Class 707 - SWT: Introduction into service

[Monty]

The whole experience must be very different for drivers used to being squashed in beside a gangway.

As a whole the feedback has been positive on the driving cab layout. However the way the train has been built requires both driver and guard to be more careful when carrying out their duties, the best example I can give is nearly all buttons require nice long defined presses and don't react well if you try to rush or press something too quickly.

 

[Bletchleyite]

As a whole the feedback has been positive on the driving cab layout. However the way the train has been built requires both driver and guard to be more careful when carrying out their duties, the best example I can give is nearly all buttons require nice long defined presses and don't react well if you try to rush or press something too quickly.

Is that deliberate, to avoid accidental presses, or poor design?

 

[pompeyfan]

As a whole the feedback has been positive on the driving cab layout. However the way the train has been built requires both driver and guard to be more careful when carrying out their duties, the best example I can give is nearly all buttons require nice long defined presses and don't react well if you try to rush or press something too quickly.

I've noticed the same with diesels, it's a lot more difficult to accidentally press a button. I've found myself knocking the signal bell to the driver when pressing the open local door on a classic Desiro.

 

[GW43125]

As a whole the feedback has been positive on the driving cab layout. However the way the train has been built requires both driver and guard to be more careful when carrying out their duties, the best example I can give is nearly all buttons require nice long defined presses and don't react well if you try to rush or press something too quickly.

Can i ask, what do you drivers think about crucial gauges (ie speedo, brakes etc) being digitized rather than physical? Surely one IT problem and you're buggered?

 

[Monty]

Is that deliberate, to avoid accidental presses, or poor design?

No comment

 

[SpacePhoenix]

Can i ask, what do you drivers think about crucial gauges (ie speedo, brakes etc) being digitized rather than physical? Surely one IT problem and you're buggered?

I'm not a train driver but it doesn't surprise me that they've gone digital, all new road cars seem to have all their dashboard as a digital display

 

[CosherB]

I'm not a train driver but it doesn't surprise me that they've gone digital, all new road cars seem to have all their dashboard as a digital display

All cars? Do you drive?

 

[Kite159]

Seats feel more comfortable than the ones on a 700. Seems to have good acceleration. WiFi is decent and the plug sockets located between the seats (395 style) are a good bonus

 

[D365]

All cars? Do you drive?

all cars seem

 

[bb21]

Seats feel more comfortable than the ones on a 700.

Must be the red covers that did it.

Seems to have good acceleration. WiFi is decent and the plug sockets located between the seats (395 style) are a good bonus

WiFi on 7003 didn't work today when I tried to connect to it.

One thing I noticed today was that doors seem to take an age to open.

 

[TEW]

Seats feel more comfortable than the ones on a 700. Seems to have good acceleration. WiFi is decent and the plug sockets located between the seats (395 style) are a good bonus

The seats themselves did feel a bit better to me too, but still not brilliant. Probably just about OK for the journeys they will be on. They are still too cramped though. The heating duct and supports for the seating massively impede legroom in the window seat and the seats are too close together.

The PIS was a massive let down for me. The TfL service information was incorrect, not that it mattered massively as we were heading out of London at the time anyway and it was pretty irrelevant. Heard complaints about the loading indicators being rather optimistic too, proclaiming that there are free seats on trains that are clearly full and standing.

Not impressed with the announcements at all, they sound disjointed and unnatural as expected with Text-to-Speech. They've not even used the ability of Text-to-Speech to do anything different. The announcements were pretty much the same as the standard Celia announcements used on SWR services, minor changes to the wording was about the limit of the changes. Announcing the full calling pattern at every stop is needless and quickly gets irritating, it isn't something done on other SWR systems.

 

[spark001uk]

...One thing I noticed today was that doors seem to take an age to open.

They're a darn sight quicker than the classic desiro doors. But then again anything is!
Or did you mean time taken to release them after stopping?

 

[Kite159]

Must be the red covers that did it.



WiFi on 7003 didn't work today when I tried to connect to it.

One thing I noticed today was that doors seem to take an age to open.

Working fine for me, but I was at the rear so it might have picked up the signal from 7004

 

[spark001uk]

Working fine for me, but I was at the rear so it might have picked up the signal from 7004

Isn't there a wifi unit every couple of coaches? I've seen more than one aerial atop a few classes of unit. They're the little shark-fin type aerials I believe.

