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Transport for Wales Class 231 / 756 Stadler FLIRTs

Bletchleyite

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People from the valleys do go on holiday and I have seen people with cases using Rhoose - Cardiff Airport station - which will be served by the FLIRTS.

Not having standbacks (indeed the opposite, having stupid tip-up seats in the vestibule) was probably a bad choice. The 195s and 700s have shown how well these work on busy regional trains, and you can put luggage in them if needs be.
 
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AdamWW

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People from the valleys do go on holiday and I have seen people with big cases using Rhoose - Cardiff Airport station - which will be served by the FLIRTS.

Of course they do, but I wouldn't expect large numbers of people with luggage to all converge on the same train.

If I recall correctly, when I was there the year the FLIRTs were introduced the Norwich to Great Yarmouth timetable even had extra trains on changeover days.
 

TT-ONR-NRN

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You know when you want to laugh and sob simultaneously?

Looking gormless and weak as hell with what later turned out to be sinusitis as well (no wonder I felt cruddy)

All I wanted was for this guy I assumed to be some spotter to stop filming his nerdy video so I could get some tissues from the bathroom to blow my nose on. Of course he turned out to be a government somebody. Mortifying.
 
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Dai Corner

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You know when you want to laugh and sob simultaneously?

Looking gormless and weak as hell with what later turned out to be sinusitis as well (no wonder I felt cruddy)

All I wanted was for this guy I assumed to be some spotter to stop filming his nerdy video so I could get some tissues from the bathroom to blow my nose on. Of course he turned out to be a government somebody. Mortifying.

:lol:

Lee Waters. Deputy Minister for Climate Change in the Welsh Government, with responsibility for railways among other things.
 

AdamWW

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You know when you want to laugh and sob simultaneously?

Looking gormless and weak as hell with what later turned out to be sinusitis as well (no wonder I felt cruddy)

All I wanted was for this guy I assumed to be some spotter to stop filming his nerdy video so I could get some tissues from the bathroom to blow my nose on. Of course he turned out to be a government somebody. Mortifying.

Well if it helps you made me smile...
 

ajay1071

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Good to see the start of the new rolling stock coming into service, well done to the Welsh Government on delivering on their promises.
 

XAM2175

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There's a comment there: "Stadler units are popping up all over the uk now and this is what can be done."

But they're not appearing over much of it, are they?
Of course they are! They're in service in both London and not-London, the two regions of the UK :E

The serious answer - Anglia and the GEML first, now South Wales, Merseyside next week, and Tyneside to come... plus a non-zero chance of some appearing in Scotland in future depending on how the BEMU tender works out. I agree it's not much, but at least there's something of a decent spread.

I do wonder whether recent high floor trains will end up falling foul of updated accessibility rules in their lifetimes.
It's not at all inconceivable, in the sense that level access might become a mandatory requirement in some future update to the accessibility rules, and in my opinion it's very definitely something that we should be working towards. Probably a topic better suited to a speculative thread, though.
 

43096

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The serious answer - Anglia and the GEML first, now South Wales, Merseyside next week, and Tyneside to come... plus a non-zero chance of some appearing in Scotland in future depending on how the BEMU tender works out. I agree it's not much, but at least there's something of a decent spread.
Ahem, Glasgow Subway.
 

AlexNL

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But they're not appearing over much of it, are they?
Anglia and Wales have 'm in service. Merseyrail's will enter next week. Tyne & Wear Metro will come later.

They're not everywhere but level boarding is spreading.

Now that it's actually happening and one manufacturer shows that level boarding with the UK's loading gauge can be done, it's time to increase pressure and make for a wider roll-out. ScotRail and Southeastern are both looking for new fleets for the future, now's the time to influence decision makers and demand LB on those trains of the future.
 

TT-ONR-NRN

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Anglia and Wales have 'm in service. Merseyrail's will enter next week. Tyne & Wear Metro will come later.
They're not everywhere but level boarding is spreading.

Now that it's actually happening and one manufacturer shows that level boarding with the UK's loading gauge can be done, it's time to increase pressure and make for a wider roll-out. ScotRail and Southeastern are both looking for new fleets for the future, now's the time to influence decision makers and demand LB on those trains of the future.
I must commend the level boarding. It was a major improvement I noticed.

