Problems with IET trains from April 2021

[whole diary]

[RobT]

Looks like it was replaced with 800312 on 5Z78 from Swindon.
https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:86585/2023-08-14/detailed#allox_id=0

[ChrisB]

Ugh, so the 1100 pax are now in those 5cars!

[Trowres]

1C78 definitely 9 cars passing Dawlish.

[IndustryInsider]

Looks like it was replaced with 800312 on 5Z78 from Swindon.
https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:86585/2023-08-14/detailed#allox_id=0

Yes, please disregard my previous post - I put two and two together and got five, rather than nine! :-)

[PhilWakely]

We had a running commentary from a concerned parent waiting at Exeter St David's for their charges who were on 1C78.

Apparently, they were told to decamp at Westbury and board 1C85 (1436 PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)-PGN) which was formed of 5-car 802016, which fairly obviously could not cope with the additional load. After a further delay, an empty 9-car turned up to continue 1C78 onto Plymouth**.

Edit....
** It appears that 1B16 (1318 PAD-CDF^» (Cardiff - next trains)), formed of 9-car 800312, was caped at Swindon 'due to an issue with the train crew' and the unit sent to Westbury as 5C78 to replace the stricken 800316 (which was eventually sent to Stoke Gifford)

[grahame]

Seeming lots of 10 and 9 cars down to 5 cars today.  I wonder what the maths is - are more 9 cars out of service than 5 cars, or is it just an arithmetic quirk?  Are there trains that are running as 9 cars when they would normally be 5, but not being reported? The fleet looks like:

36 - 5 car 800/0 800-001 to 800-036
22 - 5 car 802/0 802-001 to 802-022

21 - 9 car 800/3 800-301 to 800-321
14 - 9 car 802/1 802-101 to 802-114

[GBM]

Several reduced formations to/from Cornwall today.
Also many stopping/starting short in Devon and Cornwall.

[bradshaw]

More than 20 Cl80x out of action yesterday due to repairs with 9 Castles working instead of the planned 7.
Source Richard Clinnick on Twitter/X
https://x.com/clinnick1/status/1693899436076794039?s=61&t=VlafMC5gF9tidw36b1Y8JQ

[IndustryInsider]

There’s certainly a bit of a crisis of availability at the moment.  No slack in the system (as Mark Hopwood confessed in the ‘Meet The Manager’) and further overall stock reductions to come shortly from the mandate of the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) does not bode at all well longer term, even when IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train - replacement for HSTs (manufactured by Hitachi in Kobe, Japan)) availability improves.

[bobm]

Anyone know where things are with regard to the number of units still waiting for remedial work following the cracks issue?

[broadgage]

How can WE - as passengers / a passenger group help all the players to make things better for customers, which I am going to define as making for a (more) reliable train service?

I do not believe that there is much WE can do. The IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train - replacement for HSTs (manufactured by Hitachi in Kobe, Japan)) are unreliable, and seem unlikely to improve much for some years at least. I appreciate that some actually like them and blame the endless short formations on things other than the trains, but from the point of view of the average passenger, new trains=shorter trains.
Passenger comfort and facilities are a bit subjective, but are generally accepted to be inferior to the previous trains.
As a passenger group, we can "keep up the pressure" on GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway), but I doubt that much will be achieved.

The present industrial disputes will eventually end, but I do not believe that we, as a passenger group can do much to accelerate the process.

And after the strikes end, we will face the normal staff shortages. GWR, and before them FGW^▸ (First Great Western) have proved incapable of or unwilling to recruit enough staff to run reliably run a full service. This has been the case for YEARS and any near term improvement seems most unlikely.

[grahame]

I appreciate that some actually like them and blame the endless short formations on things other than the trains, but from the point of view of the average passenger, new trains=shorter trains.

I'm not sure that the average passenger gives a toss about train length. It's much for about frequency, reliability,  reasonable journey time, and some comfort, including enough capacity to be comfortable.

I grumbled on Saturday about a 2 car being sent out on our 09:10 - first southbound train of the day. The grumble was not because of the length as such - it was because families could not sit together, children were on knees and some were standing rather together rather than jamming themselves into the middle seats of separate 3s.  Give us an hourly 2 car each way to spread the load and we'll be happy for a short while (except it will be so popular that will become overcrowded!

Passenger comfort and facilities are a bit subjective, but are generally accepted to be inferior to the previous trains. As a passenger group, we can "keep up the pressure" on GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway), but I doubt that much will be achieved.

We tend to decry the negative changes for years but celebrate the positive ones for just days, though.  And there are times that "keeping up the pressure" appear to achieve nothing but for all we know we may have prevented a negative change.

The present industrial disputes will eventually end, but I do not believe that we, as a passenger group can do much to accelerate the process.

Agreed; I have been scratching my head look at how we can help and can't come up with much.  Even strongly showing we want the issues solved can be counterproductive because the sides (yes, I have said "sides") see that as support for the railways and they see themselves as the railway angels or saviours.

And after the strikes end, we will face the normal staff shortages. GWR, and before them FGW^▸ (First Great Western) have proved incapable of or unwilling to recruit enough staff to run reliably run a full service. This has been the case for YEARS and any near term improvement seems most unlikely.

Agreed;  I think it is industry wide though!


[/quote]

[Richard Fairhurst]

Two of the last IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train - replacement for HSTs (manufactured by Hitachi in Kobe, Japan)) I've taken have been worryingly juddery - sufficiently so that in both cases I've flagged it to the train manager.

This morning I was on the 10.53 out of Paddington in Coach D, and there were continuous judders all through the carriage. I first noticed it around the Heathrow junction, but it continued pretty much all the way through to Oxford, and then became more intense between Oxford and Hanborough again.

Not sure if these are just the expected autumn wheel flats (I'm not any sort of engineer let alone a train engineer!) but I don't recall noticing anything this bad on any other train.

[Jamsdad]

Oh dear, that would never have been  allowed in the olden days when that  train was the Golden Hind!

[IndustryInsider]

Oh dear, that would never have been  allowed in the olden days when that  train was the Golden Hind!

I don’t think the 10:53 from Paddington to Worcester has ever been called ‘The Golden Hind’.