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

I

Ian Hardy

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adc82140 said:
Alternatively they could be thinking that the 455s are available, so why not run them in to the ground and take the time to get the next batch of 701s properly right before introducing them.
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Or could it be that SWR be trying to get the Class 455s awarded another Golden Spanner for 2026.
 
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TEW

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Goldfish62 said:
Agreed. I'd have thought that SWR would have gone all out to get 2-3 more 701s available for service so the 455s could finally be eliminated. But then maybe they have been going all out, but the remaining units are proving too problematic. They are after all mostly the earlier units, which have been in store for the longest.
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From what I understand, it's this. A break in new diagram was always planned now, but the pause in new unit acceptance was not.
 
43096

43096

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adc82140 said:
Alternatively they could be thinking that the 455s are available, so why not run them in to the ground and take the time to get the next batch of 701s properly right before introducing them.
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But that means paying for two sets of trains, as the 701s are on lease as are the remaining 455s. They want the 455s gone, ASAP.
 
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chalky80

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swr444 said:
701046 has failed at London Road and has been blocking the UP line for an hour now
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That has just turned in to a 5F headcode and shuffled off towards Effingham.

They've sent a couple of Guildford-Waterloo's via Working instead but only just realised that when London Road (Guildford) up line is blocked, anything sitting in Guildford P1 is then stuck because you can't get across to the Woking lines. This should set up for a nice mess in the evening peak.

I expect it's observation bias but the 701s seem rather prone to failing mid-journey.
 
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swr444

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chalky80 said:
That has just turned in to a 5F headcode and shuffled off towards Effingham.

They've sent a couple of Guildford-Waterloo's via Working instead but only just realised that when London Road (Guildford) up line is blocked, anything sitting in Guildford P1 is then stuck because you can't get across to the Woking lines. This should set up for a nice mess in the evening peak.

I expect it's observation bias but the 701s seem rather prone to failing mid-journey.
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All fine the up 2D that was in platform 1 has only left 4 min late
 
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joystick

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chalky80 said:
That has just turned in to a 5F headcode and shuffled off towards Effingham.

They've sent a couple of Guildford-Waterloo's via Working instead but only just realised that when London Road (Guildford) up line is blocked, anything sitting in Guildford P1 is then stuck because you can't get across to the Woking lines. This should set up for a nice mess in the evening peak.

I expect it's observation bias but the 701s seem rather prone to failing mid-journey.
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Hello, you can shunt from P1 to P2 and P3 .
 
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Snow1964

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adc82140 said:
Alternatively they could be thinking that the 455s are available, so why not run them in to the ground and take the time to get the next batch of 701s properly right before introducing them.
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SWR do seem to be struggling with commissioning more units as they were averaging 7-10 days back in November and early December.

Even allowing 3 dead weeks over Christmas and new year, bringing extra units into service during January seems to have slowed almost to a stop.

Perhaps they did easy ones, and now taking longer. But of course aren't alone in struggling to make units stored outside without extensive production from condensation, damp, mildew, etc usable. GWR with 175s, Great Northern 379s weren't exactly parked in an unlock them and switch them on, all ready to go condition either.
 
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norbitonflyer

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Snow1964 said:
Even allowing 3 dead weeks over Christmas and new year, bringing extra units into service during January seems to have slowed almost to a stop.
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Actually, the three weeks over Christmas and New Year were far from dead. (010 on Dec 22nd, and 052 on 23rd, 047 on New Years Eve and 054 on January 2nd). But Janauary has indeed slowed to a complete stop with no more entering service for over four weeks.
 
mansonlo49

mansonlo49

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norbitonflyer said:
Actually, the three weeks over Christmas and New Year were far from dead. (010 on Dec 22nd, and 052 on 23rd, 047 on New Years Eve and 054 on January 2nd). But Janauary has indeed slowed to a complete stop with no more entering service for over four weeks.
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strange is that each week they take new units out from long marston
 
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Peter Sarf

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Kite159 said:
I guess it depends on the condition of those units being relocated from Long Marston, how long they have been sat in cold(?) storage etc.
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Well we had a run of departures from Marchwood emptying there and now it seems to be a process of emptying Long Marston of 701/1s with just two to go (701045 & 701049). That just leaves 701003 at Derby. Getting some of the 701/5s into traffic must be getting tempting assuming some of them have been languishing for less time ?.

I am not aware of anything coming from Eastleigh for quite a while btw. Still four there - 701014, 701016, 701027 and 701055 if I am correct ?.
Two of those came from Marchwood 701016 and 701027 not so long ago so are the most recent arrivals at Eastleigh.
 
