Great Northern Fleet - 379s introduction

cactustwirly · 12 Feb 2025

Failed Unit said:
When you look at the calling points, Welwyn North and Knebworth are just villages. Hitchin is better served on the Thameslink route (about the same journey time but 15 minutes clock face frequency) and Letchworth is quicker if you use the express. It helps relieve the following services to Cambridge, but it isn’t ever going to get many passengers.

The proposed switch in December 2025, it will be busier as it will stop at the larger demand stations of Potters Bar, Hatfield and Welwyn Garden City,

Ahh I thought it would be full of Letchworth commuters, and I assumed Welwyn North etc would be good railheads

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Failed Unit · 12 Feb 2025

cactustwirly said:
Ahh I thought it would be full of Letchworth commuters, and I assumed Welwyn North etc would be good railheads

Indeed they are, not stopping at Finsbury Park doesn’t help its loadings either. With Thameslink now using the station, a lot of people join the trains going north there. However the train has only ran for a short while, so passengers may not be used it it running yet,

Robski · 12 Feb 2025

Failed Unit said:
When you look at the calling points, Welwyn North and Knebworth are just villages. Hitchin is better served on the Thameslink route (about the same journey time but 15 minutes clock face frequency) and Letchworth is quicker if you use the express. It helps relieve the following services to Cambridge, but it isn’t ever going to get many passengers.

The proposed switch in December 2025, it will be busier as it will stop at the larger demand stations of Potters Bar, Hatfield and Welwyn Garden City,

The morning southbound services are much busier (Darwin says usual crowding is between 70% and 100% by Welwyn North on 1R07 for example). Evening services are generally less busy but that's true for basically all commuter services now as the demand is spread out more evenly, there is also less incentive to get home quicker whereas people generally need to be at work by a certain time and prefer to take faster services.

The current Letchworth peak service group will be extended to start/end at Cambridge from December 2025 (and lose it's Knebworth calls southbound for some reason), effectively merging with the Cambridge stopper service group. The peak time Letchworth stopper is a new service group, assuming the same calling pattern as the Cambridge stopper with an additional New Barnet call.

cactustwirly said:
I am surprised thought it would be a packed commuter service, especially on a Tuesday/ Wednesday

It's a relatively new service, having only been reintroduced at the last timetable change. The services were missing for 4 years, and in that time many people have changed their working patterns because of GTR enforced cuts so it will take time for them to come back.

bramling · 12 Feb 2025

Failed Unit said:
When you look at the calling points, Welwyn North and Knebworth are just villages. Hitchin is better served on the Thameslink route (about the same journey time but 15 minutes clock face frequency) and Letchworth is quicker if you use the express. It helps relieve the following services to Cambridge, but it isn’t ever going to get many passengers.

The proposed switch in December 2025, it will be busier as it will stop at the larger demand stations of Potters Bar, Hatfield and Welwyn Garden City,

The Baldock services used to be very busy pre-Covid, especially from Hitchin and Letchworth. Part of the issue I suspect is that they’re now only hourly, so people have to aim for a specific service rather than just turn up, and secondly since being reintroduced in May they haven’t been particularly dependable, often being cancelled due to no driver or no train.

thediamonder11 · 17 Feb 2025

The 379's have spent the weekend in Hornsey and are again unable to work the Monday morning service. They should be on the evening service and then the rest of the week's morning & evening services.

jon0844 · 17 Feb 2025

Do we know when Network Rail will carry about the platform works to enable the 379s to stop at all the stations the 2C/L/R services call at?

Failed Unit · 17 Feb 2025

thediamonder11 said:
The 379's have spent the weekend in Hornsey and are again unable to work the Monday morning service. They should be on the evening service and then the rest of the week's morning & evening services.

Amy plans to use them on Sunday? There are a number of letchworth - King’s Cross - Hornsey diagrams (and reverse) on Sunday. I assume relating to @jon0844 point that Stevenage, Welwyn GC, Hatfield and Potters Bar are cleared.

jon0844 · 17 Feb 2025

I don't know all the stations with issues but was told Alexandra Palace needs platform modifications. There may be others.

Failed Unit · 17 Feb 2025

jon0844 said:
I don't know all the stations with issues but was told Alexandra Palace needs platform modifications. There may be others.

The perfect solution for Alexandra palace is remove the stop. It is killing the routes timekeeping.

(After yet again a 5 minute delay from the 0851 Welwyn Garden City - London KX turns into a 17 minute delay because of that stop)

The others could be more challenging. But such an easy customer focused solution for Alexander palace.

jon0844 · 17 Feb 2025

Failed Unit said:
The perfect solution for Alexandra palace is remove the stop. It is killing the routes timekeeping.

(After yet again a 5 minute delay from the 0851 Welwyn Garden City - London KX turns into a 17 minute delay because of that stop)

The others could be more challenging. But such an easy customer focused solution for Alexander palace.

And to think they want to add a stop at New Barnet also...

Fincra5 · 17 Feb 2025

jon0844 said:
I don't know all the stations with issues but was told Alexandra Palace needs platform modifications. There may be others.

Just Ally Pally...

aleggatta · 17 Feb 2025

Fincra5 said:
Just Ally Pally...

Any ideas what part of the train is involved to be the obstruction? I was of the understanding they are virtually identical to 387s, or is it more a lack of tolerance rather than a conflict

Bikeman78 · 17 Feb 2025

aleggatta said:
Any ideas what part of the train is involved to be the obstruction? I was of the understanding they are virtually identical to 387s, or is it more a lack of tolerance rather than a conflict

They still pass through even if they don't stop so clearly they aren't going to be hitting the platforms. Apologies if that is very obvious.

jon0844 · 17 Feb 2025

Bikeman78 said:
They still pass through even if they don't stop so clearly they aren't going to be hitting the platforms. Apologies if that is very obvious.

