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Post by snoggle on Apr 23, 2018 22:18:27 GMT
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TfL Rail
Apr 23, 2018 23:06:01 GMT
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Post by joefrombow on Apr 23, 2018 23:06:01 GMT
Bit of a change a additional train per hour on Sundays looking at the Heathrow connect current timetable but nothing major really , Will the 360's still be used ? And is the route heavily used quite shocking (coming from the East side of London) to see that stations still close on Sundays on a Main Line and a hourly Sunday service ! And will the Greenford Branch become a part of the Overground like the Upminster Branch this end will be interesting to see .
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Post by T.R. on Apr 24, 2018 2:52:01 GMT
And will the Greenford Branch become a part of the Overground like the Upminster Branch this end will be interesting to see . The Greenford branch will be run by GWR for the foreseeable future. (Ideally LO would run it with a 172 from the Goblin, but I digress...)
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Post by snoggle on Apr 24, 2018 7:10:24 GMT
Bit of a change a additional train per hour on Sundays looking at the Heathrow connect current timetable but nothing major really , Will the 360's still be used ? And is the route heavily used quite shocking (coming from the East side of London) to see that stations still close on Sundays on a Main Line and a hourly Sunday service ! And will the Greenford Branch become a part of the Overground like the Upminster Branch this end will be interesting to see . Fair comment about the extra tph on Sundays - I missed that. Apparently the 360s remain on Heathrow work and 7 car 345s on the Hayes shuttle. This is because the platform at Hayes hasn't been extended yet and they can't yet get the 345s to work reliably in the Heathrow tunnel. The 360s are the only available trains that work with the old ATP system in the Heathrow tunnels. The 345s are supposed to work with a new ETCS overlay but it seems they can't get it work reliably alongside the old protection system. In short not an easy thing to resolve quickly. Just about everything that could go wrong has gone wrong with this phase of the service and TfL Rail have had to be fleet of foot to create a back up service proposal. There is the possibility the bay platform might be ready at Hayes by May 20th but there are no guarantees hence 7 car trains are moving from east to west to run the service. Further the tunnel train protection issue might be fixed by the "autumn" but no one knows - there is a series of longer weekend possessions causing late Sunday start ups in September. This may be to allow more testing and data gathering for the ETCS (my speculation here). It remains to be seen if 9 car 345s can run to Heathrow at the promised 4 tph before December 2018 when the core service starts. The Greenford branch remains a GWR operation with residual class 165s. The 172 move to West Midlands Trains for service from December 2018. EDIT - courtesy of a comment elsewhere there is also a typo on the timetable which shows the 0646 off Heathrow M-F taking 68 minutes to get between Southall and Hayes!
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Post by routew15 on Apr 25, 2018 20:58:17 GMT
Will the 360s get Tfl Rail branding?
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Post by snoggle on Apr 27, 2018 23:38:18 GMT
Will the 360s get Tfl Rail branding? Probably some stickers over the Heathrow Connect names and some appropriate "legal" notices inside but that's it. No point doing any more given the intent is to get rid ASAP. The whole concept of a "TfL Rail" brand out west is laughable at the moment given everywhere's a building site. TfL will do the bare minimum now and hope that lasts until the big "daft royal name" rebranding takes place for December this year (assuming TfL can open the core in December, which I doubt).
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Post by jrussa on Apr 28, 2018 13:08:14 GMT
According to the timetable, if you leave Paddington and would like to go to Hayes, it takes 1hr and 25 mins. Just from Southall to Hayes and Harlington it takes ONE HOUR AND 8 MINUTES
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TfL Rail
Apr 28, 2018 13:42:50 GMT
via mobile
Post by Hassaan on Apr 28, 2018 13:42:50 GMT
According to the timetable, if you leave Paddington and would like to go to Hayes, it takes 1hr and 25 mins. Just from Southall to Hayes and Harlington it takes ONE HOUR AND 8 MINUTES Given the amount of infrastructure issues this month, those times wouldn't be that far off the mark e.g. during yesterday's points failure on the fast lines, there were no London-bound trains stopping at Langley, Iver, West Drayton, and Hayes & Harlington, so that the precious fast trains (both GWR and HeX) could get a clear run. This was at the expense of those at the stations mentioned above, despite the original issue not even affecting the slow lines which their services use . People at those stations wanting to go east would have needed to go to Slough and then get a train back, while those travelling to those stations from the west would need to go to either Southall or Ealing Broadway then get a train back.
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TfL Rail
Apr 29, 2018 10:31:00 GMT
via mobile
Post by twobellstogo on Apr 29, 2018 10:31:00 GMT
Will the 360s get Tfl Rail branding? Probably some stickers over the Heathrow Connect names and some appropriate "legal" notices inside but that's it. No point doing any more given the intent is to get rid ASAP. The whole concept of a "TfL Rail" brand out west is laughable at the moment given everywhere's a building site. TfL will do the bare minimum now and hope that lasts until the big "daft royal name" rebranding takes place for December this year (assuming TfL can open the core in December, which I doubt). Following up your last sentence snoggle, judging by what I have seen and read, there is very little chance the core/Abbey Wood branch will open in 2018.
