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Post by david3383 on May 12, 2008 18:01:25 GMT
In recent years, FGW has consistently been a very bad operator: news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7277670.stmI've travelled from Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads and back on two occasions and there were delays both times.  So, maybe National Express, Stagecoach, Virgin or Deutsche Bahn (now owners of Chiltern and part owners of LO) could take over the FGW franchise and finally get the GWML electrified. Now, I realise the line between Plymouth and Exeter (proximity to the sea at Dawlish and protruding into Dartmoor near Ivybridge), so maybe there could be a High Speed Link paralelling the A38. Also, if South West Trains doesn't use the old International station at Waterloo, maybe High Speed Trains to Exeter, Plymouth and Penzance could run along the aforementioned HS line plus a new HS line between Taunton and Salisbury. Any thoughts/comments? |
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Post by Deleted on May 12, 2008 18:53:26 GMT
well you are right
first are the worst
once due to engineering works I had to take a class 159 from torquay to waterloo stopping at every station!
also a few times my train was cancelled or something went wrong
but you havent seen anything until first capital connect
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Post by Chris M on May 12, 2008 21:14:28 GMT
I read somewhere, I can't remember where, that someone had the idea of electrifying the GWML as far as Reading (initially), and using an electric loco between there and Paddington with a diesel loco taking over the train the rest of the way.
Presumably for operational flexibility the train would be formed with a DVT at both ends, with the diesel loco coupling to the west end for its part of the journey and the electric loco attaching at the east end for the electrified section. This should also eliminate the need for locos to run round trains.
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Post by Deleted on May 12, 2008 22:59:10 GMT
So are the overhead lines at Paddington just for the Heathrow Express then?
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Post by happybunny on May 13, 2008 7:03:49 GMT
Heathrow Express and Heathrow Connect. The overhead power stops at Airport Junction
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Post by johnb on May 13, 2008 13:56:49 GMT
Couple of things:
1) FGW, or any successor TOC, has absolutely no say over GWML electrification. This is a decision for Network Rail and the DfT, although thankfully it does now look reasonably likely to happen.
2) While FGW has performed poorly, it's also taken the blame for Network Rail's mistakes (the GW region of NR is its poorest performer) and the DfT's decisions on rolling stock allocation and train lengths - anyone taking on that franchise would have had a hell of a time of it
3) a hybrid train or loco change at Reading is <i>incredibly</i> unlikely. Likeliest outcome at the moment, now that the ROSCOs have made clear they won't fund new diesel trains to replace HSTs, seems to be GWML electrification to Cardiff, Bristol and Oxford by late 2010s, replace the core HST service with electric trains, do the kind of thing Chris mentions at Cardiff-for-Swansea and Oxford-for-Worcester, while keeping diesel traction (most likely Voyagers or Meridians displaced by new WCML stock and MML electrification) to Penzance via Westbury.
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Post by Deleted on May 13, 2008 15:10:18 GMT
credit to fgw for installing better ticket machines and allowing people to bypass the ticket office queues however where i live in langley berks we only have a train every half an hour and i think we could possibly be given a 20 minute service, perhaps the old bay road at slough could have a train runing to supplement the serivce which could also stop all stations to padd and enhance service for hanwell and acton mainline as well? my other gripe is last trains, late in the evening the frequencies are awful and trains don't stop everywhere, thames istr ran things better at night time and even had an all night service
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Phil
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Post by Phil on May 17, 2008 9:42:35 GMT
One of the more serious ideas for HST2 is a hybrid, with the traction motors powered either by diesel or off the overhead. Trouble is, it (the traction package) needs a lot more space (apparently) than the space in a single current power car.
If that were to come about, NR could progressively electrify westwards towards Bristol (and further? ) as costs and budgets allow.
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Post by Chris M on May 17, 2008 9:49:34 GMT
I wouldn't have thought a Class 73 is much bigger than a Class 43 powercar?
What I was reading wasn't in favour of a hybrid, as the weight of the electric package would be dead weight when running on diesel and thus make the train less efficient. The same would obviously be true of the diesel engines when running under wires.
Is there space in the Severn Tunnel for OHLE?
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Post by Tomcakes on May 17, 2008 13:32:03 GMT
I don't think FGW are really much worse than any other operator - they just operate where the middle class journalists and politicians live.
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Post by mrfs42 on May 17, 2008 13:38:25 GMT
Is there space in the Severn Tunnel for OHLE? Unlikely, and too wet for reliable juice rails. |
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Post by Chris M on May 17, 2008 15:06:51 GMT
I don't think FGW are really much worse than any other operator - they just operate where the middle class journalists and politicians live. That isn't all of it. No other operator has had commuters stage fare strikes afaik. It is not just the Thames Valley services that are criticised heavily, but also the Bristol journey to work area and rural services in Devon and Cornwall. As an example, Wessex Trains ran three-car class 158s on the Portsmouth-Cardiff route, that were frequently crowded. FGW took over and ran the services as two-car units... |
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Post by Dmitri on May 17, 2008 19:11:12 GMT
Is there space in the Severn Tunnel for OHLE? For which kind? You may try to stuff 3 kV DC wires like this:  (Old Stavropol-Tuapse Railway tunnel) |
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Post by angelislington on May 17, 2008 20:47:50 GMT
I may get shot down in flames (and I'm neither politician or journalist, tho possibly middle-class!), but I used to commute a great deal into London from Sluff and very rarely had problems more significant than a 10 min delay. Really, I didn't. Yes, the trains could be packed, but again, very rarely did I have to stand all the way on my journey. Yes, there were delays, but never so significant I was late for work. I had one time where all the trains out from Paddington were canx, but they managed to sort something out so there was one train per half hour or something - hideously packed, but I'd rather have that than no train at all. (Turned out some silly idiot decided to fling themselves under an express at Ealing Broadway, so hardly their fault). Stagecoach, OTOH, who run the bus service here in East Kent... I have never come across such a poor service or cumbersome website in all my life.   |
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Post by Chris M on May 17, 2008 23:11:54 GMT
I don't know when you lived in Slough, but the original FGW service (i.e. intercity only) was not a bad operator, the problems started when they took over the former Wessex local and regional services. I had no experience of Thames Trains or First Great Western Link, but I believe that also with them the customer satisfaction plummeted when the franchises were combined. As for bus services, First have a monopoly in Somerset and very nearly one in Bristol. My experience with those services is that they are unreliable, dirty, slow and horrendously expensive - £2.20 single for a three mile journey for example |
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Post by Phil on May 18, 2008 8:20:52 GMT
To be fair, FGW are now better than 90% in last few months - Andrew Haines has really pulled the company around. And Stroud - Gloucester by train (18 mins) is 50% cheaper than by bus (35 min......  ). But back to the power, Cl73 were 3rd rail not o/h, and never had to pull the tonnage of a 9-car loaded passenger train. And as for hauling dead weight, the problem is when on electric not diesel. On o/h you are hauling a dead diesel engine: on diesel all you are doing is lugging around a dead transformer. Whole point of the design is that the rest of the traction is the same, saving weight and cost. Needs sophisticated controls though. |
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