If the proposed order for new DMU▸ vehicles countrywide hadn't been shelved, the Cardiff to Portsmouth route would have seen new units maintained in all probability at a purpose built facility at Westbury.
Many thanks for that reminder and the detail RA ... an excellent lead to look at where we are ...
As I recall from an earlier thread here (
http://twcrp.info/t5066 ) the order was cancelled and replaced by one for electric trains to be running from London to Newbury, Oxford, Swansea and Bristol Temple Meads by the summer of 2016. With released suburban diesel trains replacing corridored sprinter units around the
UK▸ on other shorter distance runs, and by now (two years after the completion of
GWR▸ main line electrification) we should have 4 car 158s on all our longer distance services though Westbury, with 4 car services on Heart of Wessex too.
158s and 150/2 are getting a little dated too. So the teams that should have moved on to electrifying other lines such as the Midland main line and the spine up from Southampton / Reading to the Midalnds would by 2020 have been releasing further diesel stock to cascade - directly or indirectly - to all none-London services that go though Westbury.
As it is, the DMU order was cancelled, the electrification [understatement mode=British]is a little curtailed and late[/understatement] and the
DfT» have moved on in new franchised lets in East Anglia and in the North, to include major new rolling stock programs, leaving the GWR area in a backwater of hand-me-downs; 2+3 seating and lack of corridor is regarded as inappropriate in many quarters for the longer journeys such as Cardiff and Bristol to Southampton and Portsmouth.
There's a further year of the current franchise extended, followed by a probable two years of management contract taking us through to 2022; the DfT consultation that concluded last month asked about the next franchise, and its rolling stock too - it does acknowledge that the 150s and 158s will be in need of replacement during the seven years from 2022 or 2024. Whilst I think it's a good idea to extend the management contract at least to 2022 to give us some stability of operator while the mess caused by late and curtailed electrification and its consequences is sorted out, it does mean that we're unlikely to see
new rolling stock on the Weymouth services, or Cardiff / Portsmouth - until 2025. That's 7 years off.
Which is exactly the same 7 years that we were told in 2009 for electrification to be done and dusted. The centralised depot operation as with Salisbury is already practiced by GWR with the LTV▸ fleet centered on Reading depot. The arrangement with the West fleet is slightly different with SPM▸ being the hub with Exeter as an outbase, although Exeter will be upgraded to allow it to undertake heavier work. SPM is very congested overnight, although the removal from traffic of the bulk of the HST▸ fleet will free up space. As mentioned, Fratton (and additionally Cardiff Canton) provide fuel to GWR units. However, there are stabling locations that have no facilities such as Westbury and Gloucester. Both of these locations would be ideal for fuelling and servicing outbases, taking the pressure off of SPM and allowing units to stay out for longer without having to be cycled through SPM (roughly every 3 days at present).
The turbo units come from a suburban background where they've not had to spend more than one night away from home - i.e. they've been on depot and fuelled every 2 days. Will they be able to run a full three days of diagrams between depot calls?
As well as congestion, I understand that SPM (St Phillips Marsh) has lost a significant number of experienced staff to Hitachi. They also have a new train type - the 166 - to deal with. And together those factors have made it rather hard to keep on top of routine, and none-routine, servicing and repair. Of course, that was totally foreseeable, and I'm sure there's mitigation in place.
Crew availability for local services in the Westbury area is not brilliant at the moment. The biggest problems seem to be releasing drivers for class 166 training, which also requires the release of instructor drivers and assessor drivers to undertake the training, leaving a shortage of available staff. In addition to this, the Bristol signalling renewal over Easter also requires each driver who works trains through there to be released for a day to learn the new operating methods. By the time you add annual leave and sickness, I am told that it is a struggle to cover all the services.
I hear that too. I also heard about 4 months ago that the training on the class 166 was being done before they arrived and we would be off to a fresh start and see massive improvements very quickly in the new year.
I do compliment GWR on their current training and recruitment - in that there are lots of new staff on the trains shadowing and being taught by the experienced team we already have. And I do look forward to seeing those new people in the hopefully-soon future starting to take the load off the current team and being able (on the train manager side) to increase on-train customer service on short runs between ungated stations so that everyone will be offered the opportunity to pay for their journey.
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