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TfL Rail
Apr 29, 2018 11:01:39 GMT
via mobile
Post by snowman on Apr 29, 2018 11:01:39 GMT
Will the 360s get Tfl Rail branding? Probably some stickers over the Heathrow Connect names and some appropriate "legal" notices inside but that's it. No point doing any more given the intent is to get rid ASAP. The whole concept of a "TfL Rail" brand out west is laughable at the moment given everywhere's a building site. TfL will do the bare minimum now and hope that lasts until the big "daft royal name" rebranding takes place for December this year (assuming TfL can open the core in December, which I doubt). Yes, I have been thinking same about a December opening, my own money is on a limited off peak service (satisfies meeting target date, but doesnt overload some incomplete stations). Limited to about 8 trains per hour and probably closing at about 7:30pm initially.
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Post by snoggle on Apr 29, 2018 11:38:24 GMT
Probably some stickers over the Heathrow Connect names and some appropriate "legal" notices inside but that's it. No point doing any more given the intent is to get rid ASAP. The whole concept of a "TfL Rail" brand out west is laughable at the moment given everywhere's a building site. TfL will do the bare minimum now and hope that lasts until the big "daft royal name" rebranding takes place for December this year (assuming TfL can open the core in December, which I doubt). Yes, I have been thinking same about a December opening, my own money is on a limited off peak service (satisfies meeting target date, but doesnt overload some incomplete stations). Limited to about 8 trains per hour and probably closing at about 7:30pm initially. I guess that might work as some sort of "preview" service as they did on the East London Line. However if stations are not ready then that's going to be very difficult to deal with. I understand Liverpool St, Whitechapel, Woolwich and part of Bond St are some way behind. I'm less certain about Paddington's fit out and whether that's on time now after issues with electricians. Not sure you can open the line if several stations are inaccessible - there's a presentational issue with that but also potential problems re fire evacuation. I still think the delayed test programme and getting signalling to work properly will be the real killer in all of this. If Crossrail cannot demonstrate the service can be run safely and reliably then they won't get regulatory sign off.
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Post by snoggle on May 8, 2018 8:17:30 GMT
Looks like Network Rail may just have pulled "the rabbit from the hat" in terms of getting the bay at Hayes and Harlington ready for nine car class 345s. Only less than 2 weeks to go! This will probably mean a mass return of seven car trains back across London to run on Shenfield services. Wonder who picks up the tab for all of the diesel haulage of empty trains back and forth?
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Post by capitalomnibus on May 8, 2018 10:10:55 GMT
Looks like Network Rail may just have pulled "the rabbit from the hat" in terms of getting the bay at Hayes and Harlington ready for nine car class 345s. Only less than 2 weeks to go!
This will probably mean a mass return of seven car trains back across London to run on Shenfield services. Wonder who picks up the tab for all of the diesel haulage of empty trains back and forth? I saw one going via North London line (London Overground) about a month ago. Not sure if it was towed or driven under its own power.
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Post by snoggle on May 8, 2018 12:47:22 GMT
I saw one going via North London line (London Overground) about a month ago. Not sure if it was towed or driven under its own power. They are all hauled by a diesel locomotive as there is a short section of wiring missing at Acton Wells (west of Willesden Junction) meaning electric trains can't run all the way round to the Great Western Main Line via the NLL. There was a plan a few years ago to "infill" this gap in electrification but it (stupidly) got cancelled. It is a glaring gap between electrified routes now. It's not yet fully possible to run 345s through the Crossrail tunnel east to west as I believe there is some work outstanding near the Royal Oak portal. I think the power has now been energised beyond Stepney westwards in the CR tunnels though. It was initially energised from Abbey Wood to Stepney and I think Stepney to Stratford for the initial testing stage.
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Post by MetrolineGA1511 on May 12, 2018 16:48:35 GMT
Bit of a change a additional train per hour on Sundays looking at the Heathrow connect current timetable but nothing major really , Will the 360's still be used ? And is the route heavily used quite shocking (coming from the East side of London) to see that stations still close on Sundays on a Main Line and a hourly Sunday service ! And will the Greenford Branch become a part of the Overground like the Upminster Branch this end will be interesting to see . Fair comment about the extra tph on Sundays - I missed that. Apparently the 360s remain on Heathrow work and 7 car 345s on the Hayes shuttle. This is because the platform at Hayes hasn't been extended yet and they can't yet get the 345s to work reliably in the Heathrow tunnel. The 360s are the only available trains that work with the old ATP system in the Heathrow tunnels. The 345s are supposed to work with a new ETCS overlay but it seems they can't get it work reliably alongside the old protection system. In short not an easy thing to resolve quickly. Just about everything that could go wrong has gone wrong with this phase of the service and TfL Rail have had to be fleet of foot to create a back up service proposal. There is the possibility the bay platform might be ready at Hayes by May 20th but there are no guarantees hence 7 car trains are moving from east to west to run the service. Further the tunnel train protection issue might be fixed by the "autumn" but no one knows - there is a series of longer weekend possessions causing late Sunday start ups in September. This may be to allow more testing and data gathering for the ETCS (my speculation here). It remains to be seen if 9 car 345s can run to Heathrow at the promised 4 tph before December 2018 when the core service starts. The Greenford branch remains a GWR operation with residual class 165s. The 172 move to West Midlands Trains for service from December 2018. EDIT - courtesy of a comment elsewhere there is also a typo on the timetable which shows the 0646 off Heathrow M-F taking 68 minutes to get between Southall and Hayes! Supposing there were a 24-hour service on that line, and the night the clocks went forward a train left Southall at 12.56am. It would then reach Hayes at around 2.04am.
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