One less HST stopping at Maidenhead from August 10th - pm?

[whole diary]

[Super Guard]

Commuters don't necessarily know where their train is going

So how on earth do they find out or check their platform at PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) every night? One looks up at the departure board for the time and destination (otherwise you might get on the slow to Oxford, say that leaves at the same time) - so I'm not a follower of your statement.

Or you listen for an announcement (but still have to check that it's going where you want at the speed you want, so however sub-consciously, do note the destination)

Most nights of working the 1955 EXD^» (Exeter St Davids - next trains)-PAD, you will get a couple of refugees get on at Taunton, travelling to such places as Newbury, Kintbury and Theale.  The problem is they left London at 18:03 (Pad-Rdg-Tau---PZ) and not at 18:06 (stopper).  Some people are just on auto-pilot no matter how many screens or announcements are made.

[ChrisB]

Oh agreed. You can't account for them.....:-)

[IndustryInsider]

Is Maidenhead one of the destinations on the 'Next Fastest train to'? Not sure it is.

There are two different types of 'Next fastest train to' at Paddington.  One with longer distance destinations generally by the lower numbered platforms, and one with more local destinations generally by the higher numbered platforms.  Maidenhead appears on the latter, but not the former.

[johoare]

After all 20 mins between Paddington and Maidenhead on a turbo isn't that bad surely

If it actually took 20mins on a turbo, I might agree...   

Even if it was 20 minutes it is definitely bad since a lot of them are SO hot and dangerous.. Which is why I prefer the HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) and don't want one of the two we have currently potentially taken away in the middle of summer.

[James]

Well Jo if thats what it happens to be like, then maybe FGW^▸ (First Great Western) really need to sought out the aircon on the Turbo's. I mean what really is wrong with fixing a problem that is simple.
I think that Adelante's and HST^▸ (High Speed Train) should run on more fast services, then the whole thing about travelling in comfort will be over, or so I think. At the end of the day if First Great Western cannot be bothered then why are they still continuing to run rail services? Only thing is will other operators be any better, probably not. Oh the joys of rail privatisation, i hear people say BRING BACK BRITISH RAIL, if only that ever will happen

[ellendune]

Well Jo if thats what it happens to be like, then maybe FGW^▸ (First Great Western) really need to sought out the aircon on the Turbo's. I mean what really is wrong with fixing a problem that is simple.

That does presume that the problem is simple.

I think that Adelante's and HST^▸ (High Speed Train) should run on more fast services, then the whole thing about travelling in comfort will be over, or so I think. At the end of the day if First Great Western cannot be bothered then why are they still continuing to run rail services? Only thing is will other operators be any better, probably not.

Yes more HST's and Adelantes would really be good on a many parts of the FGW network - not just Maidenhead. Do you know where there are that might be going spare?  Or are you expecting X Country, Grand Central, Hull Trains, Midland Mainline and East Coast to have spares that they don't need?  Basically we need more rolling stock across the board.

However, bear in mind the HST were not built for services that have frequent stops.  When they were introduced on GW^▸ (Great Western) in the 70's it was expected that they would have limited stops.  They are now working all stops west of Reading most of the time.

Oh the joys of rail privatisation, i hear people say BRING BACK BRITISH RAIL, if only that ever will happen

Yes lets bring back the British Rail whose policy was to cut services to drive away the passengers so they could save money by taking out capacity - a form of managed decline.

[johoare]

Well Jo if thats what it happens to be like, then maybe FGW^▸ (First Great Western) really need to sought out the aircon on the Turbo's. I mean what really is wrong with fixing a problem that is simple.
I think that Adelante's and HST^▸ (High Speed Train) should run on more fast services, then the whole thing about travelling in comfort will be over, or so I think. At the end of the day if First Great Western cannot be bothered then why are they still continuing to run rail services? Only thing is will other operators be any better, probably not. Oh the joys of rail privatisation, i hear people say BRING BACK BRITISH RAIL, if only that ever will happen

I've been asking them to sort out the air con for many years.. I'm not terribly hopeful...




Edited to fix quote. bignosemac

[James]

Nor i am Jo  , guessing it's continue ignoring the issue of customers for now at least.

Ellendune
They have had a lot of time to fix the air con, and i know i am going to mention about Chiltern's method of how to fix air con's when they don't work, however why is it the case the ones on fgw continue to fail? Maybe after all the fuss, they need to take chilterns method and put it in to practise, with no excuses. It's no good to just continually leave it broken.

