IETs into passenger service from 16 Oct 2017 and subsequent performance issues

[whole diary]

[IndustryInsider]

Lots of HST^▸ (High Speed Train) in use on Friday for the South Wales routes.... a few short forms not listed on journeychecker as well......

I think I listed all of those in my last post, but if you have any more then please add them. 

Today I noted 1G29 (12:15 PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)-CNM^» (Cheltenham Spa - next trains)) and return 1L67 (15:00 CNM-PAD) were shortformed to 5, but the 12:22 PAD-MIM and its later working were longformed from five to nine cars.  An opportunity for a set swap missed?  Also not listed on Journeycheck.

I didn’t spot any others today.

[TonyK]

I've noticed that Journeycheck has not been up to full speed of late. At times, it has told a very different story to the cancellations map, which on further inspection seems to be more accurate.

[phile]

I've noticed that Journeycheck has not been up to full speed of late. At times, it has told a very different story to the cancellations map, which on further inspection seems to be more accurate.

A few months before ATW^▸ (Arriva Trains Wales (former TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company))) finished, they removed the whole Formation section from Journey Check due, it was said, to a lack of resources to manage the provision of the information.    TFW have not revived it.

[IndustryInsider]

A couple of diagrams partly covered by 5-cars instead of 9/10 today, some on JourneyCheck others not.  I think the full list was:

1G14, 08:27 PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)-SWI^» (Swindon - next trains)
1A12, 10:00 SWI-PAD
1G32, 12:27 PAD-CNM^» (Cheltenham Spa - next trains)
1L70, 15:46 CNM-PAD

1B28, 10:33 PAD-NWP
1L66, 14:09 NWP-PAD
1C25, 18:03 PAD-BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains)

A couple of those would have been absolutely fine as a 5-car, but a couple would have been very busy - 1L70 was reported full and standing, and I would expect it would have been very snug on 1L66 and 1C25.

Still, that means a total for the week of around 20.  It's possible I missed few, but I looked pretty closely at JourneyCheck and the set allocations on our internal systems so don't think I did.  So at a rough guess there's about 1000 80x workings a week, giving a total shortform percentage of around 2%.

We'll see what happens next week if I have the time to check.

[Timmer]

A few months before ATW^▸ (Arriva Trains Wales (former TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company))) finished, they removed the whole Formation section from Journey Check due, it was said, to a lack of resources to manage the provision of the information.    TFW have not revived it.

Can’t think why it’s not been bought back or why it was removed in the first place 

[IndustryInsider]

Yesterday saw one of the diagrams covered by a HST^▸ (High Speed Train) (listed on JourneyCheck) and another 9-car 800/3 one covered by a 5-car 802/0 (not listed on JourneyCheck).

So, the following were 5 vice 9:

1W01, 10:22 PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)-HFD^» (Hereford - next trains)
1P39, 15:14 HFD-PAD
1D37, 18:52 PAD-OXF^» (Oxford - next trains)
1P45, 20:31 OXF-PAD
1C32, 21:45 PAD-EXD^» (Exeter St Davids - next trains)

One of the better diagrams to substitute as 1D37 and 1P45 can easily cope as a 5-car, and most of the journeys of 1W01 and 1P39 can as well - though no doubt there will have been people forced to stand at certain points.

This morning's return trip from Exeter short as a result of 1C32 going down as a 5-car last night, so 1A08, 06:28 EXD-PAD is the same 5-car 802/0 which is listed on JourneyCheck.  No others so far today...

[IndustryInsider]

1C89, 16:33 PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)-EXD^» (Exeter St Davids - next trains) was a 5-car today I think.  1J93, 18:07 PAD-FRO^» (Frome - next trains) definitely was, and 1G60 17:42 PAD-CNM^» (Cheltenham Spa - next trains) would have been but for some reason it never left Paddington so was cancelled.

So, three short forms today including the one this morning.

[IndustryInsider]

Today saw the following short forms that I can find:

1L42, 07:30 Carmarthen to Paddington (on JourneyCheck)
1B31, 12:15 Paddington to Cardiff (not on JourneyCheck)
1L68, 14:56 Cardiff to Paddington (not on JourneyCheck)

All on the same diagram which was restored to a 10-car for the next working, 1C24, 17:30 Paddington to Taunton.

