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First Aberdeen

Jordan1296

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Aberdeen
Seems First Aberdeen are having a huge amount of "operational issues". Following them on Twitter there are many services affected.

Asked them on Twitter why so many services cancelled lately but not suprisingly I never got a reply.#

Shambles comes to mind.
Could be Covid related absences. The 23 and X27 are affected today, not that many people will notice the X27 being off though! Having said that, was pleasantly surprised to see four passengers on board the 1155 to Dyce Station when it was on Union Street.

One of the StreetDecks did break down in Culter this morning and I saw it return to the depot just after 10:30am.
 
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RailUK Forums

Deltic1961

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Congratulations on your new username :)

Yeah probably covid but quite an impact on operations. 6 separate tweets about cancellations today alone.

Not sure why they still run the X27 .... I live in dyce and I've never seen more than one person on any of them. Most go by empty.
 

Jordan1296

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Aberdeen
Congratulations on your new username :)

Yeah probably covid but quite an impact on operations. 6 separate tweets about cancellations today alone.

Not sure why they still run the X27 .... I live in dyce and I've never seen more than one person on any of them. Most go by empty.
I occasionally see the odd peak bus carry half a dozen folk to/from the industrial estate but, like yourself, see them run empty most of the time. Not sure how much longer an hourly service is viable for.

The 17 that broke down in the city centre this morning was able to get going again, albeit with a different bus, for the next run.
 

Volvodart

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None of the hydrogen buses are out today. It must be something to do with that. They have been having drivetrain problems, it may be something to do with that. I think that is the reason the already built additional 10 hydrogen buses have been delayed coming to aberdeen.
 

Deltic1961

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They were probably forced in to it by Aberdeen City Council who see Hydrogen as the future. The buses were heavily subsidised by ACC after all.
 
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I've been informed on Facebook that ten e400s have made the journey. 33213/33214/33218/34366/34375/34381/34382/34386/34388/34390.
 

Deltic1961

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Story has finally broken on Twitter per the attached link. I tweeted First and ACC earlier but surprisingly no reply. First never ever reply to tweets anyway.

First Bus say their 15 hydrogen buses in Aberdeen have been taken off service after a 'technical issue'. The company say the vehicles will be off the road until the issue can be "better understood"

First Bus say their 15 hydrogen buses in Aberdeen have been taken off service after a 'technical issue'.

The company say the vehicles will be off the road until the issue can be "better understood"
Capture.JPG
 
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JumpinTrainz

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Story has finally broken on Twitter per the attached link. I tweeted First and ACC earlier but surprisingly no reply. First never ever reply to tweets anyway.

First Bus say their 15 hydrogen buses in Aberdeen have been taken off service after a 'technical issue'. The company say the vehicles will be off the road until the issue can be "better understood"


View attachment 109768
Hopefully they get to the bottom of it sooner rather than later then the new batch can be delivered too
 
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It seems just by what I’ve been reading above that hydrogen power isn’t greatly reliable no matter where it comes from, Wrights or VanHool.
 

Jordan Adam

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It seems just by what I’ve been reading above that hydrogen power isn’t greatly reliable no matter where it comes from, Wrights or VanHool.
The defect is related to the drive axles / electric motors and completely unrelated to Hydrogen side, likewise the issues on the Vanhools were with the vehicles themselves notably the brakes, retarder and doors, the Hydrogen side was reliable. The Streetdecks have proven to be reliable, they have just been taken off as a precautionary measure until the upgrade work is complete. The issue is expected to be rectified within the next few days.
I've been informed on Facebook that ten e400s have made the journey. 33213/33214/33218/34366/34375/34381/34382/34386/34388/34390.
One of them broke down on the journey north and was towed to King Street Depot, all 10 were spotted on the road today. They're mostly being used on the 1/2, 19 & 20.
 
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The defect is related to the drive axles / electric motors and completely unrelated to Hydrogen side, likewise the issues on the Vanhools were with the vehicles themselves notably the brakes, retarder and doors, the Hydrogen side was reliable. The Streetdecks have proven to be reliable, they have just been taken off as a precautionary measure until the upgrade work is complete. The issue is expected to be rectified within the next few days.

One of them broke down on the journey north and was towed to King Street Depot, all 10 were spotted on the road today. They're mostly being used on the 1/2, 19 & 20.

Must be quite a problem - all of Metroline of London's Hydrogen Streetdecks are off the road too.
 

Jordan Adam

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Must be quite a problem - all of Metroline of London's Hydrogen Streetdecks are off the road too.
All Streetdeck-FCEVs have come off after Wright advised operators on Thursday of the issue, it's just a precautionary measure until the work is done to replace the defective part.
 

Deltic1961

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If you read the article on BBC news it states the following .... nothing to do with the new Hydrogen technology.

