Castle sets / HST next year

[whole diary]

[IndustryInsider]

At the begining of the IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train - replacement for HSTs (manufactured by Hitachi in Kobe, Japan)) saga, I expressed doubts about the ability to cope with the conditions at Dawlish. An IET  supporter assured me that it was an "essential requirement" that the new units be able to cope with conditions at Dawlish, so what happened ?

I guess the simple answer to that was posted earlier on another thread:

It is resistant to sea spray, not huge waves!  Wasn’t that the definition of Dawlish proof.

The more detailed answer would be that their performance has been disappointing - a reflection on their design. 

Yesterday was obvously a major storm which probably comes along once every couple of years, once a year at most.  However with an increasing reliance on them in the area it falls on those responsible for sorting out the train plan to work around their vunerablilities in such conditions.  It is a pretty poor show that lesson were not learnt the last time they sent units through and they limped to the next station or failed en-route.  To send in another IET to rescue risks the same thing happening to that unit - a risk far greater than should be taken.  Yesterday, the IET that sat down at Teignmouth should have been left there with a reduced service working around it formed of DMU^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit)'s or Castle Class trains.  Ideally IETs should not operate between Newton Abbot and Exeter when conditions are that bad (which was well forecasted in advance), and a shuttle service should run instead formed of other traction based on a defined train plan.

Another question to ask, is that, without the enchancements to the sea wall that have recently been completed, would yesterday have resulted in a full line closure anyway?  Or even worse, permanent damage such as that we saw nearly ten years ago:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBqDoFVpLoI

[Noggin]

As yesterdays chaos in Devon showed yesterday, the HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) sets are the only ones capable of going through Dawlish when its stormy. Once its all IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train - replacement for HSTs (manufactured by Hitachi in Kobe, Japan)) nothing will run.

At the begining of the IET saga, I expressed doubts about the ability to cope with the conditions at Dawlish. An IET  supporter assured me that it was an "essential requirement" that the new units be able to cope with conditions at Dawlish, so what happened ?

IIRC^▸ ('if I recall/remember/read correctly') there was supposedly some kind of setting on the 802's that turned off the rheostatic braking and isolated the roof grids - I guess that either it doesn't work or someone in the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) decided to save a few quid by just not running them if there was the chance someone at Hitachi might have to clean them up after a storm.

[broadgage]

It seems the XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) sets (including the repainted BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) set) are off to Nigeria, rather than Mexico (re Richard Clinnick twitter)

As Nigeria and Mexico tend to be warmer, drier countries perhaps we could send them a few IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train - replacement for HSTs (manufactured by Hitachi in Kobe, Japan)) instead of the HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) sets.
Mind you if they had any sense they wouldn't touch them with a barge pole

Nigeria and Mexico are both prone to weather hotter than in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom), IETS would suffer from heat stroke and might well die of heat stress.