Our new ticketing site is now live! Using either this or the original site (both powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!
You won’t see any of the old HST diagrams, they cease to exist from today.
The workings from those diagrams will now either appear on the new 175 diagrams or will be found on other traction type diagrams e.g the 150 diagrams. It won’t be a 175 /other DMU covering for any HST, they’ll be working that service in their own right.
Massive downgrade for Devon and Cornwall for who knows how long.
How are they going to cover these if they already don’t have enough units for other services. Seems like the DfT are squeezing the life out of the railway on several fronts at the moment, including EMR losing stock before replacements arrive and XC not being allowed to add enough extra to meet demand on the busiest routes.
These are local stopping services. the HSTs were a stopgap, you can't have InterCity standards on every service in the country. There are still IETs running the through trains.
You do realise that in the last year or so of operation HST workings were few and far between and the furthest you could go on one was Plymouth (with one working through to Exeter)?
These are local stopping services. the HSTs were a stopgap, you can't have InterCity standards on every service in the country. There are still IETs running the through trains.
Although to be fair GWR standards of ambience and comfort are all over the place, and inconsistent eg Cardiff-London intercity style for 2 hours, Cardiff-Portsmouth, aging mix of ex suburban DMUs for 3 hours (and they do share route for part of journey)
Although to be fair GWR standards of ambience and comfort are all over the place, and inconsistent eg Cardiff-London intercity style for 2 hours, Cardiff-Portsmouth, aging mix of ex suburban DMUs for 3 hours (and they do share route for part of journey)
Exactly my point, hence the term 'Old HST diagrams'.
The unit diagrams will change week by week to start with and should settle down a bit in the new year however as said previously, expect a bumpy few weeks/months.
You do realise that in the last year or so of operation HST workings were few and far between and the furthest you could go on one was Plymouth (with one working through to Exeter)?
Yes, I am very well aware of that, as I am that to get from my local (St.Erth) to Plymouth takes two hours, a 150 is not very comfortable for that journey.
Massive downgrade for Devon and Cornwall for who knows how long.
How are they going to cover these if they already don’t have enough units for other services. Seems like the DfT are squeezing the life out of the railway on several fronts at the moment, including EMR losing stock before replacements arrive and XC not being allowed to add enough extra to meet demand on the busiest routes.
The diagrams don’t need covering, they dont exist now. Whichever workings remain from these diagrams will now be redistributed around other traction type diagrams, e.g the 175s / 150 & 158s.
I don’t know why people keep propagating this fallacy that there isn’t enough stock for the services. There is never more diagrammed work than there are units in the fleet.
The key issue is just how many of those units you need on a daily basis and then unit serviceability is the main factor. If the fleet is being sweated and there is a high daily requirement but serviceability is low that’s what leads to short forms and ultimately cancellations.
its not that there’s not enough units, it’s that there’s not enough serviceable units.
How many spares is enough, how many units do you have sitting around on depots before people start complaining about why they aren’t being used to provide extra capacity?
Even on good days when we have had quite a few spare sets sitting around, I’ve seen a constant flow of failures for a whole multitude of reasons soon eat through the spare resources.
Some may be a quick fix, others not so but all will sit in the queue waiting to be seen by the fitters, again another finite resource!
== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==
I was on the 2C06 this morning a service which is very suited to a class 150 with its 17 stops. There were plenty of seats available. I don’t see it as a downgrade but the correct unit for the diagram
These are local stopping services. the HSTs were a stopgap, you can't have InterCity standards on every service in the country. There are still IETs running the through trains.
Agree. The Cardiff - Penzance service evolved as Sprinters, and GTi HSTs were only ever a stopgap for the time they spent on the service. IMHO it is pretty poor the DFT have split the route at Exeter purely to stage the gradual replacement of the HSTs by 175s.
A massive downgrade for you, not for Devon and Cornwall. You can't speak for the entire of both counties and not everyone will share that view - I personally welcome the change and not least because my Mac plug doesn't actually fit the HST sockets! I also find 175 seats much more comfortable, the quiet diesel hum preferable to the HSTs squeaks and groans, and let's not forget the 175s will replace 150s on Okehampton.
True, I think 175/1 on Okehampton is a horrendous waste, but that's besides the point.
== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==
Because an operational railway sadly isn't as simple as doing what seems ideal, else it'd likely be done! There are lease agreements and deadlines to meet.
(To other, more informed members that are about to jump in and say it: I'm aware GWR own some.)
Agree. The Cardiff - Penzance service evolved as Sprinters, and GTi HSTs were only ever a stopgap for the time they spent on the service. IMHO it is pretty poor the DFT have split the route at Exeter purely to stage the gradual replacement of the HSTs by 175s.
A massive downgrade for you, not for Devon and Cornwall. You can't speak for the entire of both counties and not everyone will share that view - I personally welcome the change and not least because my Mac plug doesn't actually fit the HST sockets! I also find 175 seats much more comfortable, the quiet diesel hum preferable to the HSTs squeaks and groans, and let's not forget the 175s will replace 150s on Okehampton.
True, I think 175/1 on Okehampton is a horrendous waste, but that's besides the point.
== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==
Well strictly speaking right now it is downgrade as it's a rammed 150 between Plymouth and Penzance not 175s
I get the HSTs are very comfortable and smooth, but they are very old and tired now. You can't run a modern railway with 49 year old stock. 175s are a very good replacement when they enter service
Hardly. 25 years is normal rolling stock life expectancy. Replacing life expired with life expired just prolongs GWR’s new build famine on its secondary routes.
25 years is normal rolling stock life expectancy. Replacing life expired with life expired just prolongs GWR’s new build famine on its secondary routes.
This is a genuine question: is that really your concern, are you annoyed about the project as HSTs are being withdrawn?
As I think that's a running trend among the HST enthusiast community here: ranting about things like the age of stock, capacity, etc. when I personally don't think they'd give as much of a monkeys if it were the IETs being replaced instead, even though that would cause far more of a loss to capacity, facilities, and definitely a bigger prominence in terms of the age of the 175s.
The same people commenting on the 175s age are those saying that the HSTs should stay on. So I'm curious who's actually pressed about things like the age and capacity of the stock - and who's really just annoyed that they're losing their beloved HSTs.
I mean, come on, calling 175s life-expired is a reach.
We are aware of an issue with emails from the Forum to Microsoft-based email accounts (hotmail/outlook/live.com email addresses). This is being looked into currently, thanks for your patience meanwhile.
