Problems with IET trains from April 2021

[whole diary]

[IndustryInsider]

AIUI^▸ (as I understand it) the length of cracks varies quite substantially, with many (the large majority?) being tiny.  Therefore with daily inspections and a couple of units away at a time when the repair programme starts, there should only be a limited affect on the timetable going forward.

[grahame]

Presumably, over the coming days and weeks, the number of available IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) units can only reduce as cracks are going to propagate more quickly than a Repair Plan can be devised and implemented.

Not sure on that presumption.  If the average age of the 80 or so GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) sets is 4 years, it suggests that things may have been going wrong undetected at a rate of 20 units a year - one every 2 weeks or so.   I think I saw a repair time of 3 or 4 days per unit, so that suggests that they can be fixed twice as fast as they are going wrong.    Which logic has just as many presumptions in it as your original presumption  

AIUI^▸ (as I understand it) the length of cracks varies quite substantially, with many (the large majority?) being tiny.  Therefore with daily inspections and a couple of units away at a time when the repair programme starts, there should only be a limited affect on the timetable going forward.

Exactly!

[Lee]

From the Swindon Advertiser (URL may change - looks like admin error at the Adverister!)

Mark Hopwood, GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) managing director, said: “Our customers have shown great patience over the past couple of days, and I am grateful for their understanding as we have worked with Hitachi to allow trains to return safely. This news will allow us to run some additional services today and reintroduce more consistent robust timetables for customers after the weekend.

“The industry has come together to help support those travelling – with other operators allowing each other’s tickets to be used on their networks; adding in extra shuttle services to help move people; and in sharing rolling stock to provide it to those who need it most.”

My bolding.

It has been good to see the industry coming together across TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company); so often, they do (and much praise due) under emergency / crisis situations.   Can we look forward to that as the norm?  I'm conscious of the "wrong owner of fuel" issue at Exeter very recently, which lead (as I understand it) to several days of trains replaced by buses from Axminster to Exeter, and wonder if under management contracts and the new Shapps-Williams regime (to be published in August, but we don't know which August) such issues won't arise.

Yes - And as I said in a recent post, I think that the new regime has already de facto come into existence:

 

Raises the age old question again - what's the point of franchising?

But we don't have franchising any more.  They are all management contracts.  AIUI^▸ (as I understand it) franchising is dead. 

Dead - but there is a something of a legacy ... when (eventually!) we see "Williams", we may see negatives of that legacy tidied up.  Seems everyone has been so busy dealing with other events that Williams is a bit later than intended! 

Of course, it's now "Shapps-Williams", which rather gives away the fact that the new system will be based largely on political considerations. Previous governments in recent times - both Conservative and Labour - have had to satisfy a majority based on Middle England voters who were Conservative with a small "c", and who were instinctively suspicious of anything that smacked of "nationalisation". However, the current Johnson Conservative administration has to satisfy a majority based on Northern voters who are Labour with a small "l", who dont really have a problem with nationalisation, and who just want the government to do something - anything - to improve their lot.

However, my recent research into SENRUG and the Northumberland Line has given me an intriguing insight into who is currently advising the government on transport matters, and what exactly it is they are advising. Basically, the current crop of special advisors is using as its reference point the last time they think that public transport was part of a nationalised system under a Conservative administration and appeared to be working, and with both bus and rail they landed in the early to mid 1980's.

In the case of buses, this means the era where the big, regionalised subsidaries of the National Bus Company had been broken down into smaller, more locally focused units that had not yet been deregulated/privatised and thus could still be relatively easily integrated with the municipal bus companies, and with rail and other public transport modes. In the case of rail, this means the era of the sub-£1 billion railway, of cut-price rail reopenings, and of the "glory days" of Network SouthEast.

The modern equivalent structures they are putting in place are Bus Back Better, and for rail, I believe that they will go for a more localised version of sectorisation that has the mid-section of Network SouthEast as its inspiration. The DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) will set a broad overall strategy, goals and service standards, but ask the rail industry to work out how to implement them. The TOCs will have their own management structure and oversight, and decide about scheduling, marketing, what infrastructure enhancements they require, and rolling stock specifications - probably wise given recent events. Network Rail will own, maintain, and where required, enhance and build new infrastructure.

Indeed, there are signs that key rail industry players are already working de facto to this new structure. To give some examples - Andrew Haines, in a recent speech, appeared to acknowledge that Network Rail will need to provide what the DfT, TOCs and customers actually want, rather than what Network Rail think they should have.  The DfT - despite it being their duff rolling stock specification that started the sequence of events that led to the current disruption - have told the TOCs that they want the that disruption sorted, and to work out for themselves how to sort it.  The TOCs, at least by the look of early indications, appear to be working together to try and sort it as best they can.

[stuving]

Some more authoritative news, from Clarence Yard on railforums. Out of 93 GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) units, 38 are fit to run, 16 need some servicing (sterilisation!), and 6 exiled to sidings haven't been looked at yet. Subtraction suggests that 33 are not usable, though I guess further work might change that a bit. But it's still a lot.

