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

[Goldfish62]

There’s certainly not a lack of units but there might be a lack of trained crew. After the delivery of a 701 to Wimbledon this evening, 40/60 (66.6%) of the 701/0s will have arrived onto the SWR network to stay permanently. This is of course if I have done my calculations correctly, fingers crossed that I have.

Certainly more than enough units for the accelerated rate of introduction later this year that the MD of SWR was promising various politicians during the summer...

 

[mansonlo49]

It has some spare siding capacity in which to store units, with some extra roads opening there a few years ago. There’s now 3 at Farnham, up from a consistent 1 of late but has in the past been up to 6 stored there.

I see thanks, so like a siding for storing units there?

 

[wickham]

5Q77 1450 Long Marston to Eastleigh (09.10.25) confirmed as running with 47727 in charge. Anyone know which 701 is being conveyed please.

 

[Bobcp]

5Q77 1450 Long Marston to Eastleigh (09.10.25) confirmed as running with 47727 in charge. Anyone know which 701 is being conveyed please.

701052

 

[wickham]

701052

Many thanks !

 

[mansonlo49]

701052

Quite a lot going on this week, yesterday 050 and today 052

 

[Big Jumby 74]

I see thanks, so like a siding for storing units there?

I presume you are talking of Farnham? I will add just for the record, that ALL additional siding extension work introduced during SWT days, including Farnham, was a direct result of the SWT 10 car suburban plan, which resulted in a cascade of (mostly) 450 stock to outer areas to provide space in the inner area for 10 car 458, 10 car 455/6 and 10 car 707.

Stabling capacity at all suburban inner and outer (including Farnham) locations was completely full with trains/formations required to run the daily train service, and as such there was no space left for add hoc storage of unused trains at that time (pre covid). I can only assume that the present day reduced timetable has thrown up spare stabling capacity at some locations?

 

[mansonlo49]

I presume you are talking of Farnham? I will add just for the record, that ALL additional siding extension work introduced during SWT days, including Farnham, was a direct result of the SWT 10 car suburban plan, which resulted in a cascade of (mostly) 450 stock to outer areas to provide space in the inner area for 10 car 458, 10 car 455/6 and 10 car 707.

Stabling capacity at all suburban inner and outer (including Farnham) locations was completely full with trains/formations required to run the daily train service, and as such there was no space left for add hoc storage of unused trains at that time (pre covid). I can only assume that the present day reduced timetable has thrown up spare stabling capacity at some locations?

SWT 10 car suburban plan? what’s this about? I just started train spot when their old era finish so I wasn’t so sure about this plan, thanks

 

[Siemens Staines]

I presume you are talking of Farnham? I will add just for the record, that ALL additional siding extension work introduced during SWT days, including Farnham, was a direct result of the SWT 10 car suburban plan, which resulted in a cascade of (mostly) 450 stock to outer areas to provide space in the inner area for 10 car 458, 10 car 455/6 and 10 car 707.

Stabling capacity at all suburban inner and outer (including Farnham) locations was completely full with trains/formations required to run the daily train service, and as such there was no space left for add hoc storage of unused trains at that time (pre covid). I can only assume that the present day reduced timetable has thrown up spare stabling capacity at some locations?

At the moment there are eight pairs of 450 on Metro diagrams which stable overnight at locations that by now should have been occupied by 701s had the roll-out gone to plan, which, as far as I know, would not have seen any 450s on Metro diagrams. I suspect that many of those 450s should have been stabled overnight at locations such as Farnham, Fratton and Basingstoke? I am guessing that is where the free space has come from to use for storing 701s.

 

[Goldfish62]

Stabling capacity at all suburban inner and outer (including Farnham) locations was completely full with trains/formations required to run the daily train service, and as such there was no space left for add hoc storage of unused trains at that time (pre covid). I can only assume that the present day reduced timetable has thrown up spare stabling capacity at some locations?

Well, there's one less Farnham - Waterloo via Ascot service in each peak, plus peak hours Reading services have been cut by 50% so that must have freed up capacity at Farnham.

Also, two pairs of units are now stabled at Reading overnight, which was never the case pre-Covid.

 

[swt_passenger]

SWT 10 car suburban plan? what’s this about? I just started train spot when their old era finish so I wasn’t so sure about this plan, thanks

History now really. It was about extending a majority of inner suburban services from 8 car to 10 car, either by extending the original 458s to 5 car using ex 460 vehicles, or by running combinations of 2x455 and a 456. It never achieved 10 car on all services all day, as there were not enough 456s.

It involved numerous platform extensions across the mainline side suburban network, and platforms 1-6 at Waterloo.