It could of course be just one platform and the signaller could ensure those trains don't use that specific route.

CBlue · 17 Feb 2025

jon0844 said:
It could of course be just one platform and the signaller could ensure those trains don't use that specific route.

......until the inevitable disruption happens and more issues get caused by the restriction being in place!

Intercity_225 · 18 Feb 2025

5R09 is still in Letchworth C.S an hour late due to a fault with the train. Isn't this 379002 and 022?

62484GlenLyon · 18 Feb 2025

Intercity_225 said:
5R09 is still in Letchworth C.S an hour late due to a fault with the train. Isn't this 379002 and 022?

Why is 1R09 running as 1Q09 today and until Friday? It has eventually departed Letchworth 55 minutes late.

jon0844 · 18 Feb 2025

62484GlenLyon said:
Why is 1R09 running as 1Q09 today and until Friday? It has eventually departed Letchworth 55 minutes late.

Could it be to tell the signaller that it can't go through a certain platform at Alexandra Palace or something like that?

The_Train · 18 Feb 2025

Is it just those 2 units that worked the 1st job that have been out or have they now got other units in service as well?

Intercity_225 · 18 Feb 2025

The evening run has been cancelled due to a "problem with the train".

bramling · 18 Feb 2025

Failed Unit said:
The perfect solution for Alexandra palace is remove the stop. It is killing the routes timekeeping.

Absolutely. It’s an absolute menace. Goodness knows who ever thought it would be a good idea.

Failed Unit said:
(After yet again a 5 minute delay from the 0851 Welwyn Garden City - London KX turns into a 17 minute delay because of that stop)

I’ve had similar happen so many times. A whole train full of people delayed to cater for a very small handful of people who are already very well served.

jon0844 · 19 Feb 2025

Intercity_225 said:
The evening run has been cancelled due to a "problem with the train".

Interlocking issues in the morning so possibly the same later?

I wonder if the issue is down to gremlins related to the storage of the units for so long, or a driver training issue like the door issues on 700/717s for inexperienced drivers (the experience relating to the unit not their driving competency)?

St. Paddy · 19 Feb 2025

002/022 in the shed at Hornsey this morning with several maintenance staff in the cab. 026 also in the shed with GN branding

bramling · 19 Feb 2025

jon0844 said:
Interlocking issues in the morning so possibly the same later?

I wonder if the issue is down to gremlins related to the storage of the units for so long, or a driver training issue like the door issues on 700/717s for inexperienced drivers (the experience relating to the unit not their driving competency)?

It is for this reason that I’m somewhat lukewarm about the whole 379 thing. History shows that long-term storage of rolling stock doesn’t tend to lead to good outcomes, and with modern rolling stock I can see this being if anything more of an issue.

It’s very unfortunate the 379s couldn’t come straight over from GA to GN, without the long period in store.

Peter Sarf · 19 Feb 2025

bramling said:
It is for this reason that I’m somewhat lukewarm about the whole 379 thing. History shows that long-term storage of rolling stock doesn’t tend to lead to good outcomes, and with modern rolling stock I can see this being if anything more of an issue.

It’s very unfortunate the 379s couldn’t come straight over from GA to GN, without the long period in store.

I can only hope that GN got them on a very cheap lease due to the risks caused by prolonged storage.

Robski · 19 Feb 2025

jon0844 said:
Interlocking issues in the morning so possibly the same later?

I wonder if the issue is down to gremlins related to the storage of the units for so long, or a driver training issue like the door issues on 700/717s for inexperienced drivers (the experience relating to the unit not their driving competency)?

They attempted to do a set swap to a 700/0 for the evening service but that unit also failed at Hornsey so the train was cancelled.

Davester50 · 19 Feb 2025

bramling said:
History shows that long-term storage of rolling stock doesn’t tend to lead to good outcomes, and with modern rolling stock I can see this being if anything more of an issue.

I bet the likes of an EPB or 303 put away for years wouldn't give the same trouble.
And not just rolling stock - BA's A380 fleet being stored in less than ideal conditions from 2020-2022 has ended up with them having poor reliability. Late substitution to a 777 cost me a ride on one.

St. Paddy · 20 Feb 2025

Robski said:
They attempted to do a set swap to a 700/0 for the evening service but that unit also failed at Hornsey so the train was cancelled.

Must have fixed the 379s and moved ecs to Letchworth as they’re there ready for this morning’s service

62484GlenLyon · 20 Feb 2025

St. Paddy said:
Must have fixed the 379s and moved ecs to Letchworth as they’re there ready for this morning’s service

Does anybody know for certain that the 379s ran ecs?? RTT shows that 1L48, 1L50 and 1L52 all ran last night so perhaps the 379s worked 1L48 as diagrammed. Otherwise why would the 379s have run ecs when there was already 3 sets at Letchworth overnight for this morning's trains?

LA50041 · 20 Feb 2025

62484GlenLyon said:
Does anybody know for certain that the 379s ran ecs?? RTT shows that 1L48, 1L50 and 1L52 all ran last night so perhaps the 379s worked 1L48 as diagrammed. Otherwise why would the 379s have run ecs when there was already 3 sets at Letchworth overnight for this morning's trains?

1L48 19th Feb is showing in Trust as 379002/379022

Great Northern Fleet - 379s introduction

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