Quote:

Ian Gillot, parts and services group director, said an issue with a mounting bracket at the rear of a bus was detected during a routine check on Thursday.
"After undertaking a thorough maintenance check, we have decided to upgrade and replace the part across the fleet to ensure we don't see a repeat of the issue," he said.
"This is a mechanical problem and not a hydrogen fuel-related issue," he added.

Link to BBC news:

 
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Joined
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If you read the article on BBC news it states the following .... nothing to do with the new Hydrogen technology.

Quote:

Ian Gillot, parts and services group director, said an issue with a mounting bracket at the rear of a bus was detected during a routine check on Thursday.
"After undertaking a thorough maintenance check, we have decided to upgrade and replace the part across the fleet to ensure we don't see a repeat of the issue," he said.
"This is a mechanical problem and not a hydrogen fuel-related issue," he added.

Link to BBC news:

Ahhh so Wrights shoddyness?
 

JumpinTrainz

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It’s nice to hear that it’s not a Hydrogen problem. The buses have been very reliable up until now so that’s good news at least. Hopefully once the part is replaced they will go back to normal. It does seem more of a dig towards Wright the actual manufacturer, however.
 

Jordan Adam

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If you read the article on BBC news it states the following .... nothing to do with the new Hydrogen technology.

Quote:



Link to BBC news:

The issue is relatively small but has been blown out of proportion, i doubt the media would've picked up the story had it been something similar affecting a diesel bus. The defective part is a mounting bracket for a sensor on the rear portal axle.
Ahhh so Wrights shoddyness?
The axles are produced by ZF not Wrightbus.
 
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The issue is relatively small but has been blown out of proportion, i doubt the media would've picked up the story had it been something similar affecting a diesel bus. The defective part is a mounting bracket for a sensor on the rear portal axle.

The axles are produced by ZF not Wrightbus.
Ahh certainly not Wrights then..

I do recall that Enviro 300s in Glasgow and I’m assuming Aberdeen and everywhere did have a recall for something to do with suspension not long back.

Scania or Volvo anyday please.
 

PG

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at the end of the high and low roads
A query about the destination displays on the Hydrogen buses - in photos they appear to be not as high as might be expected and thus harder to read. Was this a deliberate decision or is it normal for the Wright body?
 

Deltic1961

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They are pretty bright and readable. It could just be that cameras react to the frequency of the display, a bit like trying to take a photo of a CRT TV.
 

Tom Gallacher

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Ahhh so Wrights shoddyness?
The issue is relatively small but has been blown out of proportion, i doubt the media would've picked up the story had it been something similar affecting a diesel bus. The defective part is a mounting bracket for a sensor on the rear portal axle.

The axles are produced by ZF not Wrightbus.
Why are Wrights taking the blame then? If the problem is down to ZF then they should be saying that and getting ZF to do the warranty work. In addition unless the axle has been produced as a bespoke part for Wrights I doubt if it would have had a special bracket added by ZF. It's probably more likely to be something that Wrights have added hence it being their responsibility to correct.
 

Deltic1961

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That's 11 tweets so far about service disruption today. Don't know why they even bother trying to provide a bus service.

At what point does the regulator get involved?
 

Jordan1296

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Aberdeen
That's 11 tweets so far about service disruption today. Don't know why they even bother trying to provide a bus service.

At what point does the regulator get involved?
I did see a bus pull up outside St Magnus House on Guild Street out of service, just before 1550 and I thought that would have worked the 1550 X27 (which turned out to be cancelled) but obviously not.
 

Deltic1961

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Any news of the hydrogen fleet going back in to service? Sure I read they'd only be off a few days and that's over 2 weeks now.

Snapped this beauty in town last night.

(Image shows First Glasgow 33218 in Aberdeen city centre)

20220218_222507_1.jpg
 
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Jordan Adam

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Any news of the hydrogen fleet going back in to service? Sure I read they'd only be off a few days and that's over 2 weeks now.

Snapped this beauty in town last night.

(Image shows First Glasgow 33218 in Aberdeen city centre)

View attachment 110478
I think you'll find that's a First "Glasg w" vehicle going by the local names on the side. :lol:

39702 (the one where the axle related issue was first picked up back in late November) has been sent back to Wrightbus in Northern Ireland.

The 10 new Streetdecks for the 17/18 are also fully built and have been sat at Wrightbus for the past 2-3 months, they should've been in service by now but they were delayed by Wrightbus.
A few have been snapped on road test:
 

JumpinTrainz

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I think you'll find that's a First "Glasg w" vehicle going by the local names on the side. :lol:

39702 (the one where the axle related issue was first picked up back in late November) has been sent back to Wrightbus in Northern Ireland.

The 10 new Streetdecks for the 17/18 are also fully built and have been sat at Wrightbus for the past 2-3 months, they should've been in service by now but they were delayed by Wrightbus.
A few have been snapped on road test:
These look good. Had thought the new Streetdecks were for the 3. Interesting also that they have green hand rails and not the standard pink?
 

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