Lets be plain and simple about this, if fgw! didn't continually withdrawn HST^▸ (High Speed Train)'s from the timetable between Paddington and Maidenhead then it wouldn't be a problem. If you say that fgw should get spare HST's from other companies then be realistic, of course we need more rolling stock across the country. Fine if it has to be turbo's fine, but the air con must be working so that people don't have problems breathing whilst in the hot conditions on the train.

And with British Rail, the times have changed, and i have no idea why you think the same actions would happen now as there did back in the day. Lets be franc, most if not all train operators need cash from the government, and it doesn't make sense to have separate little companies, when really everything should be absorbed into one company that does everything. Thats how good planning for rail services should work, and i am no rail geek

[John R]

Lets be franc,

Euro bit off with your spelling, you know.

[James]

Well i am a little rusty with the spelling, but i am sure you know what i mean 

[ellendune]

Lets be plain and simple about this, if fgw! didn't continually withdrawn HST^▸ (High Speed Train)'s from the timetable between Paddington and Maidenhead then it wouldn't be a problem. If you say that fgw should get spare HST's from other companies then be realistic, of course we need more rolling stock across the country. Fine if it has to be turbo's fine, but the air con must be working so that people don't have problems breathing whilst in the hot conditions on the train.

But HST's were never designed for that kind of work.  So yes sort the turbos.

They have had a lot of time to fix the air con, and i know i am going to mention about Chiltern's method of how to fix air con's when they don't work, however why is it the case the ones on fgw continue to fail? Maybe after all the fuss, they need to take chilterns method and put it in to practise, with no excuses. It's no good to just continually leave it broken.

This has been discussed on another board.  Chiltern costed it into their bid and it is a franchise commitment. FGW^▸ (First Great Western) did not so they do not have the money. I presume therefore it can be fixed, but at a price.

Says a lot about the people who let franchises doesn't it.

And with British Rail, the times have changed, and i have no idea why you think the same actions would happen now as there did back in the day. Lets be franc, most if not all train operators need cash from the government, and it doesn't make sense to have separate little companies, when really everything should be absorbed into one company that does everything. Thats how good planning for rail services should work, and i am no rail geek

I agree that times have changed, but I am not sure that one big company would be any better.  It is the politicians who write the franchises or define that terms for the one big company that will determine that neither will work well.

[James]

I agree, that fgw should have planned in there franchise deal, to sort out any problems with their trains into the agreement, however i see where it is coming from its money!!!, all money!!. Government should be much stricter, but i have doubtful mind that they will ever take things more seriously. So people will continue to suffer OH WONDERFULL!!.

[devon_metro]

Isn't one of the problems with the air con system particularly on turbos the stop/start nature of the units. Many have their engines switched off between duties and during lenthly spells sat in sidings off peak. This surely reduces the effectiveness of the air con as it is initially working very hard trying to cool a train that may have been in the sun for x amount of hours!

[trainer]

On the subject of air con, they seem to manage in mainland Europe where temperatures are considerable higher for longer and aircon even manages efficiency on trams which are frequently stopping and have wide doors open to let in hot air at every stop.  However having been on a TGV^▸ (Train a Grande Vitesse) along the southern coast of France in high summer when the aircon has failed, I can assure you that as soon as it was possible a move was made (reserved seat notwithstanding) to another coach.  Fortunately, we were going away from Paris so the train was generally emptying.  I sympathise if you put up with this daily.

[stuving]

On the subject of air con, they seem to manage in mainland Europe where temperatures are considerable higher for longer and aircon even manages efficiency on trams which are frequently stopping and have wide doors open to let in hot air at every stop.  However having been on a TGV^▸ (Train a Grande Vitesse) along the southern coast of France in high summer when the aircon has failed, I can assure you that as soon as it was possible a move was made (reserved seat notwithstanding) to another coach.  Fortunately, we were going away from Paris so the train was generally emptying.  I sympathise if you put up with this daily.

I'm sure that's generally true, though it's not really fair to compare a turbo with a TGV - after all HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) do pretty well. New French TERs are also pretty good, but older French rolling stock (Corail) has a much poorer record. The Corail carriages had reliability issues, and about 5 years ago SNCF^▸ (Societe Nationale des Chemins de fer Francais - French National Railways) compounded this by their rule that when a circuit breaker tripped the train crew couldn't reset it - they had to wait for an electrician to come out, often by by road if the train had failed ...

Of course any train will overheat if it loses overhead power, and TGVs have been evacuated in such cases. (Note that IEP^▸ (Intercity Express Program / Project.) isn't required to run cooling in that situation - but with its auxiliary diesel should be able to do so, at least if not trying to move.)