E9000B7D-8585-4B90-BEE5-E4A15127C0D2.jpegE262C310-E509-44F0-B92E-AFA15AAAEFAE.jpeg

Images attached show level boarding of the 231 at Rhymney
.

I noticed 231007 was out again today. I wouldn’t be surprised to see 004 out as well. That’s been out and about a lot.

Yeah, you get a pass for that
o_O
Just glad they filmed before the swollen eye popped up too.
:'(
Have had to postpone a video shoot I was asked to do until next week. Thankfully I wasn’t close to any other passengers. Not a fun end to the week, and with an essay due tomorrow as well. Emergency opticians and bed rest :lol:
 

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Peter Sarf

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You know when you want to laugh and sob simultaneously?

Looking gormless and weak as hell with what later turned out to be sinusitis as well (no wonder I felt cruddy)

All I wanted was for this guy I assumed to be some spotter to stop filming his nerdy video so I could get some tissues from the bathroom to blow my nose on. Of course he turned out to be a government somebody. Mortifying.
So is it safe to say you were suffering from congestion and bad visibility in the valleys near Cardiff then :E.
 

Techniquest

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So is it safe to say you were suffering from congestion and bad visibility in the valleys near Cardiff then :E.

As much as I feel for the young gentleman in question, I have to say your post made me laugh way more than it should have! I can imagine the sheer yuck he must have been feeling, and I can hear an announcement:

'This video shoot has been cancelled, this is due to congestion in the Caerphilly area'

Sorry Mr TT-ONR-NN! On a serious note, I hope you feel better ASAP :)
 

MikePJ

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I’m at Penarth waiting for the 0803 - 231007 is getting on for 15 minutes late. EDIT - here at last!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==

Further update: conductor says today’s driver is driving this unit in service for the first time today, and was cautious coming down the valley because it’s so icy this morning.
 

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AdamWW

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I’m at Penarth waiting for the 0803 - 231007 is getting on for 15 minutes late. EDIT - here at last!

It's not so long since I was taking phtos of Pacers there.

A little bit different from a FLIRT.
 

56xx

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Crew were having problems with door opening from the cab control yesterday. Had to resort to the saloon panels a few times.
At one stage the SDO announcement came on to advise passengers to move to an alternative carriage to disembark.
The driver made up well for lost time showing the acceleration of these units.
Speaking to the on-board trouble-shooting team, they do not anticipate further units entering passenger service just yet. Concentrating on 007.
 

AdamWW

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Crew were having problems with door opening from the cab control yesterday. Had to resort to the saloon panels a few times.
At one stage the SDO announcement came on to advise passengers to move to an alternative carriage to disembark.
The driver made up well for lost time showing the acceleration of these units.
Speaking to the on-board trouble-shooting team, they do not anticipate further units entering passenger service just yet. Concentrating on 007.

That makes it easy for now to track things on RTT...
 

subk2010

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231010 was out this morning (20 Jan), working as 3Z31 to Penarth.
 

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Jez

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Currently on my first 231 journey. 1316 Cardiff to Rhymney.
 

Peter Sarf

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Thank you :lol:

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==

Edit (03:36am) 231007 allocated again for today's FLIRT diagram. Hopefully we may start to see others come out from next week.
Er, yes, I sincerely hope you are not too bad and on the mend.

Thakyou for the info and I hope 03:36 (am) was not because of being unable to sleep but perhaps full of energy ?. OK probably "jet lag".

And good luck with the exams etc.
 

AdamWW

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Just did the long trip from Queen Street to Central on 007.

Great seeing people with pushchairs being able to wheel them on and off so easily.

It's still claiming that the next stop after Queen Street is Grangetown though.
 

_toommm_

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Funny how we got a manual announcement halfway through just mentioning to mind the gap. It made me chuckle as obviously that isn’t much of an issue anymore.
 

AdamWW

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Funny how we got a manual announcement halfway through just mentioning to mind the gap. It made me chuckle as obviously that isn’t much of an issue anymore.

It always amused me that for years we had an automated announcement on (Wales and Borders?)/ATW/TfW Pacers referring to the "safety information mounted between the saloon windows", when it wasn't there and indeed there is very little space to stick any information between the windows on a Pacer (the lack of blank wall between windows was one of the things that I liked about them).
 

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