Class 387 coming to Thames Valley - ongoing discussion

[whole diary]

[johoare]

The air conditioning appears to be a bit hit and miss on these new trains. The other day the journey into work was a consistent 26 degrees in the carriage even though it was a lot cooler outside.. this morning it reached over 25 before the air con kicked in for about 5 minutes.. Having said that I've also had lots of cooler trains so I imagine the temperature setting is down to someone's discretion

[eightf48544]

Travelled to Taplow on 17:57 ex Padd last night. Reasonably full. Coach 7 of 8 air con OK. Interseting left

Perhaps should have waited for 18:10 which only stops Slough and Taplow.

[Electric train]

I really cannot understand the aircon problem with the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) 387 on the Southern and Thameslink routes it works extremely well in fact often too well ............ chuffin freeeeeeeezin at times    The aircon only really functions at passenger comfort when the driver has the controller active, the GWR sets currently are sitting a lot of the time idle so the aircon cooling will not be on as much.

Still recon the 387's are a vast improvement over 165/6 ................. but then I am an electrification Engineer   

[johoare]

I agree. The whole experience of travelling on these trains (including the air con) is 100 times better than what we had before.. And I did think the two warmer than expected trains I experienced could have been down to human control rather than an issue with the air con itself.. Generally it is quite cool as you say :-)

The whole commuting from Maidenhead (for those people who have found the electric trains) has been such a drastic change from the overcrowded, overheated trains we had before that it's still quite surreal and very very welcome 

[Chris from Nailsea]

Jo has now started her new, extortionately overpaid, job as a public relations spokesperson for Great Western Railway.



That is by the way. 

[TaplowGreen]

Jo has now started her new, extortionately overpaid, job as a public relations spokesperson for Great Western Railway.



That is by the way. 

Sincere best wishes to someone who is undoubtedly a very courageous woman..............I believe the training includes DVDs of Comical Ali! 

[IndustryInsider]

Nice to hear somebody is enjoying the new trains.  NR^» (Network Rail - home page) infrastructure might be awfully unreliable at the moment and GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) unable to deal with the fallout from that, but the new electric trains appear to be going down very well with most people and of course their sphere of operation will be increasing dramatically over the coming months.

I hope the new Hitachi IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train - replacement for HSTs (manufactured by Hitachi in Kobe, Japan))'s create a similar wow-factor, but I think they will struggle in that regard despite being very capable trains, mostly due to the fondness many people have of the HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) and 180 trains they are replacing.

[eightf48544]

I hope the new Hitachi IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train - replacement for HSTs (manufactured by Hitachi in Kobe, Japan))'s create a similar wow-factor, but I think they will struggle in that regard despite being very capable trains, mostly due to the fondness many people have of the HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) and 180 trains they are replacing.

Should also add appalling seating and internal layout as negative factors.

[johoare]

Jo has now started her new, extortionately overpaid, job as a public relations spokesperson for Great Western Railway.



That is by the way. 

Sincere best wishes to someone who is undoubtedly a very courageous woman..............I believe the training includes DVDs of Comical Ali! 

Ha Ha why thank you 

[Tim]

I hope the new Hitachi IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train - replacement for HSTs (manufactured by Hitachi in Kobe, Japan))'s create a similar wow-factor, but I think they will struggle in that regard despite being very capable trains, mostly due to the fondness many people have of the HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) and 180 trains they are replacing.

Should also add appalling seating and internal layout as negative factors.

along with underfloor engine noise and vibration, no buffet cars, and longer than promised journey times. 

[lordgoata]

At least you wont have to change trains 20 times just because Transport for London have no concept of where London actually is 

[johoare]

7.32 EMU^▸ (Electric Multiple Unit) - Maidenhead to Paddington this morning developed some sort of fault which meant it couldn't travel at full speed so we got relegated to the relief line and had rather a slow journey even though it's non stop to Paddington..

[Electric train]

7.32 EMU^▸ (Electric Multiple Unit) - Maidenhead to Paddington this morning developed some sort of fault which meant it couldn't travel at full speed so we got relegated to the relief line and had rather a slow journey even though it's non stop to Paddington..

They may be a later working of the sets that formed the 06.28 Maidenhead Padd this morning, the driver had to do Ctr Alt Del   on the sets Pans were dropped and raised however the set performed fine after that but is possible there was an issue.


Like all new things its following the Bath Tub Curve https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathtub_curve            Reliability and performance is high when new but as they get used initially, but after a short while reliability and performance drops until the maintainer and operator learns the new trains after that reliability and performance greatly improves. 

[paul7575]

Opentraintimes now has service info extending through into January uploaded (with the usual caveat that it's over 84 days away and subject to change).

This link should give a snapshot of stopping services through Maidenhead, as can be seen the basic off-peak pattern of 4 tph stopping services has 2 tph from Didcot and 2 tph from Reading.

http://www.opentraintimes.com/location/MDNHEAD/2018-01-03/13:47?empty_passenger=on&non_passenger=on&passenger=on&show_call=on&show_stp=on&show_var=on&show_wtt=on&utf8=✓

The details show 90 mph EMU^▸ (Electric Multiple Unit) operation Didcot to Paddington, and AFAICT^▸ (as far as I can tell) Didcot to Oxford locals become shuttles at that time.

Paul

[Adelante_CCT]

Not that I expected any changes (maybe not until a full timetable recast) but still no decrease in journey times despite the quicker acceleration etc.