First Great Western announces extra capacity across network

[whole diary]

[pbc2520]

FGW^▸ (First Great Western) HST^▸ (High Speed Train) power sockets are unusable for many chargers, unlike Chiltern's, who rotated the socket 90 deg.

Take a two or three way square adapter with you - the socket on the top or side then works for most chargers.

Assuming we're talking HST carriages, it's only the table sockets that can be awkward.  If you really must sit at a table then it's rarely a problem using the socket beneath your seat (intended for the person behind you).  These days, I never use my laptop at a table anyway because the pull-out support on the fold-down trays gives me a more ergonomic position.  (I am only 5' 8 though.)

The new sockets in the video appear to be knee height so probably won't have such restrictions.

[Lee]

Horses for courses, I guess. I'm a fan of using my laptop on FGW^▸ (First Great Western) HST^▸ (High Speed Train) tables, and am around the same height as you. Very useful for the long journeys I make back from Devon and Cornwall, as long as you pick your train (and where you get on it) carefully.

I am also lucky in that both my laptop and smartphone chargers seem to fit the table sockets fine.

[IndustryInsider]

Looking through the back of the carriage is the front-end of a 180 so it seems likely, assuming that the stock is all kept together for refurbishment.

Yes, not only that, but there's a very Class 180 looking dot-matrix screen at the end of the carriage.

[inspector_blakey]

FGW^▸ (First Great Western) HST^▸ (High Speed Train) power sockets are unusable for many chargers, unlike Chiltern's, who rotated the socket 90 deg.

Tosh. The few charging sockets at tables can be a problem, I'll grant you, but the charging sockets at the airline seats have no such problems. In fact, they're the neatest type I've seen so far, given that if someone in the aisle seat wants to plug something in they don't have to trail their cable across the lap of the person in the window seat.

[JayMac]

One of these can solve the table socket problem:

http://www.fixandclip.co.uk/product_images/o/371/439477_ENWWMPRO1__43537_zoom.JPG

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the Didcot Herald:

Scots' skills ease rail commuting crush

An engineering workshop in the Scottish town of Kilmarnock may seem an unlikely place to find the answer to Oxfordshire commuters^ prayers.

However, work being carried out there will soon ease the squeeze on busy rush-hour trains serving the county.

Extra 125mph rolling stock for train operator First Great Western is being overhauled or converted in Kilmarnock by Wabtec Rail Scotland, which can trace its roots back to a business founded in the town in 1840.

Five five-coach Class 180 Adelante express trains, last used by FGW^▸ (First Great Western) in 2009, are being given a makeover before they return to operation on services between the Cotswold Line, Oxford and London.

And 15 redundant buffet cars are being turned into standard class passenger coaches, which will add an extra 84 seats to many of FGW^s High Speed Trains used on services from Oxford and Didcot.

Last summer the Department for Transport revealed that the 10 most overcrowded commuter trains operating around London were all FGW services to or from Paddington station, including four serving Oxfordshire.

Although work by Network Rail to electrify the Great Western main line to Oxford is expected to start next year, bringing the prospect of new and cascaded electric trains from 2016, finding a way to boost capacity in the short term on FGW^s currently diesel-worked routes was not easy. Lengthy negotiations with the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) eventually led to a deal for the extra stock last autumn.

Speaking to the Oxford Mail in Kilmarnock, FGW managing director Mark Hopwood said: ^We had to find a way to add capacity quickly on a railway facing electrification, which meant it was difficult to justify new-build trains. The vast majority of the extra capacity will be delivered by the summer, ready for the Olympics, to cope with the additional passengers then.^

He added: ^Our customers will see a big increase in the number of seats at the busiest times of the day but there is more to come. This is a short-term project but is part of a long-term effort to raise capacity on Great Western routes. The return of Adelantes to the Cotswold Line will be a good step up in journey quality for our passengers, with all but one train running west of Moreton-in-Marsh on weekdays operated by an Adelante or an HST^▸ (High Speed Train).^

FGW stopped using the trains due to concerns over operating costs and technical problems but Mr Hopwood said that the Adelantes used by sister firm First Hull Trains were now as reliable as FGW^s HST fleet.

