Goodbye National Express East Anglia.......

[Aictos]

Christ.. most stations end up looking like they need a repaint after a few years.. (less in some cases). If NR were ever to take over them all they'd end up looking like everything above head-height currently does - a mess!

As for NSE.. there's a few bits here and there, even on the GN. Look around and you're bound to see something. WAGN still exists in many places too, even on ticket machines. WAGN weren't the only operator to use viynl stickers inside trains, Silverlink did it too: see the 321's.

There was a article last year in one of the railway magazines about the policy of Network Rail only looking after stuff above head height while the TOC looked after everything below head height - looked good up to head height but above head height looked bloody awful.

So no, I certainly don't want to see Network Rail take over more stations - I rather give more responsibity to the TOCs for asset management as Abellio will be doing with the Great Anglia franchise.

 

[387star]

Our 150s have new (post 2003) interiors and some have had refurbished toilets.

Our 153s have ex-158 seats and new carpets.

Our 158s are currently going through the biggest refurbishment programme they've ever had, including installing plugs, passenger information systems and new seating.

Our 175s are still fairly new, although being ex-First, they still have purple interiors, however the seat moquette and carpets are all in Arriva colours.

Our pacers also just won the Golden Spanner award for maintenance standards.

Just sayin'.

Arriva wouldn't have done it without the WAG funding they were quite content with their 158s going around in a shabby state for years. The ex Wessex 150s have simply recieved new seat covers. Perhaps ATW has the same problems Northern has in that the franchise was designed to maintain the status quo. I'm not sure WAG existed when Arriva won it. ATW has a very long franchise so it shows not all long franchises bring much in the way of investment!

 

[SouthernCDiv]

Surely the quality of their service is more important than their name!

317's are going, some of the 12's we hear will be 8's to use the other sets covering for the 317's, some of the off peak 8's will be 4's

I think there is a 6.49 Colchester Town to Liverpool Street, this will terminate at Colchester with a connection into a London, I think I heard the 6.49 Town will Start Ipswich, and the stock that was used for the Ipswich, will start from Harwich (8 car we assume ?), boat connection ?

 

[NXEA!]

For anybody interested, this week is the last to get 317/7's for haulage as they are going off-lease on the 5th of February. GEML diagrams Monday-Friday are: Diagram 1 - 06.25 Ipswich to Liverpool Street, 08.00 Liverpool Street to Ipswich, 09.30 Ipswich to Liverpool Street, then ecs to Orient Way. They come back out to work the 17.02 Liverpool Street to Norwich, 19.30 Norwich to Liverpool Street (fast from Colchester) and the 22.00 Liverpool Street to Ipswich. Diagram 2 - 08.11 Stowmarket to Liverpool Street (ecs to Ilford I think), and then nothing until the 19.32 Liverpool Street to Harwich International.

 

[SprinterMan]

317's are going, some of the 12's we hear will be 8's to use the other sets covering for the 317's, some of the off peak 8's will be 4's

I think there is a 6.49 Colchester Town to Liverpool Street, this will terminate at Colchester with a connection into a London, I think I heard the 6.49 Town will Start Ipswich, and the stock that was used for the Ipswich, will start from Harwich (8 car we assume ?), boat connection ?

Has it now been confirmed that it is the 317/7s that are going, and not just being sent back to west anglia to cover for the remaining unpainted 317/6s going off lease or something like that. The 317/7s are interesting, but ultimately not very good and shan't be missed by me hugely. With only a week left to run NXEA is still loathed by most of its customers from what I hear. They will not be missed. I personally have not forgiven them for cancelling the 321 refurbishment and all the times they ruined my travel plans. Where are these timetable changes written down, I can't find them on NXEA's current website?

 

[Broadside]

Where are these timetable changes written down, I can't find them on NXEA's current website?

I thought that timetable changes only occured May & December? Certainly an arbitary date I picked in mid-February still shows the 0647 from Colchester Town running through to Liverpool St. It will be interesting to see how many 321s are on the 0629 Ipswich to Liverpool St currently operated by 12 car 317/7.

 

[Z12XE]

It will be interesting to see how many 321s are on the 0629 Ipswich to Liverpool St currently operated by 12 car 317/7.

2

It's going to be an 8 car train, will still have more seats than 12 car 317/7 though

 

[SprinterMan]

I thought that timetable changes only occured May & December? Certainly an arbitary date I picked in mid-February still shows the 0647 from Colchester Town running through to Liverpool St. It will be interesting to see how many 321s are on the 0629 Ipswich to Liverpool St currently operated by 12 car 317/7.

