CAF Civity for TfW: News and updates on introduction.

[Lurcheroo]

I noticed there seemed to be a shortage of 197s, a good number of West Wales to Cardiff were 2 carriages today although all I think were covered by 197's but short formed to 2 cars. At least 1 Maesteg diagram was a 150 too. But better they go there than to West Wales to Manchester.

I also noticed on a very overcrowded 197008 the air con wasnt working. Quite a few people were commenting how hot it was on the train. And I was only on it around 12 minutes. It was good to switch to 197050 at Bridgend to go up the Maesteg line as not only was it cooler but I actually got a seat.

Im really happy that so many 3 cars are now coming into service, lets hope the 197s get their act together with all these faults otherwise this summer could be just as bad as the last few have been with overcrowding on key services.

I think 150’s are near enough ‘banned’ from the mainline as to keep their mileage down (if someone knows more feel free to correct). But even if not, I totally agree 150’s should be kept of long distance services as much as possible.

Hopefully then, based on your experience on 197050, when the aircon is working, it’s very pleasant.

I did see that meteorologists are predicting, for what it’s worth, they’re expecting a better than average summer but not record shattering like 2022 was.
If we do get a good summer then As always people are drawn to the railway for days outs in droves. It would be good to start being able to provide a good service and encourage people to want to re-use the railway, I’ve seen many put off and swear not to use it again during sweaty summer overcrowding.

@sd0733 do you happen to know how many Monday - Saturday 197 and 158 diagrams there are ?

Edit: sorry I keep asking question and finding answers. I believe it’s 19 158 diagrams, 25 2 car 197 diagrams and 14 3 car 197 diagrams

 

[Envoy]

So, why are they just sitting at Donnington doing nothing. OK, I know that they are intended for the Cambrian but what’s to stop them working elsewhere in the meantime?

It seems very odd that things seem to go downhill on weekends. There must surely be a reason for this?

Excellent weather forecast for Sunday so a lot of people will be travelling. Not looking good if trains are going to be rammed and sprinters out doing long haul.

 

[Jez]

I think 150’s are near enough ‘banned’ from the mainline as to keep their mileage down (if someone knows more feel free to correct). But even if not, I totally agree 150’s should be kept of long distance services as much as possible.

Hopefully then, based on your experience on 197050, when the aircon is working, it’s very pleasant.

I did see that meteorologists are predicting, for what it’s worth, they’re expecting a better than average summer but not record shattering like 2022 was.
If we do get a good summer then As always people are drawn to the railway for days outs in droves. It would be good to start being able to provide a good service and encourage people to want to re-use the railway, I’ve seen many put off and swear not to use it again during sweaty summer overcrowding.

@sd0733 do you happen to know how many Monday - Saturday 197 and 158 diagrams there are ?

Edit: sorry I keep asking question and finding answers. I believe it’s 19 158 diagrams, 25 2 car 197 diagrams and 14 3 car 197 diagrams

Well id say on 050 the temperature was OK. But today wasnt a particularly hot day.

Of those 19 158 diagrams how many are not involved in the Cambrian services? Not very many id guess.

So, why are they just sitting at Donnington doing nothing. OK, I know that they are intended for the Cambrian but what’s to stop them working elsewhere in the meantime?

It seems very odd that things seem to go downhill on weekends. There must surely be a reason for this?

Excellent weather forecast for Sunday so a lot of people will be travelling. Not looking good if trains are going to be rammed and sprinters out doing long haul.

It does seem that the weekends are often sacrificed to keep the weekday services at a good standard. An afternoon/evening out in Cardiff is very very popular on a Saturday so services from West Wales/Swansea/Maesteg are often full and standing on a Saturday late morning/afternoon.

Both services I travelled on today heading towards Cardiff were a lot busier than the return workings on the same route.

 

[sd0733]

@sd0733 do you happen to know how many Monday - Saturday 197 and 158 diagrams there are ?

Looking purely at Fri/Sat/Sun this weekend 158s look to have 20 weekday, 19 Saturday and 19 Sunday diagrams
197/0s have 25 weekday, 21 Saturday and 21 Sunday, the 197/1s have 14 weekday, 14 Saturday and 9 Sunday as it stands

Of those 19 158 diagrams how many are not involved in the Cambrian services? Not very many id guess.

