http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Topic: Virgin Trains East Coast 'Azuma' train en Sun, 17 May 2026 22:35:58 +0000 http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16186&page=4#post-316456 Sat, 26 Oct 2019 07:45:19 +0000 chdot 316456@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>“<br /> The basins in the toilets – apart from the larger accessible ones – are very narrow, with awkward door handles. But you might walk into a cycle storage compartment by mistake, because they look just the same, especially as the smallish bike symbol is beside, rather than on, the door. </p> <p>“</p> <p><a href="https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/columnists/looking-for-the-toilet-could-spring-a-surprise-on-lner-s-new-trains-alastair-dalton-1-5032351" rel="nofollow">https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/columnists/looking-for-the-toilet-could-spring-a-surprise-on-lner-s-new-trains-alastair-dalton-1-5032351</a> </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16186&page=4#post-315079 Wed, 02 Oct 2019 14:14:37 +0000 LaidBack 315079@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>@LivM - I think the only sensible solution is to have horizontal bike storage particularly as e-bikes are trending. Whether LNER will do anything other than PR remains to be seen. Not if they weren't warned of the problems.<br /> If I put our folded tandem under a big cover what would they do I wonder? Do they have another oversize luggage locker? (Sorry if been answered earlier but the only measure I found earlier in thread was that a 2.5m tandem could go with 'wheels off'!)</p> <p><a href="https://flic.kr/p/2hnAbB3" rel="nofollow">https://flic.kr/p/2hnAbB3</a> </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16186&page=4#post-315062 Wed, 02 Oct 2019 11:51:46 +0000 LivM 315062@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Such a shame - we had a great weekend in York a few months back - 2 bikes and a kids trailer in the guards van (which was also positively inviting people with excess baggage to drop their suitcases off to go to London) and no worries about manhandling a heavy e-bike into a cramped space. Would have been impossible on the Azuma.</p> <p>The bikes meant that we could get around York comfortably without expecting 4yo to walk great distances or rely on public transport which would have taken longer and been more inconvenient (station &gt; Youth Hostel &gt; city centre etc and also out to University and back to station). </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16186&page=4#post-315060 Wed, 02 Oct 2019 10:53:04 +0000 LaidBack 315060@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Meanwhile the new Azuma design has been proven once again to not being fit for bicycle carriage.<br /> Things are so bad that @Backonmybike and @Tulyar have actually been acknowledged by LNER!<br /> "we can set up a time to talk about these issues and see if we can work out a solution!"</p> <p>Green tourism is on the up but LNER and ScotRail are going backwards. Do people in these companies actually get paid to deliver such poor results?<br /> Now their PR departments are involved in trying to sort an engineering solution.</p> <p>My suspicion is that neither want cyclists on trains. Most cyclists drive so will just hire a car - particularly true for families. I know many here have successfully taken their families on holiday despite the pathetic 2 bike per train restriction but the vibe coming from them isn't of a company looking for bike business.<br /> Twitter also unearths the old 'you are all entitled expecting to take sports equipment on train' theme. Buy a folding bike etc...</p> <p><a href="https://twitter.com/backonmybike/status/1178943392665001984?s=19" rel="nofollow">https://twitter.com/backonmybike/status/1178943392665001984?s=19</a> </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16186&page=4#post-314960 Sun, 29 Sep 2019 12:56:02 +0000 chdot 314960@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>“Booked as an HST on Weekdays”</p> <p>Yes, but CC people online obviously didn’t know. I didn’t realise they ran HSTs here so was expecting a ‘normal’ set. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16186&page=4#post-314959 Sun, 29 Sep 2019 11:27:25 +0000 Tulyar 314959@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><a href="https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/P38678/2019/09/27/advanced" rel="nofollow">https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/P38678/2019/09/27/advanced</a></p> <p>1V54 - Booked as an HST on Weekdays - presume this was the train - very generous dwell time at INK but 10L depart, &amp; down to 3L at EDB. NB Link disappears in 6 days </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16186&page=4#post-314956 Sat, 28 Sep 2019 20:47:44 +0000 chdot 314956@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>“trains delayed”</p> <p>Ah yes.</p> <p>Had a quite odd experience yesterday.</p> <p>Got a Cross Country INK to HYM.</p> <p>Checked that SR ticket was OK.