Siemens Staines
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It would appear that 701015 has entered passenger service this evening
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Class 701 'Aventra' trains for South Western Railway: progress updates
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WWTownEnth
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And that brings us to 58 in passenger service with one left on training duties and one at some stage of commissioning. Nearly there now on the ten cars!
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Peter Sarf
Established Member
No offence taken. The long units vs two short units equation/debate crops up often. I think we will never be sure which is best. No failures is best of course.As I typed the post I KNEW someone would be along to say that. It’s one of the most over repeated phrases on the forum (nothing against you) and it’s an infuriating one purely because it’s not always true, and I also don’t believe it’s always the case that it‘s run short or cancel. Especially not with the apparent surplus of stock they have…
However, perhaps I’ll wait to pass judgement. They may be good and run them always in pairs, we’ll see.
Otherwise it really depends on having enough spare stock so that it does not matter either way. Whether a whole long unit drops out or a short unit has to go out to couple with a short unit that has lost its misbehaving partner.
Only in-balance I can see is if a train comprising two short units can carry on its way having dropped its mis-behaving half in a siding (how close a siding is I wonder) and carries on before a substitute unit reaches the service to couple up. Would a whole unit instead get shunted into a siding. How quickly would a whole unit pick up the previous whole units diagram.
So two halves would be more resilient mainly BUT also leads to a temptation to rely on that !.
Thanks its so long ago now that its unbelievable.
Peter Mugridge
Veteran Member
What's the betting that ironically the last one out will be 701 028...?
Peter Sarf
Established Member
Ignoring the 701/5s !.
Todays delivery brought the last 701 from Bicester.
Consist 37512 + 6346 + 701526 + 6330 + 37501.
Peter Mugridge
Veteran Member
Just talking about the /0s...
Peter Sarf
Established Member
I am going to go as far as to wonder if a few 701/5s might even make it into passenger service before 701028 does !.Just talking about the /0s...
WWTownEnth
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Just talking about the /0s...
I doubt it. It was on test this week, whereas 029 is in a right state at Wimbledon and sounds like an Austin Allegro with dodgy brake pads.
Peter Sarf
Established Member
A race to be the odd one out of the sub class.
Does 701029 have wheel flats ? - if so maybe not a big deal if its on the wheel lathe already.
I then wonder how the 701/5s will fare - particularly the ones built as far back as 2019.
Goldfish62
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With at least three pairs of 458s out in service again today (2 x Reading/Weybridge, 1 x Windsor), but with now 58 701s passed for passenger service you have to wonder what's going on. I know somebody posted a while back that there was a backlog of exams to be caught up with, but if anything things seem to be going backwards.
Just a gentle reminder that this is a progress updates thread.
Any discussion regarding whether they should have gone for 10-car fixed units, or anything else of a speculative/suggestive nature, is very welcome to be posted in the Speculative Discussion section instead, please
Many thanks
Any discussion regarding whether they should have gone for 10-car fixed units, or anything else of a speculative/suggestive nature, is very welcome to be posted in the Speculative Discussion section instead, please
Many thanks
At least one of those 458 pairs didn't end at Wimbledon Depot or Clapham Yard last night, so it would have been difficult to swap it out, I'm guessing this was likely the case for one or both of the other pairs too.
Andy1673
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Will be the new diagram introduced tomorrow?
WWTownEnth
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Pretty sure there isn’t one this coming week.
All main line suburban diagrams are now 701. Whilst there are 10 450 diagrams on the windsor side, there will be something of a stay on replacing these with 701s until the current backlog of 701 exams is cleared and/or the 701/5s start entering passenger service.
Andy1673
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Thanks.
WWTownEnth
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does anyone know how many of the 701s “in passenger service” are actually available for use as of today?
Well I was just coming to say that despite now having 58/60 701/0s supposedly in service, we are still getting all three pairs of remaining 458s in service covering pretty much every day and they've just announced two Windsor side diagrams this evening will be running as single 450s!
That's on top of 2C18 having all stops after Staines bar Clapham pulled as well, despite it being the next train after the cancelled 2U16 for many people. What is happening to all the 701s!?
This morning, the Windsor side fell apart with 2U12, 2U16 and 2U26 all cancelled and 2U10 running 40 minutes late and skipping all stops bar Staines and Clapham, leaving only two useful trains for a lot of people from Windsor between 06.00 and 08.00 and yep, you guessed it, neither were the 701s they are supposed to be...
That's on top of 2C18 having all stops after Staines bar Clapham pulled as well, despite it being the next train after the cancelled 2U16 for many people. What is happening to all the 701s!?
