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

Covshire1

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Any indication that the Long Marston to Wimbledon drag of 045 might happen again in the next few days?
57305 is returning to base today as 0Z71 0955 Honeybourne Staff Hut to Leicester L.I.P., so guess that they will try again next Wednesday...
 
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mansonlo49

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57305 is returning to base today as 0Z71 0955 Honeybourne Staff Hut to Leicester L.I.P., so guess that they will try again next Wednesday...
Not sure what’s going on with rhis unit, both attempts still can’t take it out yet
 

Peter Sarf

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Not sure what’s going on with rhis unit, both attempts still can’t take it out yet
There is engineering work to replace a bridge to the South of Oxford all week (Sunday 1 to Sunday 8 February 2026) so not sure how well the alternative route via Stroud would work (might be too busy with other diverted trains).
 

Recessio

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At Vauxhall just now. Platform 7 has a 701 going to Waterloo only, as we expect. Platform 8 has the station PIS showing 21:31 rounder to Strawberry Hill, a 701 turns up and is also showing the destination as London Waterloo! (albeit with listing all of the stations on the round trip).

I saw two passengers looking very confused at the two 701 units, because train going one way said Waterloo on the front, and the train going the other way also said Waterloo on the front!

Really not ideal - if this is a one off bug/mistake on that 701 unit then it's not ideal. But if it's a persistent thing that the 701s can't show Strawberry Hill as the "fake" destination to match the PIS, then it really needs to be fixed to match the station PIS or you're going to get people missing their trains.
 

3rd rail land

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At Vauxhall just now. Platform 7 has a 701 going to Waterloo only, as we expect. Platform 8 has the station PIS showing 21:31 rounder to Strawberry Hill, a 701 turns up and is also showing the destination as London Waterloo! (albeit with listing all of the stations on the round trip).

I saw two passengers looking very confused at the two 701 units, because train going one way said Waterloo on the front, and the train going the other way also said Waterloo on the front!

Really not ideal - if this is a one off bug/mistake on that 701 unit then it's not ideal. But if it's a persistent thing that the 701s can't show Strawberry Hill as the "fake" destination to match the PIS, then it really needs to be fixed to match the station PIS or you're going to get people missing their trains.
455/456s could show Strawberry Hill as a destination so the 701s certainly will be able to. I assume the 701s have Strawberry Hill programmed as a destination and the driver just selected Waterloo in error.
 

norbitonflyer

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Really not ideal - if this is a one off bug/mistake on that 701 unit then it's not ideal. But if it's a persistent thing that the 701s can't show Strawberry Hill as the "fake" destination to match the PIS, then it really needs to be fixed to match the station PIS or you're going to get people missing their trains.
It is a "feature" of the 701s on the rounders. The 455s could be changed en route, but not the 701s. I've seen it several times.
 

CarrotPie

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It is a "feature" of the 701s on the rounders. The 455s could be changed en route, but not the 701s. I've seen it several times.
They've had 7 extra years to introduce them and they can't even change the destination en-route. No wonder people don't think highly of the railway...

Out of curiosity, how are the destinations on 701s set up? Is it a manually-inputted destination code, a headcode, or is it entirely automatic?
 

swr444

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455/456s could show Strawberry Hill as a destination so the 701s certainly will be able to. I assume the 701s have Strawberry Hill programmed as a destination and the driver just selected Waterloo in error.
The destination and announcement system activates when the driver inputs the headcode of the service. It is poor programming from the software guys, not the driver's fault.
 

Goldfish62

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The destination and announcement system activates when the driver inputs the headcode of the service. It is poor programming from the software guys, not the driver's fault.
Wonder if this will be addressed with the forthcoming software upgrade. It certainly should be!
 

NSEWonderer

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So whilst it is annoying the 701s show London Waterloo on the side, they are not technically not a downgrade on the 450s in that regard.
Indeed. More so with 455s it was highly dependant on the driver being bothered at the halfway point, usually Kingston to then get up and change the blinds. Most would just set it as Waterloo via said route.

701s do often on the rounders display Teddington or Strawberry Hill depending on if they're anything Oscar or Kilo headcode but there seems at times to be a software issue that doesn't always correctly set that condition. Simply will require a software tweak.
 

NSEWonderer

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They've had 7 extra years to introduce them and they can't even change the destination en-route. No wonder people don't think highly of the railway...

Out of curiosity, how are the destinations on 701s set up? Is it a manually-inputted destination code, a headcode, or is it entirely automatic?
Yes but in those 7 years these trains have mostly sat in storage, not actually working or being heavily tested to find bugs and faults that occur in real world testing not controlled tests with often known conditions.

These issues and more undoubtedly come up with every train and then get fixed as they go. 701s are just like the 345s in their first year interms of bug fixes required and that's mostly software based again.

701s are not alone in this aspect, many people forget the first 4 years of the Desiros weren't nearly as good either. Overheating issues, the 3mph instant holding brakes, temperamental computers etc, they're now trains that could run for another decade well.
 

Recessio

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Saw 701 053 today, on the side display was Car 1, Car 2 etc rather than the scrolling Coach 1, Coach 2 etc.
However, Car 10 doesn't fit, so still scrolls!
I've never understood why they even make Coach N scroll rather than just giving it enough space to display fully...
 

NSEWonderer

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I've never understood why they even make Coach N scroll rather than just giving it enough space to display fully...
That space on Alstom / Bombardier kit has a limited amount of characters that can be displayed. On 345 sets its about enough for the headcodes. Class 730s are the same as the 701s with the scrolling coach numbers. 720s i don't think bother showing anything in this small display area, nor do the 710s aswell.
 

mansonlo49

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due to the long marston cancellation of 701 drags last week, hope this week they'll take the remaining two ten coaches 701 out of storage
 

WWTownEnth

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due to the long marston cancellation of 701 drags last week, hope this week they'll take the remaining two ten coaches 701 out of storage
Can’t see more than one coming down next week. I suspect the next two Wednesdays will be the days.
 

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