</p> <p>Checked booking status - “Unfortunately, the two reservable cycle spaces have already been booked. There is one non-reservable space occupied on a first come first served basis if you would like to try for this, or we can check availability on a different service for you, please let us know.”</p> <p>Checked where spaces where - “Same Coach, Coach D.”</p> <p>SO...</p> <p>Waited on platform expecting a 5(?) car train. Few mins late. Checked with platform person - ‘usually coach D’, look out for bike signs.’</p> <p>Train rolls in <em>except</em> it’s a 125. No bike signs on coach D.</p> <p>Platform person ‘guard’s van is in front’.</p> <p>So I run.</p> <p>Throw me and bike in, and wave out window.</p> <p>Well I’m only going one stop, don’t mind being stuck in guard’s van - I know I can get though ‘train crew office - if allowed.</p> <p>Train doesn’t move.</p> <p>Platform person says ‘you have to get out’.</p> <p>(Thinks) ‘OK so I have to get in coach’.</p> <p>Get out.</p> <p>PP ‘no guard says you’ve got to get bike out too’.</p> <p>(Me) confused.</p> <p>Expect train to leave (with me on platform).</p> <p>Doesn’t.</p> <p>Head to coach D, get on find a large(ish) luggage space.</p> <p>All a bit bizarre but I’m on train with bike, now more minutes late. MUST be about to leave.</p> <p>Guard(?) - still on platform - says ‘bike has to be in van’. ‘Don’t know why PP told you to take bike off’.</p> <p>PP ‘I’m sorry, least I can do is put bike in van’.</p> <p>So he sets off for front of train.</p> <p>Guard(?) ‘he should have been better trained’.</p> <p>Train loses 4 more minutes (mostly made up by EDB).</p> <p><em>Really</em> surprised I didn’t get left on platform. THANKS CC guard(?)</p> <p>Oh and, no, no other bikes in spacious van.</p> <p>AND it wasn’t locked.</p> <p>No idea how often this is a 125. (0632 Dundee to Plymouth) </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16186&page=4#post-314949 Sat, 28 Sep 2019 14:59:55 +0000 Tulyar 314949@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>@Greenroofer I use the seats &amp; the bike stowage is in this carriage.</p> <p>Observations of New Sleeper was that the seriously under-specified 'hooks'(Max load 18Kg), were showing that there was an HF oscillation (pitch), of relatively low intensity and bikes were bouncing on the hooks. A bit tricky to video with hand held phone, to show movement. Half the space for bikes was used up by 'laundry sacks'.</p> <p>As with IEP the 'hook' design makes all the basic mistakes that inhibit easy, fast loading. Barely enough 'gap' to fit a regular 37-xxx tyre on a regular rim, past the side 'wings' and around severe &amp; width constrained hook.</p> <p>I have pictures on A V Lowe Flickr, which may appear on CCE in due course.</p> <p>For both designs, any tyre size greater than 32/37-xxx on any rim other than a basic type, won't fit</p> <p>A whole library of fails (photographed) some reported injuries &amp; damage to bikes/clothing, and trains delayed, dispatch staff tied up assisting with loading, failure to unlock cupboard, etc. (example on 26/08 1E09 delayed 3 min departing EDB as 3 people tried &amp; failed to put bike on hook, then delay extended to 8 min when no one came to unlock cupboard at NCL)</p> <p>Note that TPE are also having to use IEP (Nova 1) on Edinburgh-Liverpool route to standardise trains with LNER.</p> <p>Need to also reference a Scotrail HST thread for issues on this, including Lee Craigie's bike hooking the emergency door release with the handlebars &amp; making a full emergency brake application! </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16186&page=4#post-314762 Tue, 24 Sep 2019 09:41:40 +0000 Arellcat 314762@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>When coming home from Liverpool couple of weekends ago the HST I was expecting at Carlisle turned out to be an Azuma (or aZuma as I've also seen it spelt).</p> <p>I would say the legroom was a welcome addition, after years of being cramped on the 91s and Voyagers, and the seat profile is a nice shape. But good grief the seats are firm! I think I would be at numb bum stage after a full London-Edinburgh journey.</p> <p>I also felt that the ride quality was similar to the 91s, but possibly even firmer. The difference was not so great as from HST to 91, but definitely firmer than the Pendolino on which I had travelled to Carlisle.</p> <p>The nice touch is the red and green lights above each seat that let you see at a glance which seats are reserved and which are available. Possibly not so great for red-green colourblind people. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16186&page=4#post-314758 Tue, 24 Sep 2019 08:07:29 +0000 Greenroofer 314758@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Tried the new Sleeper for the first time last night. Work payed for an extortionately expensive en suite cabin. The actual facilities were very pleasant, and I can confirm that a Brompton fits under the bed. It wasn't all that <em>comfortable</em> though. There seemed to be more high frequency vibration than I remembered from the old Sleeper. I felt very shaken the whole way. