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Class 701 'Aventra' trains for South Western Railway: progress updates
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YorkRailFan
Established Member
It's happening folks! It's finally happening!
Surely you can't be questioning the cat's knowledge on this?
I for one can't wait for the 701's to be sent out on their jolly way, I think they are much better looking than the 345, 710, and 720 counterparts.
Gag Halfrunt
Member
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If you're waiting for the moment when a class 701 carries paying passengers for the first time, you've missed it.
Class15
Established Member
Wow! Must say I didn’t expect that after all the times when SWR cancelled it!
davethebus002@
On Moderation
Knowing south western railway as its 4 years late its a wonder they haven't skipped a few stations to make up time. Only joking before anyone gets upset
It skipped Sunnymeads, but everything's skipping Sunnymeads today
Well i am shocked! I thought this was never going to happen! A class 701 train finally in passenger service almost five years late! Better late than never!
If anyone is on the train can you check what method of Guard operation is being used as this would be very interesting to know with all the different rumours flying around? Are the doors being opened and closed by the Driver entirely? If so what role is the Guard doing? Also do they have Guard door control panels?
If anyone is on the train can you check what method of Guard operation is being used as this would be very interesting to know with all the different rumours flying around? Are the doors being opened and closed by the Driver entirely? If so what role is the Guard doing? Also do they have Guard door control panels?
Some stations were driver dispatch, some were guard dispatch.
That sounds like a very confusing method. It seems odd to do Driver Despatch at some stations and Guard despatch at others. How is it decided which stations are Driver despatch and which stations are Guard despatch? Also i presume this is not the permanent method once the trains are fully rolled out?
Not all stations are cleared for driver dispatch yet. Driver dispatch is planned as standard but guards will be able to dispatch as required.
3973EXL
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www.realtimetrains.co.uk
Realtime Trains | 5Q20 0909 Derby Litchurch Lane to Eastleigh Trsmd | 09/01/2024
Real-time train running information for 5Q20 0909 departure from Derby Litchurch Lane to Eastleigh Trsmd on 09/01/2024. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.
www.realtimetrains.co.uk
Ah that makes sense. One other question. What type of panels do they have? Do they have full panels like the 730s that have local door controls and controls to release the doors? Or is it a basic panel like the 720s with just a door close button and a bell button? Also did anyone notice on the 701s whether the Guard bell is a traditional bell sound like on the Electrostars or a modern beep sound?
Warrior2852
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- 27 Oct 2018
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- 318
Finally! After so many years...
Seen a few videos on Twitter, looks like they're still using the Celia Drummond announcements.
Seen a few videos on Twitter, looks like they're still using the Celia Drummond announcements.
Door close and local door controls, but no door open buttons. The bell is a modern beep sound but not the same as on 730s.
== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==
They are indeed. The newer recordings like the 484s were using.
SWRtrainfan
Member
Onboard it now, I must say they are really nice.
SWT_USER
Member
Had a run from Ashford to Windsor. First impressions are good, I like the little tables in the bay seating - hope they are vandal proof. I am really looking forward to commuting on these instead of the 450's - and I would say they are an improvement on the 707's too. Needless to say they are better than the 455's.
The seats are much closer together than the 458's and probably a step down in passenger comfort in that respect - but obviously haven't been on a crush loaded 701 yet.
It's a good first step to have done the first public journey...
... But the fact it's taken four years to get to this point and there is still no driver training agreement is just not good enough. SWR should have been ready by this point for a proper ramp up to get these in to service ASAP. Perhaps a few of the SWR big wigs on board today could have been working on that rather than go on a jolly to Windsor this morning.
The seats are much closer together than the 458's and probably a step down in passenger comfort in that respect - but obviously haven't been on a crush loaded 701 yet.
It's a good first step to have done the first public journey...
... But the fact it's taken four years to get to this point and there is still no driver training agreement is just not good enough. SWR should have been ready by this point for a proper ramp up to get these in to service ASAP. Perhaps a few of the SWR big wigs on board today could have been working on that rather than go on a jolly to Windsor this morning.
But it is too long to fit on the screen, is the 701 longer than the 458?RTT now has a carriage diagram for the 701s! This is where it gets really exciting
All very exciting, tempted to have a trip in the rest of the week but starting from Martins Heron hard to do the full return trip.
NSEWonderer
Established Member
DFT salivating at the opportunity to bin some 455s now.
norbitonflyer
Established Member
Had a ride from Vauxhall to Richmond (wasn't going to make it to Waterloo in time). At first I thought it was a wasted journey as it didn't pop up on the departure screens there until about 1025. No-one else on the platform seemed to notice anything remarkable about the train, but just boarded it like any other.
Lots of SWR staff lanyards on the train and a few cameras about, but if there were any familar faces they must have been at the very front. Raer was very quiet.
Can't say I'm a fan of the seat width - I wouldn't want to be sitting next to myself, but otherwise - they'll be fine. I wouldn't have minded if my last year of commuting had been on them, (as it should have been) but it wasn't to be.
Lots of SWR staff lanyards on the train and a few cameras about, but if there were any familar faces they must have been at the very front. Raer was very quiet.
Can't say I'm a fan of the seat width - I wouldn't want to be sitting next to myself, but otherwise - they'll be fine. I wouldn't have minded if my last year of commuting had been on them, (as it should have been) but it wasn't to be.
Thank you for the information. That sounds like a rather interesting design. It seems odd that they have local door controls but no release controls. On the Electrostars they have no local door controls. Just simply a door close button (which is pressed a second time to close your local door or alternatively turn the key switch to off) and also a bell button.
I am surprised they have kept Celia Drummond on these trains. Especially as the entire fleet of 484s were replaced with Elinor Hamilton recently. I guess the 701s will probably have Celia Drummond replaced with Elinor Hamilton soon but as it is a large fleet it will probably take a while.
This is a problem with all the Electrostars too. If the Guard needs to rerelease the doors then they either have to contact the Driver or i think there is a 3-3-1 bell code too. Ideally door release buttons should have been added.
Shouldn't be longer, the whole point of the revised cab design compared to other Aventras was to enable them to fit in the existing platform lengths and have the doors in a similar position to the 458s, even when it's 2x 5car 701s coupled together
NSEWonderer
Established Member
I don't think they had door release controls because it would have interfered with ABDO/ made it pointless at the time ABDO was suppose to be a thing(assuming it won't go ahead).
lumitumey12345
Member
Now that the 701s are in service are there any estimates on how long it'll be before a complete 455 withdrawal?
They aren’t in service!
NSEWonderer
Established Member
I believe the cab redesign was only for 2x5car 701s to be in the same door positions as a single 701 10 car unit
ABDO wouldn’t have made a difference to the need for a guard to reopen the doors quickly during dispatch, there will still be a system for this but it’ll be the awfully time consuming method of sending very long buzzer codes up and down the train.
lumitumey12345
Member
my mistake.