Class 345 Testing and Introduction

Didn't HEX operate the inter-terminal shuttle? I know they're taking over the route also but wouldn't that unit still belong to HEX?

Thanks for the mention. This was filmed last Thursday when returning home after seeing a friend off from the airport. I had seen a tweet by TFL Rail showing them applying their logo to a train side but did not expect to see this train in action before Sunday. So imagine my surprise when I saw this train arriving at the T123 station! This is why I alighted at West Ealing - in the past I'd seen the HeC (Heathrow Connect) trains cross each other at this station so I did not 'chance it' by alighting at Ealing Broadway, which is where my ticket expired. In the event I probably would have been OK at Ealing Broadway as many trains were running late (see the passenger information display on the top right corner of the video image). I have no idea why but westbound 'all stations' trains were travelling much faster than the longer distance fast trains.

In a way I was slightly peeved that the rebranded train had turned up at the airport station, as I had wanted to film inside a 360 which had Connect branded route information etc. I was also peeved that the passenger information in this train was not working properly. Maybe though the latter is because TfL Rail had already loaded their on-train messages, so therefore all messages had to be made 'live' rather than as automated recordings.

As an aside, re: ticketing, I had to buy a paper ticket (cost £8.00) to travel on the HeC service as Oyster acceptance only starts after TfL Rail take over the service. But conversely having a paper ticket meant that I could wait for the rebranded train to arrive at Ealing Broadway on its next journey towards Heathrow without fear of breaching any journey time limit. My use of Oyster only started when I touched in immediately before boarding a Central Line train at Ealing Broadway.

Something which did not make the film (I could not find the photos - I need to catalogue all my images!) is that the aircraft style floor lights which point to the nearest (emergency) exit are no longer working.



Simon

They do show where zonal travelcards are valid though.

It was my understanding that they are using 7 car cl345s until the cl345s start running through the Heathrow Tunnels and no longer have to use the bay at H&H.

I really hope that these trains are given proper coherent announcements before the core opens up, there's some questionable continuity in the interchanges for Ealing Broadway and Paddington.

Coherent to me just means forming a sentence rather than loosely spliced pieces of information.

To be honest, it doesn't really matter at the moment given that most TFL Rail passengers are fairly in the know as the only difference on both sides of London are new trains and brand identity.

But when the core starts unlocking more destinations being used by more passengers who may not be familiar with the network, those announcements will arguably be as important as all the other way finding aspects which I like comparing to an invisible member of staff. 

I'm not sure how the current announcements are generated but it can't seem to say Circle in instead slurring somewhat (sounds like 'svirkle').

Following departure from a station the next station is announced followed by its interchanges, this can easily work on central stations which follow on at close distance but in quite a number of outer suburban cases surely announcing interchanges on the approach to said station would suffice?

This next one might just be me, but I can't concentrate on the information that is being announced when in this elongated format, it just sounds very staccato to me. I don't really care wether this is changed or not given the subjective nature of this topic and given the circumstances I'd wager that people working on the trains have got bigger fish to fry. 

Regarding your first point @ethano92345, I've not travelled on a 345 out west yet, but they don't have any problems announcing all the changes at Statford when arriving on the DLR.
"Change here for London Underground Central and Jubilee lines, National Rail, TfL Rail and local bus services."

Oh ok, I've never really heard it so boldy before though so I was quite confused. I also didn't get it anywhere near as much travelling over the same track on a 387 but I can't be certain it was going the same speed.

I too agree that the next stop should be announced before the train has departed, especially because stopping patterns west of Paddington are quite complicated and will be even when the full line is operational. S stock announcements are one of the best. 345s are trains, not buses, they should have train-like announcements which are informatice in the right way. I hope this hasn't strayed off topic from the thread.

I too noticed that. I wonder if the test train returns along the same track or uses a cross over. If it does return along the same track, I wonder if the other tunnel is currently being tested.

On a journey from Liverpool Street to Shenfield today I only saw 4 class 345’s out of a total of 16 trains. Is there another issue affecting availability?

Quick update. Today was the first Class 345 run under its own power from Stepney Green junction as far as Paddington (and Westbourne Park). Slow speed with no signalling.

So a 345 has now run under power through all of the Central section except for the transition boundaries at Pudding Mill Lane-Stratford and a short stretch at Westbourne Park.