I agree that times are not changing, I did the same and got the same result. I fear that SouthernCDiv's infor may be incorrect. I am fascinated to see who takes the 317/7s after they go off-lease.

 

[387star]

FCC or C2C. I would say Gatwick Express...

 

[SprinterMan]

FCC or C2C. I would say Gatwick Express...

I can't picture c2c taking them being non standard in c2c's fleet but FCC seems likely, good idea. I had heard rumblings about Northern taking them. And ah yes, if only they were dual voltage.....

 

[iphone76]

I thought the 17.02 to Norwich was going back to 321/360 operation the week after next. Cannot believe we only have 6 or so days left of NXEA. I picked up one of the 7 year review pamphlets from Wickford over the weekend. Pure fantasy.

 

[tbtc]

I can't picture c2c taking them being non standard in c2c's fleet

The problem is that C2C have got busier in the years since the 357s arrived (1999), but part of the success of the franchise is having just one type of EMU.

Whilst they could do with additional trains, any extra capacity would have to be something "non standard".

Does anyone know how different a 379 would be (to a 357)? Part of the same broad family etc, but over a decade apart.

 

[Thewanderer]

Having used One/NXEA a couple of times the last several years I always thought the livery (minus rainbow bit) was rather smart and well maintained. Until last weekend....

I was based in Chelmsford for two days the other week and used NXEA a couple of times. The exterior condition of the rolling stock was a disgrace on several trains viewed such as the MK3's, 315's, 321 in a multitude of FGE, NXEA, unbranded NX White.

Hand in the keys time - they seem to be cuting costs left right and centre. Saying that the interior of the trains i travelled on were clean.

 

[87015]

The problem is that C2C have got busier in the years since the 357s arrived (1999), but part of the success of the franchise is having just one type of EMU.

I think the 'common fleet' is overblown as an operational reason, and is far more of a financial one. The only real bonus is having to stock less spares, or having less down time awaiting 'unusual' parts you wouldn't bother having on-hand for a small fleet. The fitters won't suddenly forget how to maintain a 357 if you give them some extra 317s to play with! Ilford hasn't seen a significant drop in 315/317/321 reliability since the 379s came in and thats a depot operating beyond its limits. As long as you spend the money getting the staff trained up it shouldn't be much of an issue - much better to have a couple of extra 'foreign' units to reduce the strain of operating a fleet beyond sensible availability requirements.

As c2c is in the last year of the franchise I can't see anything major happening there anyway, you'd imagine some of the bidders are looking at stock/service changes if they want to stand out.

 

[pitdiver]

There seems to be concensus on this forum that NXEA is not the best TOC. You think they're bad. You should try, dare I say try travelling on the coach network.

NX have always gloated about how successful their C2C franchise is. Surely this is due to the fact. it is more or less self contained and probably the least complex route to operate.

Pitdiver (An Ex NX employee)

 

[ajdunlop]

There is nothing wrong with their coaches. They do know how to do that well.

 

[pitdiver]

There is nothing wrong with their coaches. They do know how to do that well.

Take it from me. It's not NX but the individual operators that make the coaches work. All NX do is market the whole system.

 

[jopsuk]

NX have always gloated about how successful their C2C franchise is. Surely this is due to the fact. it is more or less self contained and probably the least complex route to operate.

Pitdiver (An Ex NX employee)

With c2c, yes it is self contained, but it was more less self-contained under BR yet was a bacsket-case of a line, served by a hodge-podge of mainly elderly stock and with a mix of various elderly and/or experimental signalling systems along the routes.

yes, you can't easily transfer all of that to another route, but some learning can be taken.

for instance, out of Liverpool Street, NXEA already run three "routes" (Shenfield metro, GE mainline and West Anglia/Lee Valley) that don't impact much upon each other or other operators. Shenfield is being "modernised" as part of Crossrail, the other routes in turn could be upgraded in similar ways to the LTS but with concessions made to the need to have a mix of different stock.

 

[jon0844]

Do stations even need to be run by the TOCs? You don't have airlines running the airports so why not just have Network Rail manage all the stations?

Well, some airlines do effectively run some airports and/or terminals - but I see your point.

