Transport for Wales Class 231 / 756 FLIRTs

[AdamWW]

That'd introduce a fall hazard as you're then creating a situation in which an open door usually has a ramp, but sometimes it does not. It doesn't take much for someone to lose track of the situation (e.g. guard getting asked a question by a passenger) and then falling between train and platform because the step has retracted already.

Fair enough.

I was thinking it would be OK because it's only being used by the guard at that point, but of course it's quite common for latecomers to jump in using the door the guard has open.

I have to say though, that given we allow non-FLIRTs on the network and indeed FLIRTs on curved platforms where the step isn't enough to fill the gap, I thought the steps were to permit easier access especially for wheelchairs, pushchairs and the like, not because a gap beween a train and a platform is now considered too dangerous to contemplate.

But I suppose if someone is expecting it to be there and it isn't...

 

[Peter Sarf]

Are the 231s out today (or any Saturday) ?. Nothing on RTT. I vaguely thought they had been out on passenger trains on Saturdays.

 

[Jez]

Im sure they were in passenger service at least one Saturday. Possibly last week?

EDIT according to RTT 231010 was on the usual diagram last Saturday.

 

[Express380]

Are the 231s out today (or any Saturday) ?. Nothing on RTT. I vaguely thought they had been out on passenger trains on Saturdays.

231002 Was out for a few hours but back on Canton now last did 15:48 off Penarth which appears to be main 231 diagram

 

[Jez]

231002 Was out for a few hours but back on Canton now last did 15:48 off Penarth which appears to be main 231 diagram

Yes it finishes with 1548 usually on a weekday.

 

[Express380]

Yes it finishes with 1548 usually on a weekday.

Which I still find odd why it mysteriously finishes earlier with later services on that diagram not ever running

 

[Jez]

Which I still find odd why it mysteriously finishes earlier with later services on that diagram not ever running

Maybe it needs to finish with that service as not enough train crew trained on 231 around after that time?

 

[Express380]

Maybe it needs to finish with that service as not enough train crew trained on 231 around after that time?

Makes sense I'm hoping we will see more than one unit out after some more training hopefully not too long to wait now as they seem to be on training runs daily.

 

[03_179]

231006 was out today.

Travelled from Cardiff Central to Penarth and back.
Very nice.

 

[Jez]

I completed my second journey on a 231 today 1316 Cardiff Central to Rhymney and 1427 Rhymney to Cardiff Central.

It was great to spend longer on these fantastic units than i did the first time. Im very impressed. The train was very quiet too which pleased me.

Yes 231006 today. I hope they increase the amount in service soon. They are too nice to be sitting in sidings when we have to put up with 150s and 153s!

 

[56xx]

ID of today's 231 diagram not shown on RTT but currently running 33 late at Heath High Level.

 

[6Gtraincrew]

ID of today's 231 diagram not shown on RTT but currently running 33 late at Heath High Level.

It's 231002

 

[150249]

Sorry if this has already been discussed but where exactly are the 231s running and where will they reach by August? I'm going to Burry Port on holiday in August and wanted to ride on one.

 

[SuperLuke2334]

Sorry if this has already been discussed but where exactly are the 231s running and where will they reach by August? I'm going to Burry Port on holiday in August and wanted to ride on one.

They'll still be on the Rhymney line by then. As I understand it they won't run any further west than Bridgend in normal service (except Maesteg).

 

[Jez]

By August I think they are still only going to be doing Penarth-Rhymey so you would be best doing a day trip from Burry Port to Cardiff to ride on one. But by then they should be on most/all diagrams not just the current 1. I think there are 11 x 231s so assume around 8 or 9 will be in service and that will cover the Rhymney/Bargoed diagrams.

I think by the end of the year the plan is for Maesteg/Ebbw Vale will be 197s temporary until the 231s can go onto those routes.

 

[150249]

They'll still be on the Rhymney line by then. As I understand it they won't run any further west than Bridgend in normal service (except Maesteg).

By August I think they are still only going to be doing Penarth-Rhymey so you would be best doing a day trip from Burry Port to Cardiff to ride on one. But by then they should be on most/all diagrams not just the current 1. I think there are 11 x 231s so assume around 8 or 9 will be in service and that will cover the Rhymney/Bargoed diagrams.

I think by the end of the year the plan is for Maesteg/Ebbw Vale will be 197s temporary until the 231s can go onto those routes.

Ok, that's a shame, I'm going to Cardiff one weekend too but I'll be busy the whole time.

Thanks for answering.

 

[Jez]

Ok, that's a shame, I'm going to Cardiff one weekend too but I'll be busy the whole time.

Thanks for answering.

No problem. Im having a similar issue with the 197s as not been able to ride one yet but hoping to in the next few weeks!

 

[158841]

Talking to a very nice guard this morning onboard 769445 and he believes there will be 3 diagrams from next week all on Rhymney - Penarth as only Rhymney guards currently sign 231s.

 

[Anonymous10]

Talking to a very nice guard this morning onboard 769445 and he believes there will be 3 diagrams from next week all on Rhymney - Penarth as only Rhymney guards currently sign 231s.

They will only be used on the Rhymney line for the next 12 months at least till the class 756 can enter service

 

[Express380]

Talking to a very nice guard this morning onboard 769445 and he believes there will be 3 diagrams from next week all on Rhymney - Penarth as only Rhymney guards currently sign 231s.

That's some nice progress if it happens! Hopefully some upped reliability for the Rhymney route too

 

[Rhydgaled]

Talking to a very nice guard this morning onboard 769445 and he believes there will be 3 diagrams from next week all on Rhymney - Penarth as only Rhymney guards currently sign 231s.

3 diagrams for 769s or 3 diagrams for 231s?

