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Keolis/Amey to take over Wales and Borders

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berneyarms

berneyarms

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krus_aragon said:
I stand corrected. I've only had 150s on the Royal Welsh specials myself.

On further thinking, do the 158s have some platform clearance issues on that route? That may be what I got confused with.
Click to expand...
Yes it’s the 158 that have the issues.
 
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PHILIPE

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krus_aragon said:
I stand corrected. I've only had 150s on the Royal Welsh specials myself.

On further thinking, do the 158s have some platform clearance issues on that route? That may be what I got confused with.
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Royal Welsh Specials on the other days other than the 175 worked one this year were 150+153.
158s can travel via the HOWL but not in passenger use and with air bags deflated, i.e. ECS or attached to a suitable unit.
 
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craigybagel

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Llanigraham said:
Isn't the problem south of Llan'dod?
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Ffairfach IIRC - although there has been no attempt that I'm aware of to send 158s only along the northern half and have passengers change trains at the crossing point, as has been done occasionally when Pacers work the southern half of the line. 158s have ended up on the Crewe - Shrewsbury locals during the day on numerous occasions, but when the time comes to send them down the HOWL on the 1720 from Crewe they always do a set swap at Shrewsbury.
 
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Great_Western

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krus_aragon said:
I stand corrected. I've only had 150s on the Royal Welsh specials myself.

On further thinking, do the 158s have some platform clearance issues on that route? That may be what I got confused with.
Click to expand...
I was once told that there were a few stations where 175's had issues and weren't allowed to stop at in service, but I am not sure how true that is.

You are correct in thinking that there are issues with the 158's, they are allowed along there ECS but have to run with the suspension air bags deflated to avoid being out of guage.

EDIT: Didn't see that it had already been explained :D
 
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Great_Western said:
I was once told that there were a few stations where 175's had issues and weren't allowed to stop at in service, but I am not sure how true that is.

You are correct in thinking that there are issues with the 158's, they are allowed along there ECS but have to run with the suspension air bags deflated to avoid being out of guage.

EDIT: Didn't see that it had already been explained :D
Click to expand...


175s have stopped at all stations on the occasions they have worked. I have seen that there is a restriction through the Down Platform at Llandovery but nothing else/
 
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Cardiff123

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I was surprised when passing through Cardiff Queen Street today that it still hasn't had the Transport for Wales sticker treatment.
Arriva Trains Wales is still everywhere on signs there.
 
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Philip

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craigybagel said:
For qualified guards the conversion course at ATW is currently 2 days - it was recently cut down from 3. Drivers will be a lot longer



The problem is, it's very difficult to find any diagrams you can drop LHCS on to that won't require extra staff training up. It would need to start and finish every day either at Holyhead or Crewe (or somewhere relatively close to those locations). It would be confined pretty much to the routes that currently see them (so Holyhead - Chester - Cardiff/Manchester. You can't go west of Cardiff or even Crewe - Manchester). You might be able to tweak a Llandudno - Manchester diagram (as was done with the existing North Wales set) but even then there are not that many drivers available for that route (just the ones from Holyhead, and it's a small depot) so there might not be much room to give them any more LHCS work. It's really not that easy at all.
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I was going to suggest the diagram which starts with the 04:50 Crewe to Milford Haven and finishes with the 21:17 Cardiff to Chester, until you mentioned the problems with that route. What would need to happen to make the loco-hauled set suitable for the above diagram?
 
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craigybagel

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Philip said:
I was going to suggest the diagram which starts with the 04:50 Crewe to Milford Haven and finishes with the 21:17 Cardiff to Chester, until you mentioned the problems with that route. What would need to happen to make the loco-hauled set suitable for the above diagram?
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It would require training guards. At the moment, there are loco trained drivers who sign all of the routes that particular diagram follows (Crewe - Milford Haven - Manchester - Cardiff - Chester), but there are no guards who sign LHCS who also sign west of Cardiff, or Crewe to Manchester. The former is only signed by Cardiff (Mainline) and Carmarthen guards, the latter only by Crewe. None of those depots have guards who sign LHCS.
 