If they stick to diagram all day, 2. The one which does the 09:22 Cardiff to Holyhead and the one which starts at Shrewsbury at 05:28 (having come Empty from Crewe) which Visits Crewe, Holyhead a couple of times and Birmingham

 

[Lurcheroo]

So, why are they just sitting at Donnington doing nothing. OK, I know that they are intended for the Cambrian but what’s to stop them working elsewhere in the meantime?

Focus is on getting the 3 cars out right now.

Looking purely at Fri/Sat/Sun this weekend 158s look to have 20 weekday, 19 Saturday and 19 Sunday diagrams
197/0s have 25 weekday, 21 Saturday and 21 Sunday, the 197/1s have 14 weekday, 14 Saturday and 9 Sunday as it stands

Ahh brilliant thank you very much !

Of those 19 158 diagrams how many are not involved in the Cambrian services? Not very many id guess.

Couldn’t say for certain (perhaps SD could say with more certainty) as I do not know my way around the system very well at all haha!
but at far as I can tell, of the 19 diagrams today, 15 either start or end at Mach or Pwllheli, so at most it could be 4 but they may well possibly cover the Cambrian across the day.

 

[sd0733]

So, why are they just sitting at Donnington doing nothing. OK, I know that they are intended for the Cambrian but what’s to stop them working elsewhere in the meantime?

It seems very odd that things seem to go downhill on weekends. There must surely be a reason for this?

If the Donnington ones were released from there they'd simply join the queue waiting to be accepted. Now the non-ertms are nearly all accepted it would be good to see some of those released in the near future. It depends how they can run with ERTMS out of use whether they can be used in service in the near future on other routes.

 

[Anonymous10]

Focus is on getting the 3 cars out right now.

Ahh brilliant thank you very much !

Couldn’t say for certain (perhaps SD could say with more certainty) as I do not know my way around the system very well at all haha!
but at far as I can tell, of the 19 diagrams today, 15 either start or end at Mach or Pwllheli, so at most it could be 4 but they may well possibly cover the Cambrian across the day.

There was certainly one 158 operating the roughly 1845 or 1900 service into Fishguard yesterday.

 

[Western 52]

There was certainly one 158 operating the roughly 1845 or 1900 service into Fishguard yesterday.

Yes, 158831. It did 1B55 0751 Fishguard Harbour to Cardiff Central and 2105 Swansea to Milford Haven too.

 

[sd0733]

Yes, 158831. It did 1B55 0751 Fishguard Harbour to Cardiff Central and 2105 Swansea to Milford Haven too.

That was covering a 150 diagram, it's not booked 158.

 

[Cambrian359]

Curious as to who pays for rectifying faults after unit acceptance?
Also do TFW still pay leasing charges for units that have been accepted but are out of service due to fault's?

 

[sd0733]

Curious as to who pays for rectifying faults after unit acceptance?
Also do TFW still pay leasing charges for units that have been accepted but are out of service due to fault's?

I'd very much doubt anyone would be in a position to publicly say that publicly even if they knew. The contracts between CAF/TfW and the leasing company will cover all that.

Seems today's 197 shortage has been largely worked around, a couple of shortforms here and there but not as bad as yesterday.

 

[Jez]

Yes, 158831. It did 1B55 0751 Fishguard Harbour to Cardiff Central and 2105 Swansea to Milford Haven too.

I noticed that one too. It appears it returned to West Wales in the afternoon on the afternoon Fishguard and today is doing Pembroke Dock's. But none of it booked.

I'd very much doubt anyone would be in a position to publicly say that publicly even if they knew. The contracts between CAF/TfW and the leasing company will cover all that.

Seems today's 197 shortage has been largely worked around, a couple of shortforms here and there but not as bad as yesterday.

Thats good to hear. I do wonder why Conwy Valley is often the first to go when there is a shortage of units or train crew. The service is so limited anyway (same as the Heart of Wales) and only frees up one unit when it does get cancelled. I assume a rail replacement bus was provided?

 

[AdamWW]

I Thats good to hear. I do wonder why Conwy Valley is often the first to go when there is a shortage of units or train crew. The service is so limited anyway (same as the Heart of Wales) and only frees up one unit when it does get cancelled. I assume a rail replacement bus was provided?

I was told once by TfW that they think it's better to offer consistency by temporarily shutting down a lightly used service completely rather than having the odd gap in a more heavily used one.

This came from customer services though so may have been made up.

 

[sd0733]

Thats good to hear. I do wonder why Conwy Valley is often the first to go when there is a shortage of units or train crew. The service is so limited anyway (same as the Heart of Wales) and only frees up one unit when it does get cancelled. I assume a rail replacement bus was provided?

