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Island Line Upgrade updates

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birchesgreen

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Of course, they were bowing out on the London Underground Metropolitan line during my more youthful days, and their acceleration was often very slow if you wanted to get a good top speed (up to 70 mph) out of them. There was an option to accelerate faster, but limited the top speed to about 35 mph.
Thanks thats interesting
 
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Goldfish62

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Recent train times shows the turnaround from yesterday! All going well so far today which is great news, I guess the doors aren't a big problem after all.
Yes, I noticed things have improved dramatically since yesterday.
 

IanXC

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Of course timings reported (on RTT etc) can't really be compared to before the upgrade as previously times shown were simply to show whether the train ran or not, their timeliness wasn't recorded at all in systems.
 

Chris125

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Is it my imagination or did they rebuild/underpin the platforms, replace the cattle creep with a culvert and dig out a substantial length of trackbed... only to relay the track through Brading at the same height?

It's not perfect, but this quick mockup of a video uploaded today and Ben Rue's photo of 484001 being delivered last year surely suggests there's - at the very least - no improvement! How extraordinary.

EnT1e-NXUAQ3yMt.jpg
 
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Xenophon PCDGS

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Is it my imagination or did they rebuild/underpin the platforms, replace the cattle creep with a culvert and dig out a substantial length of trackbed... only to relay the track through Brading at the same height?

It's not perfect, but this quick mockup of a video uploaded today and Ben Rue's photo of 484001 being delivered last year surely suggests there's - at the very least - no improvement! How extraordinary.

View attachment 105130
Tactile paving on the platform has appeared in the 2021 image.
 

Chris125

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Anyone know why the platforms at Brading weren't raised for the 484s as the other stations?

The platforms at Brading and Shanklin were both covered by the listed status of the stations, so the plan was to lower the tracks instead.
 
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david1212

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To be fair the 700s are decent, but being driver released helps.

From what I can gather with the 484s:

- Train comes to a halt, guard opens the local door and checks all is clear
- Guard then releases the rest of the doors
- Passengers press the button and the door opens slowly
- Guard presses close door button, hussle alarm sounds for a few seconds then doors close slowly
- Guard then closes the local door, again the mechanism is slow
- Guard gives 2 on the bell, driver respond etc
- Train eventually moves

Each of the above takes a few seconds but it all adds up. I know today was the first day and naturally things will be a bit slow but it seemed to me that the station stops were all 30 seconds - 1 minute longer than they needed to be. Doesn't sound much but add this up at every station and you soon get to 3 or 4 minutes of delay on each journey.

I don't understand why on new or heavily altered trains why it is not arranged for the driver to release the door, even if the guard closes the doors. The driver must know must know if he or she has stopped in the correct location at a station. The enables passengers to be able to promptly press the door button to open the doors. This must assist in reducing dwell times. I am surprised that such an arrangement has not been adopted for the new 484 trains. As noted above a few seconds at each station soon adds up!!!

I have also seen on trains, operated by other TOC's, where the guard sells tickets and he is also responsible for releasing the doors, that he may still be selling tickets when the train arrives at the next station, thus delaying the release of the doors, and consequently further delaying the train. I am sure that this will happen on the new IoW trains.

Right across the network to me this is logical as the guard can be assisting a passenger with luggage, getting a wheelchair in position ready for the ramp even if he / she has to get the ramp from the platform etc.

Are the doors slower than in District line days? They are certainly used differently (guard control, etc.). A single wide door will take longer to open and close than two half width doors, so maybe compared to the old order it seems worse.

I was thinking likewise. Have Vivarail actually changed the door mechanism or the opening and closing speed ?
 

Dstock7080

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By means of a comparison, what did Vivarail do in that respect on the units on the Marston Vale line?
Seeing both 230s and 484s it seems they have the same door modification which I believe reduces the operating pressure of the door engine and removes the dampers which prevented the slamming now apparent.
 

norbitonflyer

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The doors on the D78s were quite slow - they certainly seemed slower than other stocks. I have seen impatient passengers give them a shove to help them on their way. (Sort of the opposite of servo assistance!) Didn't seem to do the mechanism any damage.
 

Goldfish62

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The doors on the D78s were quite slow - they certainly seemed slower than other stocks. I have seen impatient passengers give them a shove to help them on their way. (Sort of the opposite of servo assistance!) Didn't seem to do the mechanism any damage.
They were slow, yes, but not as slow as they are now.

As has been mentioned, add in the specific method of door operation and it does make things considerably slower.
 

Chris125

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They aren't as fast to close as their District Line days, but they are consistent - with the 483s it was normal to sit waiting for that awkward door to trundle shut long after the rest, and you'd pity the guard who'd spend their shift giving a particularly troublesome one a helping hand station after station.

I see it's the usual story with timekeeping today - they can drop a minute or two without issue, but any more and they can't recover it. Presumably they'll turn back short at Esplanade somewhen again.
 
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MotCO

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After the initial interest on Monday, how are passenger numbers stacking up?
 

Gloster

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An item, slightly confused, in the County Press suggests that buses are being provided to cover the school runs that the current timetable misses. However, publicity seems to be less than minimal.
 

D9006

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Seems pretty typical for a modern train from what I've seen? Not as quick as the 483s but I suppose that's to be expected.
My experience from doors on 483s was they needed a boot now and again to assist with closing
 

Gloster

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I have told this before, but five or so years ago I was waiting in a train at Pier Head and, when the guard shut the doors, one of the leaves stopped half-way over to have a rest. All quite normal. A couple, probably visitors, were sitting opposite and the woman said,” Is there a problem with the doors? Should we tell someone?” I replied, “ No, that’s quite normal. The doors are often like that, but the trains are seventy-five years old and you’d take your time at that age.” “Seventy-five! Are they safe?”
 

D9006

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My mum and dad use the service from Lake both in their late 70s, one think my mum can’t work out all this money spent and still no bench at Lake station
 

swt_passenger

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My mum and dad use the service from Lake both in their late 70s, one think my mum can’t work out all this money spent and still no bench at Lake station
Platform probably isn’t wide enough, if I remember it is about as narrow as they come…
 

Non Multi

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Platform probably isn’t wide enough, if I remember it is about as narrow as they come…
Perch seating would be the solution for that problem. Trueform, Steel Line, Forms + Surfaces and Macemain Amstad all produce various perches.
 
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Chris125

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Had a look at Brading yesterday; the repro lamps - pretty as they are - clearly can't be bright enough to meet modern lighting standards:

IMG_0808 - Copy.JPG

They've also replaced the black lockable gates on the accessible crossing with conventional latch types fitted previously (one of which still remains dumped by the lineside...)

IMG_0813 - Copy.JPG

I see the Network Rail access info on the gate only shows a 15mph restriction, the 5mph limit over the crossing isn't shown - was it not expected/planned for?
 
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