Class 387 coming to Thames Valley - ongoing discussion

[whole diary]

[stuving]

Hmm. I took it to mean all-day stoppers (presumably shuttles to Reading) would be 4-car, and could use the bay at Newbury, with some peak-hour limited-stop 8-car additions. But that's not based on knowing the route.

[Thatcham Crossing]

Guess we will wait and see then. Unless others know more?

[IndustryInsider]

I think Stuving has it pretty much spot on.  The platforms being extended will also be useful for IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) formed services.  Platform extensions have recently started at the Thames Valley stations between Didcot and Reading and at Twyford.  Going to be a tight call as to whether they’re ready in time for January, but if not then 6 or 7 car SDO^▸ (Selective Door Opening) could used initially.  I wouldn’t expect you’ll see work starting on the B&H^▸ (Berks and Hants - railway line from Reading to Taunton via Westbury) stations until late next year.

[Thatcham Crossing]

The platforms being extended will also be useful for IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) formed services

Indeed. I guess the Bedwyn's will be a 5-car set (as previously discussed) due to the turnback length at Bedwyn.

What about the proposed semi-fasts to points further west? - those that do operate today are HST^▸ (High Speed Train)'s and call at Thatcham and Theale. Do we know yet if these will be operated with 5 or 10 cars?

[IndustryInsider]

Not sure on that one.  All options are still on the table, they could use a 10-car IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) with SDO^▸ (Selective Door Opening) set at 6 or 7 (depending on how much they extend by), or run 8-car 387s from Paddington in the peaks and remove the calls on the longer distance trains to speed them up a bit - it’s only a couple of trains a day after all, but finding paths for that will be challenging.  They could run them as 5-car IETs but that would go against promises of all peak IET trains running as 9 or 10-car and would cause capacity issues.  Finally they could risk upsetting commuters by removing the calls and making them change at Reading.

It’s one of the slightly awkward puzzles still to solve, though the big one of diesel shuttles from Newbury to Bedwyn all day has at least been put to bed with the bi-mode option being adopted.

[Adelante_CCT]

- a 4-car 387 would represent an increase in a capacity from a 3-car 16x, but probably not that much (due less dense seating config of the 387)

More standing room but less seats than a class 166 in fact

256 seats (cl166)  vs 224 seats (cl387) I think

[bobm]

Latest RAIL Magazine is quoting GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) as looking at Swindon as a possible place to stable 387s, particularly off peak, from January.  The original plan to park them in the sidings at Oxford isn't going to be possible.

[IndustryInsider]

Yes, Swindon has been mentioned for many months now as a 'next best' option for stabling.  Far from ideal of course, especially given the wires to Swindon are still some way off being energised, but I'm sure it won't be GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) paying for any additional costs.

[gwr2006]

Latest RAIL Magazine is quoting GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) as looking at Swindon as a possible place to stable 387s, particularly off peak, from January.  The original plan to park them in the sidings at Oxford isn't going to be possible.

Did you mean Oxford or Didcot Yard as I thought it was Didcot that was being considered for stabling the 387s?

Yes, Swindon has been mentioned for many months now as a 'next best' option for stabling.  Far from ideal of course, especially given the wires to Swindon are still some way off being energised, but I'm sure it won't be GWR paying for any additional costs.

It doesn't look like Steventon will be ready any time soon and doubtful the high street bridge will even be rebuilt now before December 2018. Loco-haulage anyone?

[ellendune]

It doesn't look like Steventon will be ready any time soon and doubtful the high street bridge will even be rebuilt now before December 2018. Loco-haulage anyone?

Apparently they are looking at a temporary solution with a speed limit to achieve the deadline.

NR^» (Network Rail - home page) tweets also suggest they are lowering the track this weekend. So it looks like a combination of lowered track, minimum clearances and reduced speed to allow the gradient of the contact wire to be very steep. 

[onthecushions]

Would the mods consider moving or mirroring posts 643 onwards to the GW^▸ (Great Western) electrification section?

OTC

[Chris from Nailsea]

Posts now moved and merged with that more relevant discussion - thanks for the constructive suggestion, OTC.

CfN. 

[Adelante_CCT]

Judging by the Didcot - Oxford shuttles and the info provided on train data sites, the 387s should be coming out to play through Reading on January 1st fingers crossed.

If the train data is correct (to be taken with a pinch of salt) then it would appear the first class 387 passenger service west of Maidenhead could be the 02:24 from Reading to Paddington, with the 04:07 from Didcot being the first service west of Reading.

[ChrisB]

I certainly won't be on either of those!

[IndustryInsider]

Counted 15 (at least) 387's parked-up in total at Maidenhead and West Ealing on my way into London today.

Wondering how many they need to run the service expansion in January?

I believe there’s 41 daily 387 diagrams required from January, from the final fleet size of 45.  The vast majority of which will be 8-car, with three 12-car diagrams.