London Midland Class 172 units

[whole diary]

[Don]

The Class 172 units will first operate between Hereford and Birmingham New Street via Worcester on Monday 13th December 2010.  The first services will replace the four existing 4-coach trains (2 x 170) with a pair class 172 units making a 5-coach trains.

The first train being 2B00 06:00 from Worcester to Hereford and it's return service the 07:08 from Hereford to Birmingham NS.

Worcester drivers have told me that they are the first to be trained on the new London Midland units which will replace all the class 150 and all or most of the class 153 units.

[super tm]

I guess one 172 will be 3 car and one 2 car.  Bit tight for Colwall.  What would happen if the put two 3 car 172 together.  Can they do SDO^▸ (Selective Door Opening)?

[ChrisB]

New Street or Snow Hill?

[Mookiemoo]

new street - hereford trains don't go from snow hill

[Worcester_Passenger]

Given that they're supposed to be replacing the 150s on the Kidderminster line, why are they being introduced on the New St - Hereford route?

[paul7575]

The original idea (ie the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) Rolling Stock plan) was to replace all LM^▸ (London Midland - recent franchise)'s 150s, so the first route they happen to enter service on doesn't really mean much does it?  It could also just be down to traction knowledge - 170 drivers may be easier to cross train initially?

OTOH^▸ (On The Other Hand) the unsubstantiated rumour is that some 150s will be retained - presumably based on the idea that there haven't been enough cascades to other TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) agreed yet?

Paul

[Mookiemoo]

Didnt think 150s went to hereford either!

Don't think I've ever seen one on that route

[devon_metro]

Have any even been delivered yet? Let alone any drivers trained

[willc]

Bit of a surprise as I haven't heard anything about any of the LM^▸ (London Midland - recent franchise) sets being completed by Bombardier yet, nor seen any photos anywhere. As for training the drivers, I believe LM have bought a simulator to help speed things along.

[Don]

The 172s unlike the 170s are fitted with SDO^▸ (Selective Door Opening) - Selective Door Opening - which is how they will cope with short platforms. 

The original plan was to start training the Worcester crews first and run 172s on the Hereford-BNS^▸ (Barnes (not Birmingham New Street)) service because this would cause the least problems - with few stops between Droitwich and BNS , I don't know if this is still the plan, or if any of the crews have been trained on them, but the belief is that a pair will be in use from Worcester on Monday morning.   The two Hereford - BNS services have been chosen because they are considered by LM^▸ (London Midland - recent franchise) management to be the worse two overloaded services and an extra coach with SDO operation is what they have been waiting for. 

As the 172s have corridor connections and the 170s don't, the intention is to try to replace the 170s that have to work in pairs (or with 153s) and use the 172s on these 2-unit, 4 and 5 coach services. So a current two coach service that does not need to be strengthened is likely to be a 170 in future, and a similar 3-coach is likely to be either one of the five 3-coach 170 or one of the fifteen 3-coach 172s, whereas a current 4-coach is likely to be a pair of 172s.

Once the are in normal service (post shakedown and crew training), most are expected to spend much of there working life running between Malvern-Worcester-Kidderminster-Stourbridge-Snow Hill. 

This is supposed to free up all the 150s and the 153s to be redeployed to other operators (FGW^▸ (First Great Western) in Devon and Cornwall and Northern around Leeds).

As for 150s in Hereford, they used to be very common before the 170s came along.  Now there is, I think, just one on a Saturday evening and perhaps another on Sunday.   

[Mookiemoo]

I have NEVER seen a 153 on any LM^▸ (London Midland - recent franchise) service between any Brum station and WOS^» (Worcester Shrub Hill - next trains)  station(s) and/or hereford

The only 153 I ever saw in that part of the world was the HOW line

I may have been lucky but.....

[Worcester_Passenger]

You sometimes get a pairing of a 2-car 170 with a 153 on the B'ham - Hereford. I've seen this on

07:05 Malvern - B'ham
10:40 Hereford - B'ham
16:49 B'ham - Hereford
20:59 B'ham - Hereford

[anthony215]

Hold on have any of the London Midland/Chiltern class 172's actually been fully built yet as i havnt read anything in the latest rail magazines. I thought the 1st class 172 for london Midland wasn't expected til 2011?

[Don]

Hold on have any of the London Midland/Chiltern class 172's actually been fully built yet as i havnt read anything in the latest rail magazines. I thought the 1st class 172 for london Midland wasn't expected til 2011?

To be honest, that's what I thought when I was told by a couple of men who were putting up "4 car stop" signs and "SDO^▸ (Selective Door Opening)" signs at Ledbury on Thursday lunchtime, this was then reinforced by the LM^▸ (London Midland - recent franchise) driver and guard on my train.

PS. The signs are black with white writing unlike the HST^▸ (High Speed Train) 7 & 8 stop signs which are white with black at Ledbury.  London Midland colours!

PPS. The LM 172s were originally expected to enter service/staff training with LM in August, but this was delayed by the exhaust issue.

A quick google and the lack of... anything, makes me wonder if this is actually true. 

Oh, with regard to 153s just before the morning and evening rush-hours there are scheduled empty stock workings of 5+ coach trains from Tysley to BNS^▸ (Barnes (not Birmingham New Street)).  Things like 2x 170 and a 153 or a 170 and 2x 153, would make a unusual photograph.

Mookiemoo, a 153 coupled to a 170 happens more than once a day, the last train to/from Hereford is almost always like this, just in case one unit breaks down.  Spend three hours at Foregate Street, and you are almost certain to see a paring.

[IndustryInsider]

I think it was probably planned to be happening on Monday, but instead will happen next year.  I'm pretty sure nothing has been delivered yet, let alone crew trained up.