Problems with IET trains from April 2021

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Surely "Passengers for Chippenham and Swindon should change at Trowbridge, from where there is a limited onward service ..."

Would seem there are some shuttles running.

12:30 London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads due 14:03
12:30 London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads due 14:03 will be reinstated.
It will be started from Swindon.
It will no longer call at London Paddington, Reading and Didcot Parkway.
This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.

Now - are the 387s reaching Swindon in passenger service?

[patch38]

There appears to be at least one 166 shuttling between Swindon and Gloucester/Cheltenham.

[ellendune]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) from a long article

Roger Ford, industry and technology editor at the magazine Modern Railways, said the problem is "with the weld cracking underneath [the train's] body shell" which he explained led to about 180 trains being taken out of service on Saturday morning for inspection.

So unrelated to the problems a couple of weeks ago

[IndustryInsider]

Whatever the reason, it’s a very poor day for the reputation of Hitachi, which will of course flow along the chain to the two main operators of the train and the industry in general.  If it goes on beyond the weekend then it could become a defining moment for the train...cast your mind back to how the APT^▸ (Advanced Passenger Train) never recovered from initial troubles.

As it is, the good news is that it’s a miserable day weather wise which will help to suppress already very low passengers numbers.

There are several reasons why Turbos/387s can’t just be substituted.  There aren’t enough of them, limited crew are trained on them, and DOO^▸ (Driver-Only Operation (that is, trains which operate without carrying a guard)) regulations means I doubt you’ll see 387s running to Swindon in passenger service, unless this issue carried on for many days when alternative operating arrangements could be made.

I’ll save any more comment until the hysteria has died down a little.

[broadgage]

Interesting, but I do not find the linked reports entirely clear.
Are the originally reported cracks now believed to be due to the lifting jack pockets, and not due to the yaw damper fixings ?

Or are there now two different sorts of cracks, yaw damper related and lifting pocket related ?

Two totally unrelated issues

One lot of cracks is unfortunate but could perhaps be explained away as bad luck, or some exceptional and not be repeated event.
TWO UNRELATED lots of cracks starts to look like a seriously defective design.

And these issues only about 10% into the design life of the wretched things. How many other cracks or fatigue failures await a bit further into the design life.

[grahame]

... and DOO^▸ (Driver-Only Operation (that is, trains which operate without carrying a guard)) regulations means I doubt you’ll see 387s running to Swindon in passenger service ....

Grr!  - I had overlooked that ...

[broadgage]

Rail minister warns of "prolonged disruption"
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-57036247

[broadgage]

My crystal ball forecasts significant disruption for the rest of this year and perhaps for longer, for the following reasons.

1) Before these latest problems, IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) reliability and availability had been poor with many short forms due to "more trains than usual needing repair" Therefore even a slight reduction in availability will have a significant impact on services.

2) Some units are known to have cracks. Repairs to structural aluminium are a specialist and time consuming job. The first few repaired units will need very frequent checks.

3) Other units may suffer from similar cracks, and even if no more cracks are found, the frequent precautionary inspections will have a significant impact on availability.

4) Units without cracks at present seem liable to suffer in future and will need future withdrawal for repairs.

5) The many detailed checks and inspections may find other faults.

[bobm]

..and if the train is running, you may not be able to get on it.

[grahame]

..and if the train is running, you may not be able to get on it.

Why tell you where the zones are if it's set down only?

[bobm]

Better than that - at the last minute it was swung over to platform 4 while a train to Bristol was crossed over to platform 1.

[grahame]

Better than that - at the last minute it was swung over to platform 4 while a train to Bristol was crossed over to platform 1.

Can't recall seeing that before - how does it get back "right line" towards London?

[bobm]

Ran wrong line as far as Bourton and then crossed over.  As that was going on a non stop service to Penzance was crossed over at Bourton to also run wrong line to take the centre road through Swindon station.

[bobm]

Statement from Hitachi

[grahame]

From This is Wiltshire - timed a few hours ago ...

ALL INTERCITY trains through Swindon have been cancelled today for what Great Western Railway has described as "precautionary checks" on the services.

The move follows reports last month that a crack was found on a vehicle at Hitachi's North Pole depot in west London, where GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)'s new Intercity trains undergo regular checks.

The cancellation is likely to cause widespread disruption, with all fast trains to and from London Paddington along the west coast main line cancelled. Local services continue to run.

Picture shows an High Speed Train (HST^▸ (High Speed Train)) and Turbo ...

Edit: VickiS - Clarifying Acronym