MK4, 197 and 231 has Elin. 150/153/158 has Ruth. 175 has a dreadful Ruth and Alison hybrid. 170s have nothing.
On a 175, Alison says “We will shortly be arriving at,” then Ruth says the station name, and Alison goes, “Thank you.”
The “This train is for… we will be calling at the following principal stations,” is all Ruth.
Ruth does it all on the Sprinters, although during COVID and for far too long after there was a male voice that sounded like Eryl/Glyn (but wasn’t I don’t think) moaning on about planning ahead and sanitising hands regularly.
A third unnamed considerably younger sounding (English voice) woman who’s probably just an employee called into do a recording then also goes: “This is a security announcement… blah blah blah… unidentified articles will be removed from the train.” This announcement is very common on 175s, but less common on Sprinters.
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Here is a recording courtesy of @Parallel
We will shortly be arriving at - Alison
Cardiff Central - Ruth
Our final station. Please remember… when leaving the train - Alison
All of our trains and stations… - Ruth
Thank you for travelling with ATW - Alison @Jez
Anyway, Alison isn’t on the 230s so we’d better move on! Hope that clears it up though.
On a 175, Alison says “We will shortly be arriving at,” then Ruth says the station name, and Alison goes, “Thank you.”
The “This train is for… we will be calling at the following principal stations,” is all Ruth.
Ruth does it all on the Sprinters.
A third unnamed considerably younger sounding (English voice) woman who’s probably just an employee called into do a recording then (most often on 175s) goes: “This is a security announcement… blah blah blah… unidentified articles will be removed from the train.”
Thanks for explaining. I thought it was Ruth doing the full announcement including the 'we will shortly arriving at'. I never noticed it was someone different! Yes the younger sounding woman doing the security announcement is the one that tells us to place our rubbish in bins too. There is also an announcement about not smoking until leaving station premises which i thought was Ruth but may be this other person (Alison) !
These 230s have Ruth.
67+MK4, 197 and 231 has Elin. 150/153/158 has Ruth. 175 has a dreadful Ruth and Alison hybrid. 170s have nothing.
On a 175, Alison says “We will shortly be arriving at,” then Ruth says the station name, and Alison goes, “Thank you.”
The “This train is for… we will be calling at the following principal stations,” is all Ruth.
Ruth does it all on the Sprinters, although during COVID and for far too long after there was a male voice that sounded like Eryl/Glyn (but wasn’t I don’t think) moaning on about planning ahead and sanitising hands regularly.
A third unnamed considerably younger sounding (English voice) woman who’s probably just an employee called into do a recording then also goes: “This is a security announcement… blah blah blah… unidentified articles will be removed from the train.” This announcement is very common on 175s, but less common on Sprinters.
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Here is a recording courtesy of @Parallel
We will shortly be arriving at - Alison
Cardiff Central - Ruth
Our final station. Please remember… when leaving the train - Alison
All of our trains and stations… - Ruth
Thank you for travelling with ATW - Alison @Jez
Anyway, Alison isn’t on the 230s so we’d better move on! Hope that clears it up though.
230 010 appears to be working the 1744 Wrexham General to Bidston, although running late again from Dee Marsh.
Was it pulled from service because it was well off the timetable by mid-afternoon, rather than because of a train fault?
Real-time train running information for 2F90 1742 departure from Wrexham Central to Shotton on 03/04/2023. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.
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