And, based on Jez's comment above that 8 or 9 diagrams will cover the Rhymney/Bargoed services, when they reach three 231s in service are the remaining 5 or 6 diagrams likely to be 769s or Sprinters?

 

[Big George]

Talking to a very nice guard this morning onboard 769445 and he believes there will be 3 diagrams from next week all on Rhymney - Penarth as only Rhymney guards currently sign 231s.

Large numbers of Cardiff based guards now sign 231's (as do drivers)

 

[Jez]

3 diagrams for 769s or 3 diagrams for 231s?

And, based on Jez's comment above that 8 or 9 diagrams will cover the Rhymney/Bargoed services, when they reach three 231s in service are the remaining 5 or 6 diagrams likely to be 769s or Sprinters?

8 or 9 was just a rough estimate given its every 15 minutes between Pernarth and Bargoed with an hourly extension to Rhymney. .

I assume the 769s will stay until enough 231s are in place to replace them.

 

[MikePJ]

Today's unit is 231001. I took it to work this morning - seems like the regular passengers are all used to the 231s now.

 

[AdamWW]

Today's unit is 231001. I took it to work this morning - seems like the regular passengers are all used to the 231s now.

And it's on today too.

I had a short ride on it.

It contained some off-duty TfW guards discussing how pleasant the FLIRTS were to work.

The information system could do with a little improvement though. Twice the big arrows telling you which side the platform is on were pointing the wrong way. (I don't know where they get their information from. They only seem to appear when the doors are released though). Perhaps I imagined it but on a previous trip I thought I saw them briefly trying to point both ways at once.
I started out in coach A but somewhere around Cardiff Central it became D. That could be entertaining on a train with reservations.
It started out with no announcements then came to life with a security announcement (in Welsh only) then settled down to telling us which stations we were at (but still no advance announcements, which is unusual).

It often surprises me how hard it seems to be to get a passenger information system to work. Apparently they will get new software at the end of March...

Aside from that these trains are very nice.

 

[Wyrleybart]

It often surprises me how hard it seems to be to get a passenger information system to work. Apparently they will get new software at the end of March...

Ditto - actually IT in general.
I celebrate 45 years on the railway in July and in that time I have watched IT become very unstable. When I started in 1978 our telephone was a wooden cabinet and the telephone line was Machynlleth 2311. I now use about 15 programmes the most important of which sputter and hang with that glorious blue spinning wheel.

 

[MikePJ]

And it's on today too.

I had a short ride on it.

It contained some off-duty TfW guards discussing how pleasant the FLIRTS were to work.

The information system could do with a little improvement though. Twice the big arrows telling you which side the platform is on were pointing the wrong way. (I don't know where they get their information from. They only seem to appear when the doors are released though). Perhaps I imagined it but on a previous trip I thought I saw them briefly trying to point both ways at once.
I started out in coach A but somewhere around Cardiff Central it became D. That could be entertaining on a train with reservations.
It started out with no announcements then came to life with a security announcement (in Welsh only) then settled down to telling us which stations we were at (but still no advance announcements, which is unusual).

It often surprises me how hard it seems to be to get a passenger information system to work. Apparently they will get new software at the end of March...

Aside from that these trains are very nice.

I've definitely noticed that if there is a fast turnaround at Penarth the traincrew often don't have time to reset the PIS (or maybe they try to, it sulks, and they leave it until they have a suitable moment to try again) and then it springs to life in mid-journey.

 

[AdamWW]

I've definitely noticed that if there is a fast turnaround at Penarth the traincrew often don't have time to reset the PIS (or maybe they try to, it sulks, and they leave it until they have a suitable moment to try again) and then it springs to life in mid-journey.

It was doing announcements on the screens the whole trip. Just silently for much of the time.

Also I'd be interested if there are any Welsh speakers on here who have used the trains. It sounds to me as if the PIS describes services throughout the route as e.g, "dim ond i Penarth" which I thought meant "Penarth only". But maybe I'm mishearing or that's not what it means. It's not what appears on the screens but the screens and announcements don't seem to be particularly related.

Ditto - actually IT in general.
I celebrate 45 years on the railway in July and in that time I have watched IT become very unstable. When I started in 1978 our telephone was a wooden cabinet and the telephone line was Machynlleth 2311. I now use about 15 programmes the most important of which sputter and hang with that glorious blue spinning wheel.

Information systems on trains seem to be particularly bad though, perhaps due to limited opportunities to update the software.

I presume the software that deals with things like releasing doors and braking is built to a somewhat higher standard.

I'm sure it would be possible to do better with information systems if the will (and money) was there, and I do find it interesting that fitting such systems is now considered essential, but there appears to be little interest in ensuring that they actually work accurately (or at all).

 

[StKeverne1497]

Also I'd be interested if there are any Welsh speakers on here who have used the trains. It sounds to me as if the PIS describes services throughout the route as e.g, "dim ond i Penarth" which I thought meant "Penarth only". But maybe I'm mishearing or that's not what it means. It's not what appears on the screens but the screens and announcements don't seem to be particularly related.

Literally: "only to Penarth"
According to someone I know the same happens the other end - "dim ond i Rymni" (officially it should be "i Benarth" too). Yes it's wrong as this implies a non-stopping service.

 

[AdamWW]

Literally: "only to Penarth"
According to someone I know the same happens the other end - "dim ond i Rymni" (officially it should be "i Benarth" too). Yes it's wrong as this implies a non-stopping service.

That's what I thought and yes Penarth was just an example - it seems to do it wherever the ultimate destination is.

Disappointing.

Being really picky, on the screens they not only fail to do the mutation, they miss out the space so it says "iPenarth", "iRhymney" etc (sounds like an Apple product). But they don't put "dim ond" on the screens.