Hitachi Class 800s have started passenger diagrams with Great Western Railway.
AN Intercity Express set entered service for the first time on October 16, when five-car bi-modes Nos. 800005+800006 formed the 1A03/06.00 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington.
The event was marred by a 26 minute late start due to coupling issues between the sets, while during the journey an air conditioning failure resulted in water leaking into one of the vehicles. The switch to electric power also suffered due to a malfunction with the pantograph, with the train ultimately switching back to diesel power to complete the journey.
A second 10-car train formed of units Nos. 800008+800009 formed the first service from Paddington with the 1C03/07.00 to Temple Meads that day. This trip ran to plan, operating on electric power as far as the current wiring limit at Maidenhead, where a switch was made to diesel traction. The diagrams also take in a return trip from Paddington to Swansea.
Great Western Railway is due to receive a total of 369 Class 800 vehicles, which will be formed into 36 five-car and 21 nine-car sets. They will replace High Speed Trains on routes to Swansea and Bristol by early 2019. The original plan that the routes would be electrified has since been curtailed, with all units now being delivered as bimode trains to allow through trains to operate beyond the wiring boundaries at Cardiff and Chippenham.
VALUE FOR MONEY?
The need to replace the HST fleet was identified by the Strategic Rail Authority during its short existence in the early 2000s, and this led to the Department for Transport (DfT) taking authority for procurement.
The DfT negotiated the financing, but the procurement process ultimately led the National Audit Office to ask why the Government took this on without having any previous experience in the sector.
Bu hikaye Rail Express dergisinin December 2017 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye Rail Express dergisinin December 2017 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
LNER puts remaining ‘91s' into warm store
The ongoing pandemic restrictions and major engineering works have resulted in the complete withdrawal of the last remaining ‘Electras’ from passenger service, although the plan is to resurrect them in the summer.
Mk.1 Restaurant-Buffet (RBR) cars
A SURPRISING number of Mk.1catering cars have survived to see service on the privatised railway, in private operator and charter trains. They may turn up on anything from an enthusiast special to higher-end dining trains and have been formed in trains as prestigious as the locomotive-hauledBlue Pullman’ set, the ‘Great Britain’ tours operated by West Coast Railways and the ‘Northern Belle’ tour train.
Powerscene
Our authoritative class-by-class review of newsworthy locomotive workings.
End for Freightliner Class 86/6s
The company’s Class 86/6 fleet down to just two examples as seven locos are stored.
Service reductions as Covid cases increase
An increase in Covid-19 cases in early January saw the governments in Ireland and Northern Ireland impose stricter lockdown measures that impacted on public transport.
East West Rail funding go-ahead
Although it was expected, £760 million of funding has now been confirmed to build the Western Section of the East West Railway scheme.
Travellers-Fare with Hornby's Mk.1 Restaurant-Buffet car
Hornby expands its range of retooled ‘OO’ gauge Mk.1 coaches with a brand new tooling for the Diagram 24 Restaurant-Buffet car (RB) and the Diagram 33 refurbished version (RBR). It models the vehicles in both original form, finished in BR maroon and Southern Region green, together with the RBR refurbished coaches. They remained in frontline service well into the 1990s, including Cross-Country workings.
Class 92 revolution
Despite its complex shape and high detail ratio compared to other modern six-axle locomotives, Revolution Trains chose the Class 92 to be its first 'N' gauge locomotive model.
Bottling it!
A dig into the Rail Express archive has revealed some rarely-seen photographs of the former rail-connected Express Dairy bottling plant in South West London, which today is the site of a large mosque.
1990s ‘N' gauge Class 950
Work on the ‘N’ gauge Class 950 Track Recording Unit project, a conversion based on a standard Graham Farish Class 150/1 model, is concluded by finishing the model in 1990s condition.
