Thameslink Test Run

[Kingfisher200262]

Network Rail has issued a Press Notice, publicising what it describes as a preview of the new 12 car services on Thameslink.

Am I missing something? The notice explains that height checks and stepping distance checks were carried out on the new, extended platforms.

Surely, the same checks could have been carried out with a four, or eight car unit and this was simply a publicity stunt?

Or am I missing some important technical element (maybe signal sightings, which doesn't get a mention in the Notice)?

 

[swt_passenger]

Network Rail has issued a Press Notice, publicising what it describes as a preview of the new 12 car services on Thameslink.

I'd take any Thameslink press release with a large pinch of salt. One of their recent successes is getting the media to report that the Blackfriars northern concourse is complete - but anyone can see from a passing train it is still an empty space...

 

[MadCommuter]

I'd take any Thameslink press release with a large pinch of salt...

The opening paragraph says 'a 12 car train has been tested for the first time.' Not true, in the late 80s a 12 car ECS ran from Bedford to Selhurst every Friday evening, poss every weekday evening.

 

[12CSVT]

The opening paragraph says 'a 12 car train has been tested for the first time.' Not true, in the late 80s a 12 car ECS ran from Bedford to Selhurst every Friday evening, poss every weekday evening.

Class 319 units are permitted to run in 12 coach formations on ECS workings but not in passenger service. The test run involved class 377 units.

 

[rogkate]

Hi Kingfisher - and thanks for your interest. We needed to use a 12-car 377 because we had to place the train in the platform to locate the correct stopping point for a 12-car and to sight the signal from this position to ensure the sighting was in line with signal sighting standards.

It is not acceptable to "guess" where it should be by using an 8- or a 4-car unit as we also had to ensure where the rear doors were in relation to the platform length once we had sighted the stop mark and the signal.

By using a 12-car all criteria were checked correctly and as time was important it saved moving a shorter train up and down the platform.

I won't deny that we made good use of the test train to publicise the Thameslink Programme. It's important that people know progress is being made after all the disruption they have been forced to endure.

 

[Kingfisher200262]

Hi Kingfisher - and thanks for your interest. We needed to use a 12-car 377 because we had to place the train in the platform to locate the correct stopping point for a 12-car and to sight the signal from this position to ensure the sighting was in line with signal sighting standards.

It is not acceptable to "guess" where it should be by using an 8- or a 4-car unit as we also had to ensure where the rear doors were in relation to the platform length once we had sighted the stop mark and the signal.

By using a 12-car all criteria were checked correctly and as time was important it saved moving a shorter train up and down the platform.

I won't deny that we made good use of the test train to publicise the Thameslink Programme. It's important that people know progress is being made after all the disruption they have been forced to endure.

Many thanks for the update and the useful feedback. It would have been useful to mention the primary reason for the test run in the Release.

You're right about maximising the opportunity though... we all need good publicity and there's enough doom and gloom around at present!

 

[boing_uk]

The vast majority of people dont care about "progress" or publicity or milestones. They are all symbolic. Only the focus groups, passenger forums and the minority who are interested care about such things.

All the vast majority of people want to know is:

WHY they are being disrupted
HOW and WHEN it will affect them
WHEN it will be finished.

Marjorie who pops on the train to her cleaning job is unlikely to give a flying fudge about "test trains" "first times" and all that PR nonsense. All it does is give editors something to fill column inches with.

Since organisations started engaging, consulting, working with "customers" and "stakeholder" - because everyone is a customer and stakeholder in something - everyone seems to be much more expectant of everyone.

Rare, it seems, are the days where people were told "we're doing this, like it or lump it"... or even rarer nowadays the "we're NOT doing this, like it or lump it".

Sorry for the rant.. i shall now go jump to my death from my soap box, to be buried wearing my rose tinted specs.

 

[kentuckytony]

Well, I appreciate Rogkate weighing in and giving what appears to be logical information. No rants from me!
Keep us informed on more developments.

 

[Aictos]

The vast majority of people dont care about "progress" or publicity or milestones. They are all symbolic. Only the focus groups, passenger forums and the minority who are interested care about such things.

All the vast majority of people want to know is:

WHY they are being disrupted
HOW and WHEN it will affect them
WHEN it will be finished.

Marjorie who pops on the train to her cleaning job is unlikely to give a flying fudge about "test trains" "first times" and all that PR nonsense. All it does is give editors something to fill column inches with.

Since organisations started engaging, consulting, working with "customers" and "stakeholder" - because everyone is a customer and stakeholder in something - everyone seems to be much more expectant of everyone.

Rare, it seems, are the days where people were told "we're doing this, like it or lump it"... or even rarer nowadays the "we're NOT doing this, like it or lump it".

Sorry for the rant.. i shall now go jump to my death from my soap box, to be buried wearing my rose tinted specs.

You do realise that the Thameslink Programme website does exactly that.
Network Rail, FCC and other parties issue out such briefings to the public because it's a massive improvement in the existing system which will deliver more trains which are longer ie 12 cars and even more services.

 

[Pumbaa]

There is a picture of the 12 car working in this weeks Railway Herald.