Siemens Staines
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There is also a pair of 450s on an all day Kingston loop diagram
450054 + 450087
05:30 London Waterloo to London Waterloo due 06:49
06:57 London Waterloo to London Waterloo due 08:21
08:30 London Waterloo to London Waterloo due 09:51
09:57 London Waterloo to London Waterloo due 11:16
11:30 London Waterloo to London Waterloo due 12:49
12:57 London Waterloo to London Waterloo due 14:16
14:30 London Waterloo to London Waterloo due 15:49
15:57 London Waterloo to London Waterloo due 17:16
17:30 London Waterloo to London Waterloo due 18:51
18:57 London Waterloo to London Waterloo due 20:19
20:30 London Waterloo to London Waterloo due 21:49
21:57 London Waterloo to London Waterloo due 23:16
Will be formed of 8 coaches instead of 10.
Last Updated:10/08/2026 06:00
There were 47 701s in passenger service for this mornings peak although 701001 has since appeared to cover one of the two cancelled Windsor diagrams (starting with 1133 Waterloo - Windsor). The other cancelled Windsor diagram was covered by using 701054 instead of it dropping out to Wimbledon between the peaks
Nogoohwell
Member
As I understand it, there is no /5 conversion course underway or agreed. I also dont recall there being any agreed way of working for a /5 or 2x/5 so is the delay to commissioning down to the unit condition, which has been assumed but not specifically mentioned by SWR, or that SWR is yet to agree with unions on the way of working the /5’s?
We know some of the units are old, but Wimbledon have been working on 701’s for over two years so they know what they are doing.
We know some of the units are old, but Wimbledon have been working on 701’s for over two years so they know what they are doing.
Something obviously was going wrong this morning. 2C10 was cancelled throughout due to an operational incident (or according to RTT a 'mishap'), later ran empty to Waterloo. I think this was a 701. Then 2C18 (701027) was delayed at Wokingham for 10 minutes due to 'disruptive passengers' and hence skipping stations to catch up. What the problems were on the Windsors I don't know.
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NSEWonderer
Established Member
Nothing wrong with 701s. With the lionshare of metro work mostly falling to them there is more of a probability of problems occuring on a 701 than a 450 and 458 on the metro now, nothing different to even what would occur with 455s.
That to be fair is also expected when you essentially reduce an almost 3 fleet metro service that would share the general service problems, down to mostly 1 single fleet.
That to be fair is also expected when you essentially reduce an almost 3 fleet metro service that would share the general service problems, down to mostly 1 single fleet.
Feathers44
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I love how everything on here has to be down to “a problem” rather than life happening to be annoying at the moment. Perceptions of conspiracy are normally the result of nothing more than bad luck.
What I was going to say is that I was looking at 015 on my ride in this morning and not seeing anything that stood out as particularly new compared to other units of my recent travels. I doubt anyone even realised it was only a few days into passenger haulage.
A thing that stood out to me recently is that 1 unit (or more?) seems to have sprouted strap hangers in the door areas. I never checked to see which one, which annoys me now, but it was a few weeks ago and they don’t seem to be being rolled out any wider.
What I was going to say is that I was looking at 015 on my ride in this morning and not seeing anything that stood out as particularly new compared to other units of my recent travels. I doubt anyone even realised it was only a few days into passenger haulage.
A thing that stood out to me recently is that 1 unit (or more?) seems to have sprouted strap hangers in the door areas. I never checked to see which one, which annoys me now, but it was a few weeks ago and they don’t seem to be being rolled out any wider.
I think that is a mistake; they are placed in the doorway but non where they're actually meant to be.
norbitonflyer
Established Member
Fifty were in use today. The other eight have all been used within the past week except 701010 which was last in passenger service on July 31st.
OneTrackMinded
Member
Incredible over-exaggeration.
The only appropriate time to make this conclusion would be if the majority of units were out of service, which is not even close to the case.
Peter Mugridge
Veteran Member
701 029 is showing up on RTT on the 5Q21 / 5Q22 circuit which finishes at Clapham Yard this afternoon, so might be worth keeping a close eye on for the evening peak...
2M25 (701013) cancelled from Motspur Park to Chessington South due to a signal failure. Signal failures happen, so not a major issue.
However the next train 2M27 has been downgraded to a single Class 450 - 450014. That's bad planning!
WWTownEnth
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I’d be amazed if it beat 028 into service but anything’s possible.
Thanks for this: 1D49 (17:23 W'loo to Dorking) probably worth giving a miss this eve!