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TfW 175 shortages

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Topological

Topological

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Is it really that they did not have enough fuel and that crippled the line for hours. That is expensive fuel.
 
SuperLuke2334

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Reported on WNXX forum that 1 coach from 175008 and 1 coach from 175101 have left Chester by road, presumably the damaged ones. Does anyone know where they were being taken to?
 
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Dai Corner

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Undated announcement from TfW. Today is the first time I've seen it though.
Class 175 updatey
We're pleased to confirm that our extensive repair programme for our Class 175 fleet is now coming to an end.

Earlier this year a number of mechanical faults were found with the fleet, resulting in them being taken out of service on the grounds of safety.

Our engineers have been working round the clock to get the trains back into service as quickly as possible, but the problem has resulted in some cancellations and other trains being busier than usual in recent months.

We'd like to thank customers for their patience while this work has been ongoing.

Just two trains now need repair out of the fleet of 27 trains. With only 12 Class 175 trains now required for service following the introduction of the new Class 197 trains, we now have enough serviceable 175 trains to meet the timetable requirements.

The fleet, which serves mainline routes across Wales and up to Manchester, is more than 20 years old and is gradually being replaced by brand new trains. As such, it still requires regular maintenance and can encounter problems with trains travelling thousands of miles every week.
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https://tfw.wales/service-status/class-175-update .

That's 25 units available for 12 diagrams. There would seem to be plenty of scope for strengthening the busy services and no excuses for cancellations.
 
SuperLuke2334

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Dai Corner said:
Undated announcement from TfW. Today is the first time I've seen it though.

https://tfw.wales/service-status/class-175-update .

That's 25 units available for 12 diagrams. There would seem to be plenty of scope for strengthening the busy services and no excuses for cancellations.
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There's actually realistically only 20 available as 002, 005-007 are at Landore off lease, and 111 is OOU at Longsight having been a parts donor but is slowly being refitted as far as I know.
 
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Jez

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Only 5 175s out today according to RTT.

175001 - 0629 Crewe-Manchester, 0730 Manchester-Carmarthen, 1304 Carmarthen-Cardiff, 1549 Cardiff-Milford, 1915 Milford to Cardiff.
175009 - 0624 Holyhead to Cardiff, 1125 Cardiff-Holyhead, 1634 Holyhead-Cardiff
175103 - 0535 Cardiff to Milford, 0908 Milford-Manchester, 1530 Manchester-Carmarthen
175108 - 0538 Cardiff-Manchester, 0930 Manchester-Carmarthen, 1501 Carmarthen-Cardiff, 1747 Cardiff-Milford, 2041 Milford-Carmarthen
175114 - 0512 Cardiff-Holyhead, 1040 Holyhead-Cardiff

175105 was also showing as ECS from Canton to Cardiff Central but was replaced by a 150 for its journey to Milford Haven due to a fault. Interestingly 4 appear to have started from Canton (including the one that failed) Everything starting Carmarthen this morning looks to be a 150/153s.

We are still seeing so many substitutions on the Manchester to South Wales route despite TFW telling us nearly all should be back in service. I checked RTT earlier this week too and there was about 6 175s. So between 6-8 seems to be the usual amount. It feels like TFW are just giving up on the 175s and we will have to continue having 150s on the long distance routes until the 197s fully take over.

At least 3 have gone off lease but If they only need 12 in service then id expect all 12 to be 175s.
 
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Cambrian359

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Dai Corner said:
Undated announcement from TfW. Today is the first time I've seen it though.

https://tfw.wales/service-status/class-175-update .

That's 25 units available for 12 diagrams. There would seem to be plenty of scope for strengthening the busy services and no excuses for cancellations.
Click to expand...
So they are telling people that 25 out of 27 are now repaired and available for use (even though they don’t physically have that many now) yet as stated in the post above only 5 are being used……not a great way to improve relations with the travelling public is it!
 
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Jez

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Cambrian359 said:
So they are telling people that 25 out of 27 are now repaired and available for use (even though they don’t physically have that many now) yet as stated in the post above only 5 are being used……not a great way to improve relations with the travelling public is it!
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And they seem to have totally ignored the fact 3 or 4 are now off lease!

There must be something else going on, why only 5 or 6 in service each day when there should be around 20 available for service. At the very least all 12 booked workings should be 175s.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==

It was supposed to be 14 booked 175s from the TT change but now TFW have kept 3 of the 170s so 2 of the Maesteg-Cheltenhams a day seem to be booked 170 rather than 175
 
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Jez

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Looks like 114 is going to take over a Milford to Manchester service at Cardiff from a 150 at 1547.
 