Believe everything that could be was shortformed and a Liverpool had to be cancelled too so by then that 1 unit would be cancelled somewhere.
Belive there was ticket acceptance on the local bus service and some ad-hoc taxis where needed.

 

[Caaardiff]

Is there any reason why there's only 10 out of 21 3 cars in service today?

 

[alm37]

Is there any reason why there's only 10 out of 21 3 cars in service today?

Probably down to low availability - there are at least 8 3 car sets on Chester depot at the moment or in the yard/parked up in the station (101/103/105/110/115/116/118/125) which leaves at most 13 available for service.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Not good. I’m out of Cardiff in just over a month now and I’m actually looking forward to returning to having shammy SWR as my local TOC again

 

[Jez]

Probably down to low availability - there are at least 8 3 car sets on Chester depot at the moment or in the yard/parked up in the station (101/103/105/110/115/116/118/125) which leaves at most 13 available for service.

That seems a lot of 3 cars to just be sat in Chester doing nothing. I assume there were faults with all them that prevented them being in passenger service.

There were a few 2 cars on the Manchester-South Wales, the 0930 booked as 2 car anyway i think. And a 2 car 197 on the missing MK4 diagram plus a few others.

It could have been a lot worse though.

 

[JetStream]

Currently on 197002 and it’s absolutely roasting on here. I’m wearing a T-shirt no jumper. It’s not even hot outside today. I hope this is ‘faulty AC’ and not how it’s intended to work.

Edit: just wanted to add, that you nice we got moving I seemed to feel a bit of a cool breeze and I cooled off nicely. Still a bit warm by my liking but acceptable for sure.
I probably should know but it’s not something I seem to remember being told. Does the AC not do anything whilst the doors are released to avoid overworking itself ? Or something Similar?

Unfortunately the aircon, if working, is set to only be 3-5 degrees cooler than outside as far as I'm aware.

 

[vicbury]

Unfortunately the aircon, if working, is set to only be 3-5 degrees cooler than outside as far as I'm aware.

I travelled on 197046 last week, and whilst the air con and ventilation was running and maintaining a reasonable temperature, it sounded quite unhealthy.

Firstly, the overhead fans would blow for about ten seconds, cut out for three seconds, and then blow again. This continued for the entire journey.

Secondly, there was a loud motor, which I can only describe as sounding like an industrial lathe, spinning up and slowing down periodically underneath the floor.

Thirdly, the vibrations from the engine when idling were quite bad.

As an aside, what is with the ugly "food area" taking up so much space on a two car train?!

 

[BillStampy]

I myself just got off 197044 on the short 4 minutes between Pontyclun and Llanharan and I was sweating by the time I got off! It was colder outside than inside! I'm wearing a t-shirt!

 

[vicbury]

Back again on 197046 now and the ventilation and air conditioning seems to have given up the ghost. Oh well, it was nice whilst it lasted!

 

[Steve B]

I went to Blaenau Ffestiniog today on 197021 - Heating/air-con was fine, but it was the first time that I'd been anywhere for any distance in a 197 on jointed track, and I was left feeling that the 150s were a lot more forgiving on rough track!

 

[FrodshamJnct]

I’m on 197s twice per day three times per week and have always found the temperature to be bang on. Maybe I’ve just been lucky.

 

[Markdvdman]

I was on a 3 car 197 from Cardiff a couple of weeks back. I got on and it was warm. As we pulled off the guard said the air con was not working in the 2nd car - which I was in - was boiling! She said move if you like but fat chance it was rammed! The ride quality is sometimes as smooth as butter but depending on the track can bounce more than a 150! Still far more prefereable than 150s as they are far more reliable for timetabling in the main!

 

[childwallblues]

197102 and 197114 are currently operating on Liverpool services.

 

[tomoufc]

Fantastic comms from TfW here

 

[Lurcheroo]

Fantastic comms from TfW here

?

 

[Markdvdman]

Hmm I am on a 150 to Llanelli on the 6:41 Cardiff to Pembroke Dock service. I thought they were being phased out on mainline services?

 

[Anonymous10]

Hmm I am on a 150 to Llanelli on the 6:41 Cardiff to Pembroke Dock service. I thought they were being phased out on mainline services?

Pembroke dock still isn't cleared for 197s, so it's either a 150 or 153 on that service