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Planning a trip to see Scotrail HSTs
- Thread starter Peter E
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hexagon789
Veteran Member
It's in HA23 still afaik.
HA23 has been in traffic several times ow since returning from Doncaster; first ran on the 24th September.
It's in traffic today on 1T06, 1A35, 1B80, 1H29.
Many thanks for your fast reply. Hopefully now should be able to track it.
hexagon789
Veteran Member
Best of luck, but yes shouldn't be too difficult to catch it at some point.
RTT or HSTGen should help with daily allocations.
Hello again. It appears that HA08 ? including 40608 (That I am looking for) has got north recently, maybe Inverness. Any update would be very much appreciated especially the power cars numbers. Thanks. Peter.
chuff chuff
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Gone to Inverness for a once over before going into traffic.
hexagon789
Veteran Member
Not released to traffic yet, as chuff chuff says, so no power cars allocated as such.
OK many thanks for the reply, if you see anything allocated please post on the forum.
Fife coaster
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How many HSTs out today as Fife services are decimated only one train above 3 cars till at least 08:30
hexagon789
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Ten.
Fife coaster
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Thanks That explains the carnage this morning how do they expect to run the improved leven service in December if the HSTs are lying out of use
hexagon789
Veteran Member
Difficult to run them when they are 'broken' to be fair.
Aberdeen ended up at capacity yesterday with four 'broken' sets for instance, though one later moved to Haymarket.
HA04 and HA02 should be available soon, which should help matters - the uplift in December is only by one diagram to 16 on weekdays and they have managed 16, even 17 sets out on occasions; it's the significant rise to 19 planned for May that will be 'interesting'.
Fife coaster
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Agreed but it seems to be not getting any traction pardon the pun at scotrail. It’s really annoying that front line staff are having to deal with the fall out day in day out and there is only so many miracles the Scotrail engineers can achieve with these tired old trains. I really hope they can secure the class 222 when they come of lease we need action asap from senior scotrail staff and transport Scotland
hexagon789
Veteran Member
Last time that came up, it was ruled out on coast grounds.
The ROSCO wanted almost double what the HSTs are costing reputedly, though the publically readable board minutes generally obscure any financial information, so you can't get specifics.
I've not heard that it's been reconsidered, but if the price was right... maybe...
The HSTs have to be paid for until 2030.
hexagon789
Veteran Member
Very true, noticed a lot of issues with adhesion today, even my local line which isn't usually too bad, we were slipping badly away from my local even though its a downhill start.
Can imagine the rudimentary WSP the power cars have still will see plenty of wheelspots needing attention.
Don't know what's come of the WSP upgrades that were planned a few months back?
chuff chuff
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Funnily enough someone asked that very question on yammer in the company and it's supposed to starting next month.
hexagon789
Veteran Member
Excellent news, with any luck next autumn will see better availability as a result.
Transilien
Member
Is it just me or recently there have been little to no HST diagrams, like even less than before. Does anyone know the reason for this?
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chuff chuff
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In the main their sitting about waiting on going to the wheel lathe.
hexagon789
Veteran Member
Its autumn, so as Chuff Chuff says, many are awaiting attention for wheel damage, this happened last year and the year before where only about 60-66% of diagrams were HST for most of October/November.
Hopefully once the upgraded WSP equipment is fitted, autumn HST operations will be far more reliable.
43096
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I’ll believe that when it happens.
Transilien
Member
How can ScotRail cope with the 170s covering most of the HST’s diagrams?
hexagon789
Veteran Member
They can't always, which is why you also see 158s appearing.
When I went to Scotland in November 2022, it was like the 1990s again. 158s on long distance trains all over the place. The only route they weren't on was Glasgow to Edinburgh.
Davester50
Member
Was interesting to see a broken up set at Cadder last week. Didn't expect to see anything other than full sets being serviced, and not individual carriages there.
Dfatcontroller
Member
The rest of the set would have been reformed and sent to Shields for the TPM (Tyre Profile Machine) / wheel lathe.
Whole HST sets don't fit at Shields.
Davester50
Member
Interesting. Thanks.
43096
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If any one is wondering why ScotRail's HSTs have struggled, then maybe consider:
- Power cars and trailers maintained at different depots
- New WSP equipment de-scoped from refurbishment
- Wheel lathe off route, with a lack of paths to get there, requiring a driver to ferry the set each way
- Wheel lathe can't accomodate a complete set, so it needs to be split before being sent
- A prevasive bad attitude towards the fleet from management downwards
Little wonder, then, that the fleet has struggled for availability.
Their age surely a factor?
There's a lathe at Inverness as well, bought at great expense.
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