TT-ONR-NRN

TT-ONR-NRN

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SuperLuke2334 said:
There's actually realistically only 20 available as 002, 005-007 are at Landore off lease, and 111 is OOU at Longsight having been a parts donor but is slowly being refitted as far as I know.
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I have created a new thread to keep up to date on TfW sending the former Arriva Trains Wales stock off lease:

TfW 15x/175 permanent withdrawals

Hello There is a thread to track the cascades of 170s to EMR, and a thread to note the day to day availability of 175s during their plague, but nothing to track the withdrawals of 150/not staying 153s/158s and 175s. 175002 Off lease 175004 Off lease 175005 Off lease 175006 Off lease 175007 Off...
www.railforums.co.uk
 
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Caaardiff

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Jez said:
There must be something else going on, why only 5 or 6 in service each day when there should be around 20 available for service. At the very least all 12 booked workings should be 175s.
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The general talk is that they are even more unreliable than before, even with the radiator fixes after the fires. Something is seriously up with the maintenance of these trains.
 
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3RDGEN

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voyagerdude220 said:
I've no idea how 175s work (or more to the point don't!) but wouldn't the TMS alert the train crew in advance about it detecting low fuel levels?
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The TMS would flag low fuel and report that to CAF too, should have flagged earlier enough to take the unit out at Cardiff for fuel at Canton. Appears 114 started Chester on Tuesday morning but did it make it onto the depot for fueling Monday night? If fueled fully then it shouldn't run out by Thursday evening given the mileage run. Odd to lose 2 or even all 3 engines at once to disable the unit.
 
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Jez

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Caaardiff said:
The general talk is that they are even more unreliable than before, even with the radiator fixes after the fires. Something is seriously up with the maintenance of these trains.
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It was when Chester took on the 197s that things started to go downhill for the 175s.

Given the news that so many 197s should be accepted into service very soon TFW wont have to worry about the 175s for much longer.
 
170UTD

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I don't keep track of welsh railways, so just to confirm, if a 175 runs to Landore T.M.D. they are going off lease, correct?
 
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tomuk

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170UTD said:
I don't keep track of welsh railways, so just to confirm, if a 175 runs to Landore T.M.D. they are going off lease, correct?
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Yes that is likely. Landore TMD closed about five years ago with Hitachi 80x maintenance moving down to Malliphant sidings where new facilities were built.

Chrysalis Rail more recently reopened the depot for stock refurbishment work and have done various work for TfW 153s, Mk4s
 
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Anonymous10

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tomuk said:
Yes that is likely. Landore TMD closed about five years ago with Hitachi 80x maintenance moving down to Malliphant sidings where new facilities were built.

Chrysalis Rail more recently reopened the depot for stock refurbishment work and have done various work for TfW 153s, Mk4s
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Their biggest customer appears to be tfw which makes sense. Welsh government wanting to support welsh companies ect along with proximity to Cardiff
 
fgwrich

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SuperLuke2334 said:
Reported on WNXX forum that 1 coach from 175008 and 1 coach from 175101 have left Chester by road, presumably the damaged ones. Does anyone know where they were being taken to?
Click to expand...
Alstom, Ilford. Creating the unusual sight of a 175 in East London.
 
Bob Price

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There is talk on the 197 thread of 30 units being accepted in the next few weeks. That would allow the gradual run down of the 175's and get the 150's off the Marches. Can't see there being many of them left by the autumn.

As for a future operator, Chiltern need to get rid of the loco hauled sets and this would be a better fit than Northern. If anything Northern need a new batch of 195's to consolidate type and stop running so many different older units.
 
The_Train

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anthony263 said:
I'm hearing that on the grape vine. Chiltern trying to replace their 165 fleet due to struggles getting parts particularly electronics
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I wasn't sure what they were planning to replace with the 175s but I'm hearing 175s could be used on East-West - would certainly make more sense to take on a full new (to Chiltern at least) fleet instead of hiring in a few 196s to operate the E-W line
 
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craigybagel

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I said all along that Chiltern makes much more sense than Northern. Replacing the 150/156 fleet might seem admirable enough, but at the moment they're still working, and are the DFT really likely to approve such a "luxury" item for a heavily subsidised franchise?

Meanwhile at Chiltern, you have a small but very expensive fleet of MKIIIs that would be a much more financially sound fleet to replace - and the 175s are a much more close match for that kind of work then what they'd likely do at Northern.

One question will be can the 175s be modified for DOO? At the moment the MKIII services require a guard throughout but if the 175s can be made DOO compatible that would be another economic benefit with them going to Chiltern. It would also be a requirement if they're to work East - West rail. Although the units do have door controls reachable from the drivers seat (the open buttons are currently isolated) they would need bodyside CCTV cameras and a cab monitor fitting - it would be near impossible to see the platform monitors Chiltern use for DOO services from the drivers seat of a 175.
 
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