5 car trains on GWR 1C77

[Mikey C]

Twice in recent weeks I've used this service, the 10:36 stopping service from Paddington to Exeter, and both times it's been a rammed 5 car unit.

Is there a reason why this service only has 5 cars, as it seems very heavily loaded? You can tell it's busy by the way that non only is virtually every seat reserved, but also has multiple reservations in several seats for the entire journey.

 

[brad465]

I'm guessing the heavy load is particularly caused by this being the first Super-Off Peak on that route. GWR also have a stretched fleet so have several intercity services that are short-formed. When the 175s are fully introduced this may improve, but there are several needs for any cascaded 800/802s so this particular service may not improve as a result.

 

[FGW_DID]

Twice in recent weeks I've used this service, the 10:36 stopping service from Paddington to Exeter, and both times it's been a rammed 5 car unit.

Is there a reason why this service only has 5 cars, as it seems very heavily loaded? You can tell it's busy by the way that non only is virtually every seat reserved, but also has multiple reservations in several seats for the entire journey.

I'm guessing the heavy load is particularly caused by this being the first Super-Off Peak on that route. GWR also have a stretched fleet so have several intercity services that are short-formed. When the 175s are fully introduced this may improve, but there are several needs for any cascaded 800/802s so this particular service may not improve as a result.

1C77 is booked for a 5 car 802.
The unit concerned starts at Laira, works up from Plymouth as a 10 car. Once split at Paddington, its partner works a couple of Oxfords whilst it works 1C77 / 1A85 before they are both re-united at Paddington to work back to Exeter, they then split again before meeting at the end of day to work ECS to Plymouth (Laira).

 

[Class 170101]

I imagine it will be better once the Class 175s are in full squadron service as surely that releases Class 80x services from local operations like Worcester to Bristol and Bristol to Penzance type services

 

[Mikey C]

1C77 is booked for a 5 car 802.
The unit concerned starts at Laira, works up from Plymouth as a 10 car. Once split at Paddington, its partner works a couple of Oxfords whilst it works 1C77 / 1A85 before they are both re-united at Paddington to work back to Exeter, they then split again before meeting at the end of day to work ECS to Plymouth (Laira).

Looking at realtime trains a couple of weeks ago, I'm sure I've seen 9 car units operating this service on certain days?

Either way in summer, this seems like a questionable choice for a 5 car service, considering the number of destinations for which this train is easily the most attractive service.