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Transport for Wales Class 231 / 756 Stadler FLIRTs

FGW_DID

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756105/106/107 moved from Dollands More to Ripple Lane this afternoon by 92019 with 66002

66002 should take them on to Cardiff then.
66 + the three 756 seen through Reading in the early hours of this morning. :D

 
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Rhydgaled

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756105/106/107 moved from Dollands More to Ripple Lane this afternoon by 92019 with 66002
Is that 14 of the 24 units now in the UK with just 10 (108 to 117) left to come or are there some gaps lower in the number series?
 

TT-ONR-NRN

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Any further developments on rumoured plans to introduce them on the currently live Pontypridd lines first, while Rhymney remains unwired and the 398s in need of more testing?
 
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A train fault seems to be causing some delays and cancellations around Llanbradach, affecting a few services in/out of Cardiff.
Not sure if a 231 unit was having problems or failed at Llanbradach?
 

sd0733

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Any further developments on rumoured plans to introduce them on the currently live Pontypridd lines first, while Rhymney remains unwired and the 398s in need of more testing?
The only thing at the moment is "it's being looked at" That's been said today officially to staff so its more than rumours but nothing more concrete than that as it stands.
 

rog21

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Please does anyone know which 2 units were on test today between Newport and Swindon?
Thanks
 

TT-ONR-NRN

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In this month's Modern Railways magazine (August 2023), the New Train Reliability league table is published in Roger Ford's column, for Railway Period 1 2023-24. I believe in the normal world this means April 2023.

Of note is that the TfW 230s are not bottom of the league in terms of Miles per 701D. In fact, by that metric, they are currently doing slightly better than TfW's Class 231s (Stadler), and almost twice as well as Merseyrail's Class 777 (also Stadler). Both of which are brand new trains from the Swiss, famed for their supposed legendary reliability.

Miles per 701D is a measure of reliability and replaced 'MTIN' as the metric for measuring fleet performance in 2022, as explained here: https://www.modernrailways.com/article/new-measure-fleet-reliability
But the table quotes both 701D and MTIN figures. The article says that Miles per 701D, "....better reflects the impact of fleet failures on the fare-paying passenger."

In fact, in a paragraph accompanying the article, Roger Ford makes the observation:

"Appropriately, having described the trials and tribulations of TfW Rail's Vivarail Class 230 hybrid units, the five-strong fleet makes its debut in this month's New Train TIN-watch table. And, in relative terms, it's quite an impressive first showing, now only above the 2000 MTIN MAA mark, but with clear blue water between the fleet and Stadler's debutants at TfW Rail and Merseyrail. And also better than TfW Rail's longer-established CAF Class 197 DMUs. Of course, new fleets can flatter to deceive before the cold rolling averages take their toll. But, for the moment, chapeau to all those at Vivarail and TfW who, despite the turmoil, have finally got the trains into service, and six places off the bottom of the table to boot."

The statistics therefore suggest that performance is not as bad, relative to other much newer train fleets, as the naysayers, haters and gap year experts in this thread would have you believe.

Here is the table:

View attachment 139875
231 having the last miles per technical incident by far does show that people do look on these trains with rose-tinted glasses, slightly. Don't get me wrong, I really like them, but they do fail often.
 

Peter Sarf

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231 having the last miles per technical incident by far does show that people do look on these trains with rose-tinted glasses, slightly. Don't get me wrong, I really like them, but they do fail often.
I am prepared to believe that the 231s are too new to have finished climbing up the bath-tub curve of reliability. Probably have to wait a few years to really see where reliability settles.
 

Buzz68

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I think there is an expectation that 231's will also provide some cover on the TAM lines until the 398's are in service mid-next year. 231008 was booked to run over the VOG yesterday and reverse at Bridgend off the 2123 from Radyr but was subbed for a 150.
 

Richard Scott

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Just passed 756101 sat at Bristol Parkway.
 

Western 52

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Richard Scott

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oglord

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No, they have been testing on overhead for months, running between Cardiff and Swindon. I saw one back in June. I don't think they have been a lot of photos of them which is why we haven't seen them.
Here's a picture of 756 001 I took in March:
 

D7672

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Friday 25th August and 197044 0900 holyhead to Cardiff and 756104 going to Swindon
 

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Envoy

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I have just been checking services today (Sunday 3 September) on the Penarth to Caerphilly > Rhymney route and find that most of them are 2 car 150’s. I was fully expecting all services to be 231’s. So, we have the first fine Sunday since the end of June - when a lot of people will be travelling from the valleys to the coast plus the Caerphilly Cheese Festival and TfW provide this appalling service. I also note the reduced frequency (half hourly) due to it being a Sunday.

So where are all the 4 coach Class 231 FLIRTS today - sitting in Canton sidings?
 

Western 52

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I have just been checking services today (Sunday 3 September) on the Penarth to Caerphilly > Rhymney route and find that most of them are 2 car 150’s. I was fully expecting all services to be 231’s. So, we have the first fine Sunday since the end of June - when a lot of people will be travelling from the valleys to the coast plus the Caerphilly Cheese Festival and TfW provide this appalling service. I also note the reduced frequency (half hourly) due to it being a Sunday.

So where are all the 4 coach Class 231 FLIRTS today - sitting in Canton sidings?
I noticed this too. We are heading to Caerphilly today, but the trains are likely to be very full.
 

Rhydgaled

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where are all the 4 coach Class 231 FLIRTS today - sitting in Canton sidings?
Good question. I just tried using Real Time Trains' "Quick Search" feature to try and locate them and, after searching for all 11 units (231001 - 231011), it found only one. 231005 apparently doing the 11:06 Cardiff Central to Rhymney service at the moment.
 

sd0733

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Good question. I just tried using Real Time Trains' "Quick Search" feature to try and locate them and, after searching for all 11 units (231001 - 231011), it found only one. 231005 apparently doing the 11:06 Cardiff Central to Rhymney service at the moment.
Looks to be only 2 231 diagrams today and one of those is covered by 150230.
 

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