He also says that, of a number of possible causal factors, the specification of the material used to make the bolster is currently a focus of attention. I found that a bit surprising, but then probably there will be other factors involved as well.

[grahame]

Just in from GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)

Dear Graham
 
Following Mark’s email yesterday, we have just issued a media release with our updated timetable plan which you can view here.
 
It confirms that from Monday we will be able to deliver the majority of our summer timetable (around 90% of our pre-Covid level timetable).  There are some changes to a small number of early and late services, and we will be operating turbo services from Bedwyn to Newbury, connecting with Class 387 services at Newbury, but generally services should operate as planned for the summer, including our planned additional weekend services to support extra leisure travel.
 
We may also need to operate some trains with five cars instead of ten, and as spare sets will be limited there could be some short notice changes, but we feel confident that the plan we have put together will work.  It will be updated into industry information systems overnight so customers will be able to check journeys for next week from Saturday morning. 
 
Our advice remains to check before travel, but we are no longer advising not to travel on any routes.
 
We will of course keep a close eye on things and will continue to keep you updated.
 
Best wishes
 
Jane

With "view here" taking you to:

Great Western Railway is pleased to announce that it expects to be able to operate 99% of its planned timetable from Monday after the re-introduction of the majority of its long-distance fleet.

Hitachi’s fleet of 800 Series trains was removed from service across the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) as a precaution last weekend when cracks were found on some trains. After further rigorous safety checks involving ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about)’s HM Railway Inspectorate, GWR is now beginning to reintroduce trains with a more regular service for passengers.

The timetable includes

London Paddington and Bristol Temple Meads: Half-hourly
London Paddington and Plymouth/Penzance: Hourly to Plymouth with services extended to Penzance every two hours
London Paddington and South Wales (via Bristol Parkway): Half-hourly during peak, hourly outside peak times
London Paddington to the North Cotswolds via Oxford: Hourly
London Paddington and the South Cotswolds (Cheltenham/Gloucester): Hourly.
Local stopping services will continue to operate as planned, and additional long-distance train services will be provided at weekends to accommodate summer increases in visitors to Devon and Cornwall.

GWR will operate Intercity Express Trains alongside additional trains brought in from other areas of the UK rail network to provide its long-distance services. With a reduction in available Class 800 trains, some very early morning and late evening services will not operate, and Intercity Express Train services between London Paddington and Newbury will be replaced by Class 387 electric trains (where customers can join a connecting train to Bedwyn).

The service recovery plan includes thorough inspections by specialist teams before trains leave the depot and trains will only re-enter service if they meet agreed safety criteria. Working with Hitachi Rail, the rail regulator will continue to carry out rigorous oversight to ensure robust processes are being followed.

Trains on some routes may be less frequent than usual and train availability could vary, for a number of reasons, so passengers should continue to check before they travel next week.

[broadgage]

I smell a rat !

"90%" train service but with several dozen trains out of service, and with those remaining being subject to extra checks, how exactly ?

A connecting service via Reading or Newbury is better than no trains, but hardly a return to normal. Remember that pre covid that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) struggled to run a full service of full length IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train) due to "normal" faults and failures.
And a single 5 car unit from London is NOT normal.

[ChrisB]

that'll be 90% service in my book.....and you're posts are getting very boring & repetitive. Sorry

[rower40]

So, "near normal timetable", eh? Which "normal" would that be, I wonder.

The new one.

[Celestial]

that'll be 90% service in my book.....and you're posts are getting very boring & repetitive. Sorry

Seconded. Any forum where a contributor repeatedly says the same thing for years is the poorer for it.

[grahame]

that'll be 90% service in my book.....and you're posts are getting very boring & repetitive. Sorry

Seconded. Any forum where a contributor repeatedly says the same thing for years is the poorer for it.

Gentlemen (or should I say "everyone") ... I have a report in my intray suggesting this is verging on the personal.  Please don't let it stray over the line.  Thanks.

[bobm]

Well if there were 17 IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train) out today, I saw two of them.

[infoman]

Mark Hopwood was interviewed on a train on ITV West local news.
Strange that ITV west put up in-vision sub titles for the interview
then put the reporters name OVER the in-vision sub titles
Then broke away to show footage of a train with Mark Hopwood still talking and no in-vision sub-titles
Have a look on ITV West plus one just after 7pm(friday)

[ChrisB]

GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) tweeted Mark on a train earlier today - suspect it was this that they showed - it had subtitles....

[TaplowGreen]

that'll be 90% service in my book.....and you're posts are getting very boring & repetitive. Sorry

Seconded. Any forum where a contributor repeatedly says the same thing for years is the poorer for it.

Let's be honest, we are all capable of being stuck records at times, aren't we? aren't we?

[infoman]

ChrisB thank you for the info.

On BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) West they had a still of the green stripe livery from a few years ago!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chris Irwin was interviewed in the car park area outside of Swindon train station.