Turbo new cis system

[whole diary]

[ChrisB]

It's a mastter of cost over passsengers, Richard.

FGW^▸ (First Great Western) tell me that custom is down & they can't commercially run a 7 car HST^▸ (High Speed Train) commercially on those services being swapped over, even on the first off-peak.

I was told not so long ago that increased patronage will help persuade them to reintroduce HSTs.

[Mookiemoo]

I was told not so long ago that increased patronage will help persuade them to reintroduce HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train).

And turboing them is a guaranteed way to drive customers away

[ChrisB]

Yes, I would agree with that statement. Which unfortunately reinforces FGWs^▸ (First Great Western) hand in saying there's no longer the required traffic to run off-peak HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train).

I think the saying is 'Use it (the service) or lose (the HST) it.....

[devon_metro]

Not to worry, some 5 car noisy squeeling trains should be heading to First Great Western again soon.

Lets just pray, for Cross Countrys sake, that they aren't voyagers!!!

[IndustryInsider]

Not to worry, some 5 car noisy squeeling trains should be heading to First Great Western again soon.

Care to expand on that devon_metro? Have you heard the same rumour I have?

[Lee]

Would that be this one, gents?  :

I've heard rumblings from more than one person that the 180's might be reappearing on FGW^▸ (First Great Western). Talk of 5 of them coming back. I would (as ever) take that with a huge pinch of salt though as there's been nothing in the railway press as yet.

[hornbeam]

Think they are replacing floors/ cappets, new seat cusions, repainting the ceilings (!) new tables in first class and changes to the lighting. I do hope at least window issues will be fixed.

However, the fact they have lasted as well as they have is a sign of good design.

At the last meet the manager event at Reading, I tackled them about the state of them and he said ' they are very well used units that havent been that well looked after' I did point out that maybe if FGW^▸ (First Great Western) looked after them in the first place.....

The first class issue- if the 166 were used on the long distance routes as they should be they could retain first class, 165 could go all second. First class is hardly great on the uniits- not worth the extra ticket cost.

wrong as it maybe- for the money I pay a month I refuse to stand so will find a seat where possible. Anytime an inspector has told me and others to move out of fitst class no one has, I agree its wrong but i'll be dammed if I will stand!

[IanL]

It's a mastter of cost over passsengers, Richard.

FGW^▸ (First Great Western) tell me that custom is down & they can't commercially run a 7 car HST^▸ (High Speed Train) commercially on those services being swapped over, even on the first off-peak.

I was told not so long ago that increased patronage will help persuade them to reintroduce HSTs.

Chris,

I have emails from FGW dating from a few days after they introduced a turbo replacement to a full HST stating that while the loading on the recently replaced HST was sufficient and totally overcrowded on the turbo replacment that the HST would be of more use elsewhere.

No mention of replacing due to reduced loading in fact the opposite. I think FGW simply got the sums wrong and didnt have enough HSTs for the service they proposed.

[Mookiemoo]

wrong as it maybe- for the money I pay a month I refuse to stand so will find a seat where possible. Anytime an inspector has told me and others to move out of fitst class no one has, I agree its wrong but i'll be dammed if I will stand!

Well pay the fare to sit down - sorry - that is life - if you can afford it and can pay - if not stand. 

[willc]

I was told not so long ago that increased patronage will help persuade them to reintroduce HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train).

If passenger numbers are down - why does the 8.58 couple to another Turbo at Oxford to cope with numbers boarding that service there then? Why are we getting an extra Turbo running as a relief on the Moreton-Oxford leg in a fortnight's time, instead of the HST the loadings past Oxford justify?

If they are worried about falling traffic, why do FGW^▸ (First Great Western) do nothing at all in the area the Cotswold Line serves to promote:
a. The Cotswold Line Railcard for cheap fares on local journeys?
b. The Network Card, for the many people who travel a lot off-peak to Reading and London - and there are plenty off them? Or the regional Rover tickets, which if cunningly used, can also save money on such journeys.
c. The substantial cuts they made to most off-peak fares on the route in January?

No marketing whatever and the anti-marketing of putting yet more Turbos back on the route. Doesn't look like they're that bothered one way or the other. Maybe things will change post-redoubling but there's nothing stopping them pulling there finger out on this kind of thing right now, so why don't they?

[Richard Fairhurst]

d. The Oxford Evening Out ticket
e. The equivalent at the Worcester end of the line
f. Any form of yield management

f is the one that really surprises me. Go on any other part of the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) high-speed network - any other IC^▸ (Inter City) route anywhere in Britain, come to mention it - and there are carriages full of reserved seats with people paying cheap fares. But this is really, really rare on the Cotswold Line, and as comments elsewhere on this forum have indicated, it's not as if people don't want them!

I do understand your point, Chris, that not every single Cotswold service merits an HST^▸ (High Speed Train) - although I'd argue that the 8.58 certainly does.

But Turbos are not an adequate solution; and that's not down to size, it's down to passenger environment. 3+2 suburban units on a 2hr30 journey to Worcester, let alone Malvern or Hereford, can only serve to dampen demand. Pretty much anything other than Pacers or unrefurbished 150s would be better - 175s or 180s, 168s or 170s, 156s or 158s.

[hornbeam]

Thanks for the advice fallen angel, not sure why your getting so rattled, but I think the money I pay means I should get a seat- thats my take on  life.

[JayMac]

Thanks for the advice fallen angel, not sure why your getting so rattled, but I think the money I pay means I should get a seat- thats my take on  life.

And my take on life is that you should be excessed and penalty fared. First class is for first class ticket holders. Your standard season gives you no priviliges to break the rules regarding first class.

And as for "...but I think the money I pay means I should get a seat...." no dice there I'm afraid. You are receiving a discount by buying a season. If anything a standard anytime ticket holder has more right to sit in first class based on that logic. They have paid, pro rata, far more for their ticket.

[willc]

Not to worry, some 5 car noisy squeeling trains should be heading to First Great Western again soon.

Lets just pray, for Cross Countrys sake, that they aren't voyagers!!!

Let's just pray that if this is true, none of them turns a wheel anywhere west of Paddington until they are given the reliability modifications that they desperately need. And if someone could do something about those blasted brakes while they're at it...

[hornbeam]

Well I beg to differ, but thats what i like about this forum- we can all express our views.