Chiltern running 3 cars during the peak rush hour.

[Mogz]

8.06 packed and standing from Banbury for several days running now while rolling stock can be seen sitting idle en route.

Any plans to lengthen to pre-COVID levels yet?

Also, are they any nearer to sorting out the problems with the 68 hauled sets?

Chiltern are usually very good at sorting things out quickly.

What’s going on?

 

[sammyg901]

+1 - we moved near Bicester last year and a big factor in the decision was the decent train service from Bicester Village including the silver set express in the morning. Now all the peak time services call at many stations into London and the faster Bicester North services all come from Birmingham or beyond as 3 car trains and are getting very busy now. Bicester Village also has a 1hr gap between 1750 and 1850 services on the return which is really inconvenient.

The December timetables show no change.

We are actually giving the 0725 from Aylesbury Vale Parkway a go next week, it's only a couple of mins further for us and not much slower than Bicester Village services + cheaper fare and parking and a guaranteed seat in the morning but it is a very poor show from Chiltern - as you say, unusual for them!

 

[Bletchleyite]

I wonder if they are now regretting letting the 172s go to WMT?

 

[sammyg901]

K

I wonder if they are now regretting letting the 172s go to WMT?

I still can't see how they are short of stock though- I presume the Oxfords are making peak calls to fill in for services that were cut from the timetable. Absolutely appreciate drivers are an issue but the remaining services should run at a decent length

I was wondering if part of the issue is they can't accommodate the Birmingham/Stourbridge services being longer as they'd need to stable more stock up there, these services were traditionally faster from much further north and a shorter set was adequate. But then they need to think about adding a set at Banbury on the key commuter departures or at least try to run one long "commute buster" train Tuesday-Thursday perhaps

 

[newtownmgr]

I wonder if they are now regretting letting the 172s go to WMT?

Given the state of them i doubt it. 103 is still not fit for service

 

[warwickshire]

Given the state of them i doubt it. 103 is still not fit for service

103 never ran much on chiltern.
Always failing.
Especially with engine failures.
Throughout its time it was never a
healthy unit.
Always failing.
What's more the day it moved back in July 2021 cannot remember the exact date.
Ie from Wembley lmd Depot chilterns Depot to ilford Depot in London for handover to west Midlands railways.
172103 had not been used for some time.
However 172103 was leading 172101.
Instead off taking around a hour or so for move .
It arrived at ilford 4 and a half hours late.
Yes 172103 failed on it's way there.
Causing some chaos on the high level at willesden and fitters had to be called for a temporary fix.
Something about 172103. However.

 

[Nova1]

I wonder if they are now regretting letting the 172s go to WMT?

Most of the time, the Chiltern 172s spent a lot of the day sitting around doing not much.

 

[Liam L]

I wonder if they are now regretting letting the 172s go to WMT?

Doubt it, I commute with Chiltern 4 days a week and it hasn't affected any of the formations at all the on Birmingham services.

I had a delight of a 5 car on Tuesday, 168/1 (3 car ones) and 168/3

 

[CyrusWuff]

The 172/1s seemed to have spent more time awaiting repairs than they did in revenue service whilst they were with Chiltern, so I suspect they're not really missed overall!

Having done a comparison, the current timetable sees 12 fewer arrivals into Marylebone before 10:00 than there were pre-Covid. The trouble is that, like every other TOC, the train plan has to be approved by the DfT under the terms of the ERMA.

Looking at Chiltern's Twitter, there's due to be some sort of enhancement for the December timetable change, but not specifics yet.

 

[sammyg901]

https://twitter.com/gregsmith_uk/status/1440996186165501955

My MP is affected so might get some DFT attention! Chiltern have replied that they're adding "an additional service" (singular) but at least it's something especially if it's a 5 or 6 car

 

[ctyerkes]

I've travelled a few times recently from OXP, at different times of the day and week. It's always 165s, with additional stops taking about 1h20m to get to MYB. Poor show!

 

[OliverH68]

I've travelled a few times recently from OXP, at different times of the day and week. It's always 165s, with additional stops taking about 1h20m to get to MYB. Poor show!

I've noticed this too when going to see family in Bicester. Absolutely hate 165s on Oxfords.

 

[sammyg901]

Seems like some improvements coming in Dec - an 1818 Marylebone-Oxford has been (re?)added to the timetable as a Silver set - fast to Bicester Village though which seems a little odd, shouldn't be a super busy train. Comes back in service as the 2000 from Oxford and then into Wembley LMD.

The 0641 from Stourbridge Junction (0819 from Bicester North) is also timetabled as a Silver set as well which will be an improvement vs the current 3 car 168 & I imagine the 0610 ex Birmingham Moor Street will be strengthened as a result

Still a lot of 75 MPH workings ex Oxford with lots of stops which isn't ideal & no sign of the morning silver set ex Oxford yet, not sure we'll see much more change

 

[JonathanH]

Seems like some improvements coming in Dec - an 1818 Marylebone-Oxford has been (re?)added to the timetable as a Silver set - fast to Bicester Village though which seems a little odd, shouldn't be a super busy train. Comes back in service as the 2000 from Oxford and then into Wembley LMD.

The 0641 from Stourbridge Junction (0819 from Bicester North) is also timetabled as a Silver set as well which will be an improvement vs the current 3 car 168 & I imagine the 0610 ex Birmingham Moor Street will be strengthened as a result

How many 68s are now available after the issues which took them out of service?