As for the quality of the refurbs done by National Express, I remember posting when Wagn refreshed the 317/1s and saying how much nicer the trains looked (especially with the cooler lighting that made the interior brighter) and actually defending the work from people who slagged Wagn off. But it didn't take long for the flooring to all come up and other bits to fall off, so I guess I was in fact wrong after all.

The only things that didn't fall to bits were the huge stickers (route maps, pro-Wagn propaganda etc) but when they did have to be peeled off (or removed by passengers) it took off great big chunks of the anti-graffiti paint. FCC did a much better job second time around. Sure, it would be nice to have a total internal rebuild with new seats, air con etc - but they do the job and mechanically, the trains seem to be reliable and are fast (and quiet in the end coaches!).

As a passenger, and a regular user at that, I noticed a lot more things that many people would miss, or not care about. Of course, running a reliable service is more important and on the GN side, they seemed to do very well.

I can however remember all the complaints about poor servicing from Ilford and now it seems that this hasn't changed much, even if it's more down to being overworked and understaffed. Either way, that is an issue that must affect the operation of NXEA - not helped by Network Rail problems, of course.

 

[ajdunlop]

Take it from me. It's not NX but the individual operators that make the coaches work. All NX do is market the whole system.

True but NX have done a good job of standardising the experience so you know what to expect. Only a fraction of people would travel by coach if all these operators marketed separately.

 

[O L Leigh]

FCC did a much better job second time around.

As I have indicated before, FCC have done the same job as NX with their Cl317s, only in different colours.

O L Leigh

 

[SprinterMan]

I thought the 17.02 to Norwich was going back to 321/360 operation the week after next. Cannot believe we only have 6 or so days left of NXEA. I picked up one of the 7 year review pamphlets from Wickford over the weekend. Pure fantasy.

It is I think. 150280 is going back to ATW and all 317/7s are going off lease on Feb 5th. As hateful, miserable and uncomfortable as they are, the 321s are needed on the current 317/7 services due to their massive seating capacity. What did the leaflet say... :P

 

[jon0844]

As I have indicated before, FCC have done the same job as NX with their Cl317s, only in different colours.

O L Leigh

I thought FCC did the 317/1s and 313s in house at Hornsey? If so, did NXEA send the trains there to be done? If not, fair enough if NXEA did a better job later on - but the original job was proved to be awful, and I say that as someone who initially raved about the work!

The second refresh saw improvements to the toilets, CET tanks put back in and vinyl flooring instead of - well God knows what it was before. Oh, and new seat coverings.

I am not sure if the walls were repainted. I suspect not, and were either patched up or covered with fixed holders for posters/signs (a much more sensible idea than stickers - what WAS Wagn thinking?!).

 

[iphone76]

Another NR signal failure at Stratford and another 1 hour plus journey from
Wickford. This line will be a joke for the Olympics. I feel sorry for abellio taking on this heap of ......

If it carries on like this, their name will be trashed.

 

[pitdiver]

What does everybody expect. As soon as NX lost the franchise they didn't bother to do anything for the train side. Can't see them retaining C2C when that comes up for grabs again. The Government wouldn't even let them run a garden railway let alone a main line, not after the East Coast debacle. I don't really think they're interested in trains any more. IMHO they should stick to Buses & Coaches.

 

[iphone76]

O joy. Cancellations a many via Stratford after this morning's signal failure. (Are they seriously in that bad a condition they take all day to fix?)

I know it's not directly down to NX, but it shows how poor the infrastructure is. (In my eyes at least).

 

[Broadside]

O joy. Cancellations a many via Stratford after this morning's signal failure. (Are they seriously in that bad a condition they take all day to fix?)

I know it's not directly down to NX, but it shows how poor the infrastructure is. (In my eyes at least).

NXEA Twitter announced it was fixed at 1400. At 1500 it had failed again.

 

[iphone76]

I noticed there are/were some broken down trains tonight elsewhere on the network on top of the signal failure at Stratford.

Last time the signals failed at Stratford, they took 3 days to sort out. Yay!

 

[Norwich317]

The 9 x 317/7's are going off-lease and 150280 is going back to the Valleys. Does anybody know if hired in 90024 is going back to DBS when NXEA finish on Saturday?

 

[Tomonthetrain]

The 9 x 317/7's are going off-lease and 150280 is going back to the Valleys. Does anybody know if hired in 90024 is going back to DBS when NXEA finish on Saturday?

What diagrams does 90024 do usually on Saturdays? Is it the 1130 Liverpool St - Norwich And 1400 return?