All 14 Adelantes in use with UK^▸ (United Kingdom) train operators are being given reliability modifications by their owner Angel Trains in a ^5m programme.

Wabtec Rail Scotland site director Craig Gibson said the work being carried out by his staff would give the Adelantes and extra HST coaches the look and feel of brand-new trains, matching FGW^s existing express fleet.

Overhaul checklist

Class 180 Adelante: The trains are stripped of interior fittings before being repainted inside and out in a process which takes three days per coach. New carpets and seat covers are being fitted, along with power sockets for laptop computers. The first set is expected in service in May, and all five should be in use by late July. The Turbo trains they displace from Cotswold Line duties will be used to add extra coaches to busy peak trains on the Oxford-Reading-London corridor.

HST buffet car conversions: The coaches are stripped of all fittings and given corrosion repairs before being repainted. New seats, lights, toilets and luggage racks are fitted. The removal of redundant kitchen equipment means the finished coaches will be five tonnes lighter than they were in their old role. The first five will be delivered to FGW in July, just in time for the London Olympics, with all the rest in traffic by September.

[Btline]

Sorry, I meant the table seats. And not everyone carries a random adapter around in case a train hasn't been designed properly! I was once on a packed HST^▸ (High Speed Train) and couldn't use my laptop, as I hadn't realised the problem (normally sit in airline seats). The fuming commuter opposite me had the same problem.

Will the thin windows in the ex-buffets be enlarged, or will some seats have not view?

[JayMac]

Buffet windows are being cut out to full size.

I merely offered the 'adaptor' idea as a possible solution. You ain't gonna get FGW^▸ (First Great Western) to retrofit the sockets at tables. TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) are contracted to get you from A to B. Anything else (including a seat if unreserved) is a bonus.

[IndustryInsider]

...the charging sockets at the airline seats have no such problems. In fact, they're the neatest type I've seen so far, given that if someone in the aisle seat wants to plug something in they don't have to trail their cable across the lap of the person in the window seat.

Though quite a few of them are broken as people kick out at them or rest their feet on them not realising!

Buffet windows are being cut out to full size.

And if you click on the link for the article (which struck me as a typical 'Willc' piece - what a shame he sulked off of the forum), one of the photos shows an engineer doing just that!

[Chris from Nailsea]

... the article (which struck me as a typical 'Willc' piece ...

Thanks, IndustryInsider.

Generally, I don't tend to comment on the quality of journalism when I quote it, but that particular item did strike me as an excellent example of professional reporting: concise, accurate, well illustrated and with sufficient detail to satisfy the armchair expert without alienating the more general reader.

Thanks, willc.

[IndustryInsider]

Well, with all 4 daily 180 diagrams in service, and all of the 2+7 HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) now extended to 2+8 carriages, this announcement has come to fruition.

[Electric train]

Well, with all 4 daily 180 diagrams in service, and all of the 2+7 HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) now extended to 2+8 carriages, this announcement has come to fruition.

Did not help on Monday when the 07:08 ex Maidenhead was a 3 car turbo and not a 2 + 8 HST ........... looked like sardines when I saw it arrive at Padd 

[JayMac]

Travelled in one of the 'new' coach E Mk3s today. Noticeable when comparing the interior carpets and upholstery with the existing carriages.

Externally, they've done a good job. You can't even see the joins where the narrow buffet windows used to be!

[EBrown]

Travelled in one of the 'new' coach E Mk3s today. Noticeable when comparing the interior carpets and upholstery with the existing carriages.

Externally, they've done a good job. You can't even see the joins where the narrow buffet windows used to be!

I don't suppose you have a picture of one of these do you?

[JayMac]

I don't suppose you have a picture of one of these do you?

Sadly not. About the only thing I didnae take pictures of on my day out. Aside from the pristine interior, you'd never know it used to be a Trailer First Buffet. It did have that noticeable 'new car' smell though.