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PHILIPE

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Philip said:
I was going to suggest the diagram which starts with the 04:50 Crewe to Milford Haven and finishes with the 21:17 Cardiff to Chester, until you mentioned the problems with that route. What would need to happen to make the loco-hauled set suitable for the above diagram?
Click to expand...


The 2117 Cardiff to Chester is part of a diagram that gets a 175 back to it's home depot at Chester
 
_toommm_

_toommm_

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Exciting news - at Chester depot there is currently a 175 in full TFW livery complete with logos. White livery, red doors and the logo on the front and rear coach. Couldn't get a picture unfortunately as I was on a busy ATW 175
 
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craigybagel said:
Ffairfach IIRC - although there has been no attempt that I'm aware of to send 158s only along the northern half and have passengers change trains at the crossing point, as has been done occasionally when Pacers work the southern half of the line. 158s have ended up on the Crewe - Shrewsbury locals during the day on numerous occasions, but when the time comes to send them down the HOWL on the 1720 from Crewe they always do a set swap at Shrewsbury.
Click to expand...
That's because 158s are only allowed to over the HoWL ECS. There have been a dozen or more occasions where they have been used to rescue failures, almost all of them north of Llandrindod. In each case passengers remained on the failure.
 
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Great_Western said:
I was once told that there were a few stations where 175's had issues and weren't allowed to stop at in service, but I am not sure how true that is.

You are correct in thinking that there are issues with the 158's, they are allowed along there ECS but have to run with the suspension air bags deflated to avoid being out of guage.

EDIT: Didn't see that it had already been explained :D
Click to expand...
175s are prohibited from the down platform at Llandovery but are otherwise ok. 158s do not have to run with their air bags deflated but are only allowed ECS.
 
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PHILIPE said:
175s have stopped at all stations on the occasions they have worked. I have seen that there is a restriction through the Down Platform at Llandovery but nothing else/
Click to expand...
Correct. There have been three full length workings of the line by 175s that I can recall, two of which actually passed each other, plus the Royal Welsh working this year.
 
Gareth Marston

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A more balanced piece from Rhodri CLark in Walesonline than the spin puff pieces from Sion Berry- Ive copied a small part below because of the notorious Walesonline adds!

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/what-passengers-can-expect-new-15249609

The stations will be “deep cleaned”. First up are Pontypridd, where a launch event is due to be held on Sunday, along with Chirk, in the constituency of transport secretary of Ken Skates, and nearby Wrexham General. Improved signs will be installed at Wrexham General to test public reaction before the concept is rolled out to other stations.
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So a launch event at Pontypridd and one in Chirk so that the Minister can stay in his constituency at the weekend. No prizes for guessing which station the tfW vinalyed 175 will be visiting on Sunday!
 
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driver_m

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Thought I was looking at a shrunken version of one of our trains leaving Crewe this morning....... Why haven't they kept it back until the official launch? Presumably ATW are very short on 175s.. can't see TfW being too happy about it being out early...
 
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driver_m said:
Thought I was looking at a shrunken version of one of our trains leaving Crewe this morning....... Why haven't they kept it back until the official launch? Presumably ATW are very short on 175s.. can't see TfW being too happy about it being out early...
Click to expand...

They want to show it off. Vanity
 
Gareth Marston

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As predicted it very much looks like they've (TfW/WG) not been able to help themselves. So after having ramped up expectation when the complaints start rolling in as nothing substantive to going to change anytime soon do we expect them to then hide behind Keolis or front up themselves?
 
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Cardiff123

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Gareth Marston said:
A more balanced piece from Rhodri CLark in Walesonline than the spin puff pieces from Sion Berry- Ive copied a small part below because of the notorious Walesonline adds!

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/what-passengers-can-expect-new-15249609

So a launch event at Pontypridd and one in Chirk so that the Minister can stay in his constituency at the weekend. No prizes for guessing which station the tfW vinalyed 175 will be visiting on Sunday!
Click to expand...

Interesting in that article it says that Keolis Amey / TfW are going to fix the air con on the 158s, and that the 769s will be in service by May 2019.
I think a lot of luck will be needed to achieve both of those things!
 
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