Not much happens to those at Farnham. If it moves back promptly that's usually a good sign otherwise it may be further down the queue.
Some of the not in passenger service units are used for training. Based on reports on this thread, 002, 015, 024 and 028 seem most likely to be in this category. Excluding those makes the not in passenger service split between 001-030 and 031-060 roughly even.
The first service ran 15 months ago, and of course some were trained before that date.
The first service ran in January 2024, which is 26 months ago. Albeit only seven (including 701028) had entered service by the end of that year.
5s have an additional compressor on each which the half units on a 10 don't. Aswell as stuff to do with the CCTV which differs on a 5 vs a 10.
Time flies, I was thinking it was end of 2024, but slipped to Jan 2025
A recent newsletter said the 10 cars will be pushed into service before the 5 cars begin. I'd have a guess there might be a little overlap once things get to the 55/60 10 car in service mark. Don't forget all crew need further training on the 5s before they are rolled out.
Makes sense.
I suppose it depends if there are difficulties with getting the last few 701s into service (which I think is possible) and whether there is a need for five car 701s sooner rather than later (which I am doubtful of).
www.realtimetrains.co.uk
Just an educated guess, but the /5 roll out will likely revolve to some degree around available stabling space, or lack of, for remaining /0 units, and therefore (I would guess?) the likes of WD, WA, SN, VZ and Feltham driver depots may well take priority in /5 knowledge, although every depot involved in same would need to be covered eventually.
That may be your perception but I've just checked RTT. In a 6.5 hour cycle before they started to repeat, both the Chessington and Cobham services had five 701s and eight 450 pairs.
The latest ORR quarterly report (Oct-Dec 2025) has SWR at 43.16m passenger km. Pre-pandemic (Oct-Dec 2019) was 52.69m km, so now at 81.9% of pre pandemic.
Don't quote me entirely on this, but just an educated guess would be due to crewing and traction knowledge at Guildford depot. Most of the Cobham services interwork with the Chessington/Woking circuit, and many of these berth overnight (and begin service) at Guildford, and as such are crewed by Guildford depot who are behind the other depots in terms of 701 competency.
That is the exact reason yes, Chessington/Woking/Guildford via Cobham services generally speaking interwork and form the vast majority of their diagrammed work, and Guildford still has more guards/drivers that don’t sign 701 then those that are trained. You can also throw in Woking depot which, along with Guildford, is not as advanced as the other metro depots with regards to 701 competency. The latter two are 100% trained on 701 now I believe (Waterloo, Wimbledon, Strawberry Hill and Staines).
Thanks for clarifying. With regards to Woking depot, whilst we're still not 100% with 701 competency yet, we're still significantly ahead of Guildford (and of course Farnham) I would think - almost all of our weekday guards diagrams now include a 701 in some form, and being a former Guildford guard, I'm surprised by how many ex-colleagues I've spoken to who still don't sign 701s.
More than “a couple of peak services”. From memory, around/approaching a quarter of Farnham’s 31 weekday driver duties now have 701 trips booked on them, which will increase further as more of their still booked 450s on the Cobham and Reading line switch to 701. Admittedly that’s probably a much lower percentage than the more suburban orientated duties at Guildford and Woking, but it’s not an entirely insignificant percentage of their duties.
Good question. And it will take an age for any new drivers to come through.
Based on the previously reported pace of training if SWR are still a long way short then surely something has gone very wrong.
I could have worded that first sentence a bit better - a long way short at some depots. My next sentences highlight how diagramming units vs staff might still feel a long way short of ideal. I feel 20% (a very rough figure) not yet trained might be a long way short. It really depends how many are actually trained and I do not know that.
As far as I can tell from before and after photos the driver's desk has been changed from the standard Aventra dark grey to non-standard white and maybe one or two buttons relocated.
From my observations, trains towards Epsom, and trains which stop at New Malden are rammed in the peaks. The Woking and Guildford via Cobham trains are less busy.
If you zoom in and click on stations like New Malden on the Tim Jupp map that came out after the station usage figures late 2025, it is fairly obvious the passenger numbers growth path is much steeper than some stations on Cobham line.
Given the complexity of crew and unit diagramming then operational convenience would have to come to the fore.
This is what I am wondering. Made worse perhaps if many drivers are already doing overtime as more or less standard. So no options to throw last minute overtime at a rostering problem that appears at the last minute.