 

[warwickshire]

Seems like some improvements coming in Dec - an 1818 Marylebone-Oxford has been (re?)added to the timetable as a Silver set - fast to Bicester Village though which seems a little odd, shouldn't be a super busy train. Comes back in service as the 2000 from Oxford and then into Wembley LMD.

The 0641 from Stourbridge Junction (0819 from Bicester North) is also timetabled as a Silver set as well which will be an improvement vs the current 3 car 168 & I imagine the 0610 ex Birmingham Moor Street will be strengthened as a result

Still a lot of 75 MPH workings ex Oxford with lots of stops which isn't ideal & no sign of the morning silver set ex Oxford yet, not sure we'll see much more change

Will be starting from princess risbourgh though.

 

[OliverH68]

How many 68s are now available after the issues which took them out of service?

3 appear to be available for traffic, with 1 on standby.

 

[david1212]

8.06 packed and standing from Banbury for several days running now while rolling stock can be seen sitting idle en route.

Any plans to lengthen to pre-COVID levels yet?

Also, are they any nearer to sorting out the problems with the 68 hauled sets?

Chiltern are usually very good at sorting things out quickly.

What’s going on?

Corrected this statement
Chiltern are usually very good at sorting things out quickly. Chiltern used to be very good at sorting things out quickly.

That was back in the days of Adrian Shooter then Rob Brighouse.

Now pure Arriva and all about cutting costs to the bone over maximising the use of available resources to deliver the best possible service for the passengers.

 

[centraluser]

From tomorrow (19th Oct), the 0806 from Banbury is be booked to be a 4-car 168 instead of a 3-car, Tuesdays to Fridays only, until it is replaced by a Class 68 loco hauled train in December.

It seems that the 0659 is also planned to be strengthened from 3 to 6 carriages on the same four days a week, until 10th December.

 

[Liam L]

This is the only thread I thought be appropriate to mention, Any know if there changes to carriage lengths from December timetable change? I know there a Birmingham service which is usually 2 carriages from catching it on my commutes (14:10 London- Birmingham) which comes out the sidings at Moor Street and forms 11:15 down.

Any ideas if there any plans to increase this or just 'wait and see'
Thanks

 

[cslusarc]

Are 2- and 3-car operated services on Chiltern a waste of limited driver resources when the industry is short on qualified drivers?

 

[dk1]

Are 2- and 3-car operated services on Chiltern a waste of limited driver resources when the industry is short on qualified drivers?

Are Chiltern short of traincrew though?

 

[Nova1]

Are Chiltern short of traincrew though?

There’s the occasional cancellation with the reason shortage of train crew

 

[dk1]

There’s the occasional cancellation with the reason shortage of train crew

Not something you here of much with that TOC. Shortage of qualified drivers isn’t really an issue for much of the UK & certainly not on my patch.

 

[JonathanH]

Are 2- and 3-car operated services on Chiltern a waste of limited driver resources when the industry is short on qualified drivers?

It is a bit difficult for them to reduce the timetable further to run fewer doubled up trains because the stopping patterns differ on the two sides of the half-hourly pattern so it would make some journeys difficult without a timetable rewrite.

 

[david1212]

Are 2- and 3-car operated services on Chiltern a waste of limited driver resources when the industry is short on qualified drivers?

How is running short formations relevant a shortage of qualified drivers. Unless someone can explain otherwise Chiltern need the same train crew regardless if a 2-car or 6-car 165 / 168 formation.

The only driver issue I can see for Chiltern would be a shortage of those trained on Class 68's leading to DMU substitutions and hence short formations.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

How is running short formations relevant a shortage of qualified drivers. Unless someone can explain otherwise Chiltern need the same train crew regardless if a 2-car or 6-car 165 / 168 formation.

The only driver issue I can see for Chiltern would be a shortage of those trained on Class 68's leading to DMU substitutions and hence short formations.

If you run a half-hourly service with three carriages, you have the same capacity as an hourly service with six carriages, only two drivers are required.

 

[dk1]

If you run a half-hourly service with three carriages, you have the same capacity as an hourly service with six carriages, only two drivers are required.

Of course but the service becomes less appealing & convenient.

 

[CyrusWuff]

Chiltern did run a skeleton service of four trains per hour for most of the day during two of the lockdowns.

• 1tph Marylebone - Birmingham Moor Street
• 1tph Marylebone - Oxford
• 1tph Marylebone - Aylesbury via High Wycombe
• 1tph Marylebone - Aylesbury Vale Parkway via Amersham

Plus the usual Leamington Spa - Stratford-upon-Avon shuttle services every 2 to 3 hours.

Reverting to this would be a major step backwards given the industry is seeing passenger numbers gradually recovering, with leisure travel nearly back to pre-Covid levels (if not exceeding them) in most cases.

 

[centraluser]

This is the only thread I thought be appropriate to mention, Any know if there changes to carriage lengths from December timetable change? I know there a Birmingham service which is usually 2 carriages from catching it on my commutes (14:10 London- Birmingham) which comes out the sidings at Moor Street and forms 11:15 down.

Any ideas if there any plans to increase this or just 'wait and see'
Thanks

The 1410 from Marylebone is due to change to a 3-168 with an additional 70 seats. From 13th Dec. Can’t see any change to the inward working from Birmingham.

 

[Liam L]

The 1410 from Marylebone is due to change to a 3-168 with an additional 70 seats. From 13th Dec. Can’t see any change to the inward working from Birmingham.

oh that’s Brilliant to hear ~ Thanks