 

[3141]

Interesting that 7003 and 7004, which I saw today, have the logo (the representation of the line diagrams) in white before the full South Western Railway name in white on the lower side panels, but don't have the logo + initials SWR as the reliveried class 444 does.

 

[spark001uk]

Interesting that 7003 and 7004, which I saw today, have the logo (the representation of the line diagrams) in white before the full South Western Railway name in white on the lower side panels, but don't have the logo + initials SWR as the reliveried class 444 does.

That's because those are just a sticker over the old SWT name, as a temporary measure until they get reliveried properly. If they bother that is.

 

[WWTownEnth]

Does anyone know when deliveries of the remaining 20 units will resume?

 

[bb21]

They're a darn sight quicker than the classic desiro doors. But then again anything is!
Or did you mean time taken to release them after stopping?

Yes, the latter. I guess guards are still getting used to them.

 

[bb21]

Not impressed with the announcements at all, they sound disjointed and unnatural as expected with Text-to-Speech. They've not even used the ability of Text-to-Speech to do anything different. The announcements were pretty much the same as the standard Celia announcements used on SWR services, minor changes to the wording was about the limit of the changes. Announcing the full calling pattern at every stop is needless and quickly gets irritating, it isn't something done on other SWR systems.

Absolutely awful. Gives the impression the announcer was cold and uninterested.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Text to speech isn't quite there yet, other than phoneme-based systems like Aviavox which doesn't appear yet to have branched into rail (and that has a grindingly irritating Dutch accent).

 

[macaronlover]

Notice the minor defects for the Hammersmith & City line, Metropolitan line and the DLR - alongside the lack of spacing between the flag boxes and the status of each line.

 

[smilerish]

Notice the minor defects for the Hammersmith & City line, Metropolitan line and the DLR - alongside the lack of spacing between the flag boxes and the status of each line.

Why bother with "line" at all? Most status boards don't.

 

[SpacePhoenix]

Could they have gotten away with having the Docklands Light Railway as "DLR"?

 

[D365]

Could they have gotten away with having the Docklands Light Railway as "DLR"?

Or reducing the font size surely...

Like the Crossrail system, the information displays are likely still under development. Though how much more work will be done, I am not sure.

 

[spark001uk]

I thought the big bold carriage drawings with thick outlines looked a bit "cartoonish" to me, don't know why they didn't just use the same drawings as the 700 but a little bigger?

 

[Agent_Squash]

I thought the big bold carriage drawings with thick outlines looked a bit "cartoonish" to me, don't know why they didn't just use the same drawings as the 700 but a little bigger?

They’re internal to GTR I believe, but based on a simplified version of the actual carriage design. There was a feature on All the Stations about it a while ago.

 

[physics34]

Not impressed with the announcements at all, they sound disjointed and unnatural as expected with Text-to-Speech. They've not even used the ability of Text-to-Speech to do anything different. The announcements were pretty much the same as the standard Celia announcements used on SWR services, minor changes to the wording was about the limit of the changes. Announcing the full calling pattern at every stop is needless and quickly gets irritating, it isn't something done on other SWR systems.

Its horrendous and needs to stop... used at london bridge station too and is utterly annoying and amateurish. I started a thread about overuse of announcements on this forum.

 

[macaronlover]

DVA announcements for stations on the London Waterloo <-> Windsor & Eton Riverside route can be heard in these videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBkoRmtTPTE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKWmZZa1jpQ

 

[spark001uk]

They’re internal to GTR I believe, but based on a simplified version of the actual carriage design. There was a feature on All the Stations about it a while ago.

Ok. Definitely different to the cl.700 equivalent though, as you can see in macaron's post above. I think the depictions used on the 700s look neater myself.

Another thing I noticed when I rode the 707 (on 17th Aug), was that despite being a 10car, the PIS will only show carriage loading for the 5 that you're on. So, I assume then that if you're in say coach 7 of the 10, it'll incorrectly state you're in coach 2? Or have they accounted for that? I didn't check personally as I was right up the front.

 

[Townsend Hook]

Another thing I noticed when I rode the 707 (on 17th Aug), was that despite being a 10car, the PIS will only show carriage loading for the 5 that you're on. So, I assume then that if you're in say coach 7 of the 10, it'll incorrectly state you're in coach 2? Or have they accounted for that? I didn't check personally as I was right up the front.

The one I was on today was correct telling me I was in coach 6.