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WWTownEnth

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Peter Sarf said:
Well we had a run of departures from Marchwood emptying there and now it seems to be a process of emptying Long Marston of 701/1s with just two to go (701045 & 701049). That just leaves 701003 at Derby. Getting some of the 701/5s into traffic must be getting tempting assuming some of them have been languishing for less time ?.

I am not aware of anything coming from Eastleigh for quite a while btw. Still four there - 701014, 701016, 701027 and 701055 if I am correct ?.
Two of those came from Marchwood 701016 and 701027 not so long ago so are the most recent arrivals at Eastleigh.
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Post 1 has a full and uptodate list of where all units are (both ten and five car)
 
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wickham

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Peter Sarf said:
Well we had a run of departures from Marchwood emptying there and now it seems to be a process of emptying Long Marston of 701/1s with just two to go (701045 & 701049). That just leaves 701003 at Derby. Getting some of the 701/5s into traffic must be getting tempting assuming some of them have been languishing for less time ?.

I am not aware of anything coming from Eastleigh for quite a while btw. Still four there - 701014, 701016, 701027 and 701055 if I am correct ?.
Two of those came from Marchwood 701016 and 701027 not so long ago so are the most recent arrivals at Eastleigh.
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The situation with those 4 at Eastleigh is rather interesting - they are standing on the 3rd rail and can be cut-in at any time, sometimes it is observed that their red tail lights are on (which might indicate that they are cut-in, otherwise they would be on battery) - so are these 4 really "stored" or in fact simply "stabled" !
 
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40029 Saxonia

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class701

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Will the 701/5s enter service as single units, or will they be permanantly coupled in pairs? We could do with a third off-peak service on the Epsom - Worcester Park - Waterloo service. We still only have an hourly service on Sunday, which is criminal given the roads around here are clogged with traffic. The passenger numbers would definately support it and only grow if SWR bothered to run a decent regular suburban service.
 
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Ian Hardy

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class701 said:
Will the 701/5s enter service as single units, or will they be permanantly coupled in pairs? We could do with a third off-peak service on the Epsom - Worcester Park - Waterloo service. We still only have an hourly service on Sunday, which is criminal given the roads around here are clogged with traffic. The passenger numbers would definately support it and only grow if SWR bothered to run a decent regular suburban service.
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The Sunday Waterloo - Kingston via Hounslow services will have to be a single 701/5 unit as a 10 car 701/0 won't fit in Kingston's bay platform 1.
 
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Snow1964

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class701 said:
Will the 701/5s enter service as single units, or will they be permanantly coupled in pairs? We could do with a third off-peak service on the Epsom - Worcester Park - Waterloo service. We still only have an hourly service on Sunday, which is criminal given the roads around here are clogged with traffic. The passenger numbers would definately support it and only grow if SWR bothered to run a decent regular suburban service.
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Not permanently coupled, there is Kingston bay platform, and couple of rarely used reversing points (used during engineering work) where a 10car doesn't fit in shunt length.

But 30 5car units is generous, could easily have been 5 more 10car, and 10 less 5car units. There is probably an explanation for the 60+30 quantity split buried in this thread about 16,000 posts ago.
 
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Goldfish62

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Snow1964 said:
But 30 5car units is generous, could easily have been 5 more 10car, and 10 less 5car units. There is probably an explanation for the 60+30 quantity split buried in this thread about 16,000 posts ago.
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As I understand it from what's been written before it was based on the constraints of the network, ie there are not enough sidings that can take 75 10 car trains, plus the odd platform issue such as at Kingston. Also the exact quantities were based on the aborted 2019 timetable spec, whereas we now have a reduced Covid timetable instead.
 
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Peter Sarf

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wickham said:
The situation with those 4 at Eastleigh is rather interesting - they are standing on the 3rd rail and can be cut-in at any time, sometimes it is observed that their red tail lights are on (which might indicate that they are cut-in, otherwise they would be on battery) - so are these 4 really "stored" or in fact simply "stabled" !
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I too feel its interesting. I have been wondering if the four 701/0s at Eastleigh (701014, 701016, 701027 & 701055) are just in a better storage location being on the juice so might as well be last out of storage OR if they all have got so damp that they are just being left to warm up thoroughly for plenty of time. It could be that they have some other problem and/or robbed of parts ?. It gets interesting when I start to wonder if the recent two from Marvchwood (701016 & 701027) were specifically chosen or just happened to be the next nearest to the exit at Marchwood !.

Needless to say those four 701/0s at Eastleigh are now becoming a significant quantity now that only Derby has 701003 and Long Marston has only two (701045 & 701049) !.
 
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