Transpennine Class 350 Modifications

[BMIFlyer]

Some of you may notice that the TPE class class 350 fleet is starting to look different externally.

A number of the units now sport additional antennae on the roof of each vehicle (4 extra on the first class vehicle) along with additional jumper cabling between each vehicle (above the gangway).

Those units with the differences are now fitted with free wifi and the on board free streaming entertainment system.

The wifi and streaming will be switched on next month when all the units have been modified and the system has been calibrated and tested.

The first unit in the new colour scheme is due to be released shortly as well, in early April.

Cheers.

 

[Far north 37]

Some of you may notice that the TPE class class 350 fleet is starting to look different externally.

A number of the units now sport additional antennae on the roof of each vehicle (4 extra on the first class vehicle) along with additional jumper cabling between each vehicle (above the gangway).

Those units with the differences are now fitted with free wifi and the on board free streaming entertainment system.

The wifi and streaming will be switched on next month when all the units have been modified and the system has been calibrated and tested.

The first unit in the new colour scheme is due to be released shortly as well, in early April.

Cheers.

might be to do with them going off lease eventually maybe the leasing company is making modifications for the next contract or to put them in the shop window

 

[Roose]

Might be to do with the TPE franchise commitment.

 

[BMIFlyer]

Might be to do with the TPE franchise commitment.

Correct, the units will be with TPE until the last one leaves the fleet in December 2019

 

[gimmea50anyday]

350s are being fitted now. Its whats known as an ethernet backbone and will be used by interactive media info screens and media streaming, internal and customer wifi, reservation displays (on new fleets only) there will be other train systems that will also use this such as maintenance remote fault and performance monitoring alomg with CCTV live feeds.185s will be fitted as they pass through refurb. Whole fleet being done including those going off lease.

 

[sk688]

I know the title says TPE , but does anyone know if this is happening to LM 350s too ? They said last year that they were going to put WiFi on all their trains by the end of 2017 , but so far I have seen none that have WiFi , and it is getting close to the end of the franchise , so does anyone know what is happening with them ?

 

[Bletchleyite]

I believe LM do have to fit wifi, so I expect so, particularly if it is a Siemens product.

 

[swt_passenger]

The written description above sounds as though it is similar to the 450s? They also have the jumper above the gangways secured to a couple of newly fitted brackets, as do the 444s.

 

[BMIFlyer]

That is correct, the wifi will utilise all 4 of the big mobile networks in the U.K. The train will jump to the best 3G/4G signal it can find on route.

 

[sd0733]

I know the title says TPE , but does anyone know if this is happening to LM 350s too ? They said last year that they were going to put WiFi on all their trains by the end of 2017 , but so far I have seen none that have WiFi , and it is getting close to the end of the franchise , so does anyone know what is happening with them ?

Almost all of the 350s are fitted with wifi, certainly most of the /2s and all the /3s have and the remainder should be done soon. You can see thr cables running between coaches just below the roof externally and internally there are white oblong recievers on the ceilings.
They will all be switched on together apparently so will be waiting for the reminder to be fitted first

 

[BMIFlyer]

Almost all of the 350s are fitted with wifi, certainly most of the /2s and all the /3s have and the remainder should be done soon. You can see thr cables running between coaches just below the roof externally and internally there are white oblong recievers on the ceilings.
They will all be switched on together apparently so will be waiting for the reminder to be fitted first

That is correct, the TPE 350 fleet will all be switched on at the same time sometime next month.

The 185s will be switched on when 12 units have been fitted, and then the rest activated one by one as they are fitted with the system.

 

[87015]

Can they fit a pantograph that doesn't bring the overheads down far, far too often for train miles run???

 

[DJH1971]

TPE's 350's have said to have quite a few reliability issues, which is in contrast to LM's 350's.

 

[gimmea50anyday]

Yeah, think 408 and 404 seem to be in competition with each other as to which one can lose its pan the most!

TPEs 350s do a lot of high speed and high mileage running. They rarely do any stop-start work mixed in with some high speed running which LM services do. That might make the difference between the fleets.

Being delivered at the same time TPE and LM units did work together in multiple on commonwealth games work. LM then received them for delivery after TPE finished using them. Useless factoid!

 

[BMIFlyer]

TPE Class 350's new livery listing:

Dynamic Lines
TPE 2017 Livery

350401, 350402, 350403, 350404, 350405, 350406, 350407, 350408, 350409, 350410

 

[rebmcr]

Can they fit a pantograph that doesn't bring the overheads down far, far too often for train miles run???

No, it's part of the franchise specification that they can't fit any pantograph unless it's faulty.

 

[TBSchenker]

TPE Class 350's new livery listing:

Dynamic Lines
TPE 2017 Livery

350401, 350402, 350403, 350404, 350405, 350406, 350407, 350408, 350409, 350410

Pedantic mode. Not quite yet, it's still in the 2012 grey livery.

 

[BMIFlyer]

Pedantic mode. Not quite yet, it's still in the 2012 grey livery.

Ah. Okay nearly then. Cheers

 

[oversteer]

LMs wifi appears to be switched on now
This message was posted on it

 

[joshy.fre_2003]

Pedantic mode. Not quite yet, it's still in the 2012 grey livery.

Woahhh, what's this? The 350's are being re liveried / stripped of dynamic lines livery? Don't suppose anyone's got a pic of 402?

 

[driver9000]

Woahhh, what's this? The 350's are being re liveried / stripped of dynamic lines livery? Don't suppose anyone's got a pic of 402?

It's not been released back into traffic yet.

 

[Jamesrob637]

A half-relevant question to this topic; why is the 07:30 Manchester Airport to Edinburgh formed of 8 coaches only on a Friday? Do these coaches stand idle the other 4 days or do TPE pull them off/shorten another diagram?

 

[rebmcr]

A half-relevant question to this topic; why is the 07:30 Manchester Airport to Edinburgh formed of 8 coaches only on a Friday? Do these coaches stand idle the other 4 days or do TPE pull them off/shorten another diagram?

I believe it's pulled from the maintenance spare pool.

 

[WatcherZero]

Scotland services peak demand is Fri-Sun so maintenance is concentrated Mon-Thur, reverse of most other franchises.

 

[causton]

LMs wifi appears to be switched on now
This message was posted on it

Shh, it's not live yet!

It is available for those who want to use it and can find it, but is not on every 350 and is not guaranteed, nor is it guaranteed to work, so it is not yet being advertised. When all trains are fitted with it and any bugs they may find get ironed out, it will be announced I am sure

 

[hibtastic]

A half-relevant question to this topic; why is the 07:30 Manchester Airport to Edinburgh formed of 8 coaches only on a Friday? Do these coaches stand idle the other 4 days or do TPE pull them off/shorten another diagram?

I believe the 8:12 Edinburgh to MAN on a Monday is also 8 carriages. The strongest demand is to Edinburgh generally so 185s sometimes cover on the Glasgow runs.

 

[Starmill]

It used to be the case that some North TP services range with fewer coches on Fridays. There's a booked 6 car 185 on Friday too

 

[driver9000]

I believe the 8:12 Edinburgh to MAN on a Monday is also 8 carriages. The strongest demand is to Edinburgh generally so 185s sometimes cover on the Glasgow runs.

Yes it is. The 20:00 Manchester Airport to Edinburgh on a Thursday is also 8 coaches.

 

[Des Iroman]

Can they fit a pantograph that doesn't bring the overheads down far, far too often for train miles run???

How many incidents are caused by pantograph defects, and how many by infrastructure issues?

 

[TBSchenker]

350402 is now in traffic in the new livery.