And,
1L34, 07:29 Swansea to Paddington (on JourneyCheck)

Think that's the lot for today in case anyone spotted any others?

[Timmer]

It’s good to see short form IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) workings have become few and far between. It gives you more confidence that when you turn up at the station your train should be the booked number of carriages.

[IndustryInsider]

It’s good to see short form IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) workings have become few and far between. It gives you more confidence that when you turn up at the station your train should be the booked number of carriages.

Yes, it's still far from perfect, Broadgage's sensible benchmark figure of 0.5% is hopefully where we'll be eventually, but it is certainly way less than the dozen or so a day we saw most days for much of last year.  Also by keeping this log for a few weeks it gives some actual data rather than just anecdotal observations by which you could easily get the impression that it's worse than it actually is.

[broadgage]

My suggested figure of 0.5% of trains being short formed is far from impressive for a new and hugely costly fleet, and should in my view be regarded as a barely acceptable maximum, and not as the "new normal"

In the last few days I have observed several short formations of 8 car instead of 9 or 10, presumably representing an HST^▸ (High Speed Train) instead of an IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train). This is not a huge problem in itself but it does rather beg the question as to what happens when GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) no longer have HSTs available.

[Thatcham Crossing]

it does rather beg the question as to what happens when GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) no longer have HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) available.

Posts in various places suggest there are currently 9x 9-car IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train)'s (802/1's) still to be delivered, running from next week until mid-April.

800001 & 800002 (which I think are 5-car units) are also allocated to driver training and not in passenger service yet.

[IndustryInsider]

In the last few days I have observed several short formations of 8 car instead of 9 or 10, presumably representing an HST^▸ (High Speed Train) instead of an IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train). This is not a huge problem in itself but it does rather beg the question as to what happens when GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) no longer have HSTs available.

The fleet is pretty interchangeable at the moment, there have been occasions where a HST has been replaced by a 9 or 10-car IET.  I haven't bothered listing any HST replacements in the same way I wouldn't list any 9-car vice 10-car IET formations as the difference in seating is negligible.  I guess your question will be answered in a couple of months when the HSTs have all gone, by which time of course the 14-strong 802/1 fleet should have been largely accepted - I think there's still more of them to turn a wheel in passenger service than HSTs that still need replacing.

[IndustryInsider]

My suggested figure of 0.5% of trains being short formed is far from impressive for a new and hugely costly fleet, and should in my view be regarded as a barely acceptable maximum, and not as the "new normal"

I think it's about right, and as mentioned earlier would equate to ten trains per week in the new timetable - when there will be some more workings booked to be covered by 5-car trains due to the increased frequencies.  Even better if there is a corresponding slight reduction in cancellations when the scenario arises where a train failure means a 10-car unit can be split into two 5-car ones to avoid a cancellation.  With the HST^▸ (High Speed Train) fleet it was very unlikely you'd be able to pluck a set out of thin air if one failed, unless a good old Turbo could come to the rescue!

[IndustryInsider]

Today is an interesting one, as the following are listed as 5-car on NP057 diagram (the only alterations I can see so far today):

1L16, 06:30 Cheltenham Spa to Paddington
1B17, 09:15 Paddington to Cardiff
1L54, 11:56 Cardiff to Paddington
1C18, 14:30 Paddington to Weston-Super-Mare
1A27, 17:10 Weston-Super-Mare to Paddington
1G88, 19:48 Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill

However, whilst 1L16 had 802007 allocated to it (a 5-car), 1B17 and the subsequent workings have 800304 (a 9-car) and I'm pretty sure I just watched a 9-car pass Slough on Railcam working 1B17.  If that's the case, you might think that 1L16 was a 5-car which was swapped to a 9-car at Paddington, but both trains arrived and departed from the same platform (number 4), with no sign of any ECS^▸ (Empty Coaching Stock) moves so they have to be the same set.  I suspect 802007 (which has no other allocations besides 1L16) was swapped with 800304 last minute and all six trains above will in fact be worked by a 9-car as booked.  That means they are all listed erroneously on JourneyCheck as shortformed - not the first time that's happened.

I'll watch the next couple of its workings pass Slough to confirm the length of the train, unless anyone is out and about and can do the job for me, or travelled on/saw 1L16, or any of the others, this morning.