Class 230 and class 769 reliability

[071]

I hadn't really thought about it, but now that I've compared it (via other videos YouTube, not personal experience) it does seem to accelerate a lot faster than the Marston Vale units. Can't wait to try them out for myself.

The braking in the first video is more cautious than what I remember experiencing on the District Line - but perhaps that's simply a new driver getting a feel for it.

 

[507020]

Crikey, that goes like stink! Much more like the Tube than our leisurely ones.

I hadn't really thought about it, but now that I've compared it (via other videos YouTube, not personal experience) it does seem to accelerate a lot faster than the Marston Vale units. Can't wait to try them out for myself.

The braking in the first video is more cautious than what I remember experiencing on the District Line - but perhaps that's simply a new driver getting a feel for it.

The battery which Marston Vale units aren’t fitted with is able to output a much higher current than the Diesel generator alone and even some areas of 3rd rail, so that level acceleration shouldn’t be surprising, unless of course you’re expecting it to be like a Sprinter. The same goes for braking. With acceleration like that you’d want to be careful with braking wouldn’t you?

If these 230s enter service and are then replaced by battery 777s, they will likely feel like yet another generational improvement over the previous rolling stock, although perhaps the 230s are more suitable as they don’t require charging infrastructure anywhere on the route.

 

[XAM2175]

Crikey, that goes like stink! Much more like the Tube than our leisurely ones.

I was not expecting that

 

[D365]

Crikey, that goes like stink! Much more like the Tube than our leisurely ones.

It’s easy to forget that these are metro carriages with onboard generators

 

[Invincible]

I hadn't really thought about it, but now that I've compared it (via other videos YouTube, not personal experience) it does seem to accelerate a lot faster than the Marston Vale units. Can't wait to try them out for myself.

The braking in the first video is more cautious than what I remember experiencing on the District Line - but perhaps that's simply a new driver getting a feel for it.

Guess as they are hybrids, the diesel genset will be switched off as they approach stations (no diesel fumes), the braking will charge the battery from the generator, then it starts on battery power, with the diesel genset taking over and trickle charging the battery.
Hope they have the battery threshold cut-off points sorted, the next issue will be seeing if there are any unknown software bugs and updating code!

 

[071]

I believe they use geofencing to avoid using the gensets around stations. This seemed to be working today, in contrast to when I saw them last October. Compare the noise from this departure.

 

[Jacob Porrett]

230010 was seen at Bidston today on test.

 

[anamyd]

The Marston Vale 230s have 4 Ford diesel engines (which work OK in Transit vans) so presumably a software glitch?
The 458 Juniper trains on SWT had lots of software glitches and had to sometimes reboot, but became very reliable when fixed.

The thermal issue with the TfW 230s batteries seem to have been fixed according to the latest report, so presumably will work in hybrid mode. Will the diesel engines go in tickover or switch off when in battery mode (with the risk they may not restart?).

Likewise for the 769s do the diesel engines go in tickover or switch off when getting electric power from the track.

the 230 engines are the 3.2-litre 5-cylinder variant of the Duratorq, which is available as an option in the Transit but uncommon as the majority have the 2.2-litre 4-cylinder.