 

[mansonlo49]

History now really. It was about extending a majority of inner suburban services from 8 car to 10 car, either by extending the original 458s to 5 car using ex 460 vehicles, or by running combinations of 2x455 and a 456. It never achieved 10 car on all services all day, as there were not enough 456s.

It involved numerous platform extensions across the mainline side suburban network, and platforms 1-6 at Waterloo.

i see，sounds a huge project

 

[Bigfoot]

There was additional space built at farnham under First SWR, after the extra capacity was added under Stagecoach SWT

 

[brad465]

i see，sounds a huge project

The Waterloo aspect definitely was: they had to remodel the entire throat on the 1-9 side of the station, which saw those platforms shut for 3 weeks in August 2017. Fortunately they could get the old Waterloo International platforms open on a temporary basis (they were still under full conversion work at the time) to alleviate this somewhat

 

[mansonlo49]

The Waterloo aspect definitely was: they had to remodel the entire throat on the 1-9 side of the station, which saw those platforms shut for 3 weeks in August 2017. Fortunately they could get the old Waterloo International platforms open on a temporary basis (they were still under full conversion work at the time) to alleviate this somewhat

Yea I remember the former Eurostar platforms changed into the local use for SWR

 

[Goldfish62]

Yea I remember the former Eurostar platforms changed into the local use for SWR

It was what seemed to be an exceptionally long process, with the platforms finally permanently reopening in 2019, although with the savage service cuts post-Covid they're often bereft of trains at times during the day.

 

[norbitonflyer]

i see，sounds a huge project

It was - it required the closure of platfoprms 1 to 10 for the duration. The work in progress can be seen in this picture. The class 66 on the engineering train is standing in platform 10.

The odd position of the 456 is the result of extra wiring added for a signalling test providing a false feed to the inetrlocking, allowing the points (under the rear end of the leading carraige in the picture) to be shown as locked when they were not. This resulted in them moving to a position where a train passing over them could be diverted the wrong way - into the side of the engineering train on the adjacent track.

Accident report here

Report 19/2018: Collision at London Waterloo

Collision at London Waterloo, 15 August 2017.

www.gov.uk

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5bf28782e5274a2aeeae93bb/R192018_181119_Waterloo.pdf

 

[Nimbus020]

It was - it required the closure of platfoprms 1 to 10 for the duration. The work in progress can be seen in this picture. The class 66 on the engineering train is standing in platform 10.

The odd position of the 456 is the result of extra wiring added for a signalling test not being interlocked with the points, allowing it to be routed into the side of the engineering train.

Accident report here

Report 19/2018: Collision at London Waterloo

Collision at London Waterloo, 15 August 2017.

www.gov.uk

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5bf28782e5274a2aeeae93bb/R192018_181119_Waterloo.pdf

Good post - thanks - one of the ironies of the Summer 2017 Waterloo work was that SWT/SWR encouraged commuters to work from home if they could for the duration of the work - for some commuters, 'working from home' worked pretty well and so they didn't necessarily have to go back to 5 days a week commuting. For example, Friday evening peak time trains out of Waterloo seemed a lot quieter even after the upgrade work had been completed. This was probably one of the reasons why SWR was struggling to meet its financial targets even before the pandemic hit.

 

[GW43125]

From a purely selfish point of view, that was quite possibly one of the best timetables we've ever had on the Windsor side. Fasts Staines to Clapham with 444s, and a lot less sitting round outside Waterloo!

 

[mansonlo49]

It was - it required the closure of platfoprms 1 to 10 for the duration. The work in progress can be seen in this picture. The class 66 on the engineering train is standing in platform 10.

The odd position of the 456 is the result of extra wiring added for a signalling test providing a false feed to the inetrlocking, allowing the points (under the rear end of the leading carraige in the picture) to be shown as locked when they were not. This resulted in them moving to a position where a train passing over them could be diverted the wrong way - into the side of the engineering train on the adjacent track.

Accident report here

Report 19/2018: Collision at London Waterloo

Collision at London Waterloo, 15 August 2017.

www.gov.uk

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5bf28782e5274a2aeeae93bb/R192018_181119_Waterloo.pdf

But lucky the train weren't travelling fast st the terminus

 

[Meglos]

From a purely selfish point of view, that was quite possibly one of the best timetables we've ever had on the Windsor side. Fasts Staines to Clapham with 444s, and a lot less sitting round outside Waterloo!

Stitched up the Chessington Branch for the whole of August 2017. Four compete weeks of rail replacement buses from Chessington South (and the following stations) to Worcester Park.

 

[norbitonflyer]

But lucky the train weren't travelling fast st the terminus

The report says the driver braked when he saw the points were set wrong ahead of him but was unable to stop. (He had only gone a couple of coach lengths anyway, so wasnt going very fast in the first place)
The accident did knock out a further two platforms for the rest of the day while the train was recovered and the interlocking rectified.

