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Class 701 'Aventra' trains for South Western Railway: progress updates

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Snow1964

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Amazing how reaching an agreement with everyone involved makes for an improved service, funny that.
Also amazing that can sign off a purchase order (final spec details, not the general principle) without an agreement to use them as built.

Hoping you can negotiate it afterwards (in this case 7.5 years after ordering).
 

Bigfoot

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Also amazing that can sign off a purchase order (final spec details, not the general principle) without an agreement to use them as built.

Hoping you can negotiate it afterwards (in this case 7.5 years after ordering).
It is well documented that the mockups built and shown to the unions to agree on weren't actually what was built and delivered. It's also the quality of the build that is preventing their use as designed alongside long term infrastructure issues.

As far as I understand unions don't sign off on purchases, unless aslef are actually a toc and a rosco.
 
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It is well documented that the mockups built and shown to the unions to agree on weren't actually what was built and delivered.
I’ve always found this so strange. You build a mockup, send it all parties involved, they agree, and then you just… completely change the design???? Did the chief engineer just go “you know what guys I can’t be bothered to set up the new blueprints so just make the cab a smaller version of the normal one, no one will care”

It would be interesting to see what those mockups looked like at some point
 

Bumpkin

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Looks like four today -the Dorking is a 455 on Fridays.
Curiously RTT had 031 running one of them when I looked at 7am, but at 10 am my Mk1 eyeball detected 043 at Kingston instead
I count 5,
034(All day Windsor)
037 (All day Windsor)
039 (Peak Windsor diagram)
043 (All day Shepperton
046 (Peak Shepperton diagram)
 

norbitonflyer

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I count 5,
034(All day Windsor)
037 (All day Windsor)
039 (Peak Windsor diagram)
043 (All day Shepperton
046 (Peak Shepperton diagram)
rtt has 017 and 031 operating the evening Windsor and Shepperton diagrams, so 036 is the only "regular" having the whole day off.
 

mansonlo49

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Hi I forgotten is there a thread that talks about what issues on the 701/5 which isn’t coming into service? Thanks
 

mansonlo49

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This thread that you are reading now, I’m not going to start looking for you: but discussion about 5 cars is amongst the many pages of this thread
I just mean is there a specially one talking or it just any post
 

Invincible

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I can only see coupling being an issue for the 5car 701s. This is because normally 10car 701s will never couple to another 701 but the 5car 701s will presumably do a lot of joining and splitting.
From this forum, with a quick search. The main concern with 701/5 when 3 units were being tested in April was couplings? (unless there are more problems specifically with 701/5s?)
 
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Peter Sarf

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can send me?thanks
The discussion about 5car 701s is in this thread. It crops probably in more than one place but I know the latest discussion was going on around post 12,900. Otherwise use the search facility.

It is one of those things that is in my memory from reading this thread thoroughly (he says !) from way back. There is probably nothing specifically wrong with the 5car 701s. But there maybe unknown peculiarities that SWR are not desperate to unearth when there are plenty of 10car 701s available and needed. The 5car 701s are perhaps best described as not needed yet in the post Covid railway.
 

Goldfish62

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The discussion about 5car 701s is in this thread. It crops probably in more than one place but I know the latest discussion was going on around post 12,900. Otherwise use the search facility.

It is one of those things that is in my memory from reading this thread thoroughly (he says !) from way back. There is probably nothing specifically wrong with the 5car 701s. But there maybe unknown peculiarities that SWR are not desperate to unearth when there are plenty of 10car 701s available and needed. The 5car 701s are perhaps best described as not needed yet in the post Covid railway.
Well exactly. With the majority of 10 car units not yet having entered service what's the urgency with the 5 car units unless there's a sudden pressing need identified for 5-car single units? If doubled up they'd form 15 10 car units which is probably close to the reduction in current requirements compared to what the stillborn 2019 timetable would have required.
 

Bumpkin

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Because i was away from home yesterday I scribbled notes from RTT on yesterday's 701 workings. One of them reads 701031-1Y14, but I can't find a 1Y14 so I wonder what it shoukld have said. Did 031 work yesterday (Saturday)?

1Y14 did yesterday from Twickenham at 1728 with 701031 as you noted down.
 

Kite159

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NSEWonderer

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WWTownEnth

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Anyone know when enough trained drivers will allow the addition of a new diagram? Can’t be long now…..
 

swr444

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Anyone know when enough trained drivers will allow the addition of a new diagram? Can’t be long now…..
Probably once the May TT change comes into effect. They probably want a bit more resillience on the diagrams that are already running. From tomorrow there will be 6 waterloo drivers being trained, i'm unsure about the other depots
 

wickham

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Visible at Farnham Depot at 1430 today (Monday 05.05.25): 701002, 701025 & 701026: I think there may have been up to three more there too, but the vegitation from the Weydon Road view and the view through two palaside fences from Wrecclesham Road (A325) made it impossible to confirm if they were the same units or different ones when viewed from the opposite end !
 

norbitonflyer

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It's run a Kingston rounder before on bank holidays
036 did so on Easter Monday.

One of the two regular Sunday diagrams (albeit rarely operated in practice because maintenence work closes some part or other of the route) includes rounder services alternating with Shepperton.
 
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Just want to showcase a video I've found that shows the insane acceleration of the 701s.

Previously the fastest that one had been recorded to clear a platform was around 22 seconds, already very impressive for a third rail train.
However this video shows it doing it in around 20 seconds, making for an average acceleration of around 1.02 m/s². To put that into perspective, that puts it on par with the Class 345 that uses 25kV OHLE equipment.

 

wickham

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5Q76 1618 Bicester to Willesen WL Jcn (06.05.25) for 5Q66 Willesden WL Jcn to Wimbledon Park, appears to have departed Bicester early hauled by 69006 - anyone know what is being conveyed please?
 

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