 

[brad465]

Stitched up the Chessington Branch for the whole of August 2017. Four compete weeks of rail replacement buses from Chessington South (and the following stations) to Worcester Park.

How popular is the branch for visitors to the Theme Park? August is the worst month to curtail traffic to the park, but given it's a more family-oriented one, it's possible rail passengers are relatively few. Thorpe Park however does well out of Staines and the dedicated bus service, with the park being more Thrill rider oriented, thus having more independent adult visitors.

 

[Nimbus020]

How popular is the branch for visitors to the Theme Park? August is the worst month to curtail traffic to the park, but given it's a more family-oriented one, it's possible rail passengers are relatively few. Thorpe Park however does well out of Staines and the dedicated bus service, with the park being more Thrill rider oriented, thus having more independent adult visitors.

For us SW London "thrill riders", the highlight of the Waterloo work in 2017 was the diversion of some London-bound trains on the Epsom line via Wimbledon Park & Southfields!

 

[Meglos]

How popular is the branch for visitors to the Theme Park? August is the worst month to curtail traffic to the park, but given it's a more family-oriented one, it's possible rail passengers are relatively few. Thorpe Park however does well out of Staines and the dedicated bus service, with the park being more Thrill rider oriented, thus having more independent adult visitors.

During the school holidays the 09:54, 10:24, and 10:53 arrivals generally deposit around 250 park goers each at Chessington South.

The real issue was the 07:04, 07:34 and 08:04 services to Waterloo, which were normally standing only by Tolworth. The Waterloo upgrade lead to 10 car (455-455-456) services up from 8 car (455-455), but they generally were still standing only by Tolworth.

 

[norbitonflyer]

During the school holidays the 09:54, 10:24, and 10:53 arrivals generally deposit around 250 park goers each at Chessington South.

The 1km trek along the A243 from the station to the park entrance is not very pleasant though. For all the talk of private enterprise, it seems no-one at Stagecoach or First ever thought of extending the service to opposite the Park entrance. This despite the fact that the trackbed exists (and has existed for over 85 years) and there is even track on most of it for freight use - albeit disused between the closure of the coal concentration depot c1989 and then opening of the aggregates depot in 2021.
(View from station looking south)

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

www.google.co.uk

Google Street View - The Chessington Wiorld of Adventures entrance, and its car park, are on the left of the image - the buffer stops can be seen to the left of the halfway line of the football pitch. The track bed continues 50 metres or so further as far as Chalky Lane

But despite various promotions between SWT and CWoA, no-one ever had enough enterprise to usen one to improve access to the other.

And in the close season the car park could be used for a Park and Ride service - junction 9 of the M25 is only 2.5 miles away.

 

[Robert Carroll]

Car parking is so restricted around Surbiton and many other stations that some commuters drive to Chessington where it is possible to park close to either North or South stations and take the train from there. As for the World of Adventures, the 71 bus stops by South station and goes to the park.

Getting back to 701s, how many of the peak trains from and to Chessington are now diagrammed for 701s?

 

[norbitonflyer]

As for the World of Adventures, the 71 bus stops by South station and goes to the park.

It does, but it's an added hassle and expense. (Chessington South is in Zone 6 so the extra distance would effectively be be free - the revenue advatnage to the railway would be increased usage rather than increased duistance by eisting users)

However, I don't know how many people use the bus and how many walk, or indeed how many more would use the train if they didn't have to do either.

 

[Stephen42]

Getting back to 701s, how many of the peak trains from and to Chessington are now diagrammed for 701s?

In peak direction for a relatively generous definition of peak from next week should be.

In the morning: 0634 2M10, 0704 2M12, 0804 2M16, 0934 2M22 departures from Chessington South
In the evening: 1647 2M47, 1817 2M53, 1947 2M59 departures from Waterloo

In total 10 return trips to Chessington South out of 35 should be 701s Monday to Thursday, an additional 701 return working operates on Fridays so is 11 out of 36. A couple at beginning/end of service are from Wimbledon instead of Waterloo are included in these numbers.

 

[Mike_L_Surrey]

The 1km trek along the A243 from the station to the park entrance is not very pleasant though. […..]

And in the close season the car park could be used for a Park and Ride service - junction 9 of the M25 is only 2.5 miles away.

There WAS a park & ride Bus Service (Route K50) that ran up until 2014 from Chessington WoA to Kingston Town Centre in the winter period when WoA was closed to visitors.

I think when it was first introduced in mid 1990’s it was a Christmas seasonal service. I used it a few times.

K50 was discontinued in 2014 due to a sharp drop in passengers using the service.