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16186&page=4#post-313314 Thu, 29 Aug 2019 17:16:36 +0000 chdot 313314@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><a href="https://www.scotsman.com/news/transport/new-rail-fares-system-trial-to-cut-cost-of-lner-journeys-to-london-1-4993841" rel="nofollow">https://www.scotsman.com/news/transport/new-rail-fares-system-trial-to-cut-cost-of-lner-journeys-to-london-1-4993841</a> </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16186&page=4#post-312618 Fri, 16 Aug 2019 11:09:13 +0000 SRD 312618@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>was on a non-azuma back from london yesterday. put my folder in the guard's van to make more space in my carriage. my ticket is haymarket, but i always bring the bike back to my carriage at Waverley after everyone else has left, because it's tricky to do it at haymarket. this time, the nice guard brought it back to me. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16186&page=4#post-312584 Thu, 15 Aug 2019 08:46:08 +0000 chdot 312584@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>New thread(s) someone? </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16186&page=4#post-312583 Thu, 15 Aug 2019 08:45:13 +0000 chdot 312583@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>“by running the diesel HSTs day and night”</p> <p>Apparently (no idea if this is true) it’s because if engines are switched off it's hard to restart them. </p> <p>If so, is this ScotRail ones only?? </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16186&page=3#post-312581 Thu, 15 Aug 2019 08:23:16 +0000 HankChief 312581@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>If I'm allowed thread drift on a thread drift....</p> <p>One point that could be made to Scotrail is that the Haymarket Depot on Russell Road is causing an awful lot of pollution/disturbance by running the diesel HSTs day and night on their motors whilst in the depot being serviced.</p> <p>There is a continuing saga of attempts to get this practice to stop but in the mean time it is not helping the air quality.</p> <p>The air quality her is doubly important given the attempts to block the Roseburn Terrace cycle route on pollution grounds and certain individuals wanting to do their own monitoring of the pollution levels.</p> <p>Any help here would be appreciated. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16186&page=3#post-312579 Thu, 15 Aug 2019 01:13:43 +0000 Tulyar 312579@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Why have I missed this? </p> <p>Note that tomorrow at 14.30 we have a meeting of the Scotrail Cycle Forum at Transport Scotland in Glasgow - I'm attending along with Spokes, and I hope Go-Bike. (sub note for someone needing a bike part urgently in Edinburgh - I could bring said part to the meeting and hand it to someone heading back to Edinburgh - around 16.30 when meeting ends)</p> <p><strong>HST </strong></p> <p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/h52/albums/72157702071089124" rel="nofollow">https://www.flickr.com/photos/h52/albums/72157702071089124</a></p> <p>I've posted an agenda item on this &amp; have a list of what needs sorting out on this train. Using a mailstar as the 'test bike' there were problems getting it on the hook, and I had to squeeze into the cupboard with an assistant outside to get the bike out.</p> <p>The system in the power car defeated all attempts to use it 1) its crap 2) with a much better design, which has been used for over 30 years on trains across the rest of Europe, you can fit at least 5 bikes in the same space.</p> <p>In both cases the bike had to be fully lifted off the floor, and for a 20Kg bike, the limits for a lift to shoulder height, with straight arms, square to the load, on a stable static 'floor' are well short of 20Kg for an average, fit adult male - per HSE Manual Handling Regs (MHOR 1992). Any harm to a non employee caused by lifting contra to limits of MHOR might be considered as an offence per Section 3 HSAWA 1974 (unlimited fine &amp;c)</p> <p>Correspondence/e-mails to me at usual address.... or via CUK. </p> <p><strong>IEP - AKA Azuma/Nova ...</strong></p> <p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/h52/albums/72157709984712701" rel="nofollow">https://www.flickr.com/photos/h52/albums/72157709984712701</a></p> <p>Back in 2014 I gathered a motley crew at Warwick Parkway, and we trouped off to a design studio with a big upright gas-pipe bike (cycled over from Coventry) a 'bent (courtesy of Arellcat's pal Kim riding out from Birmingham), and a tandem - almost had a windcheetah courtesy of a disabled user from Slough, but he cried off as unwell. Pictures were taken, comments made, which were largely ignored/overruled in the final design. Hence we know that a tandem with wheels removed does fit.</p> <p>The luggage racks apparently are a good fit for 2 Bromptons on each level, which of course has no connection to the fact that the MD of Hitachi Rail-EU at the time used a Brompton....</p> <p>I'm gathering many reports and pictures, directly and through CUK. IEP's are due to enter service with Hull trains, TPE, and now East Midlands Trains (with the new Abellio franchise).</p> <p><strong>Class 156</strong></p> <p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/h52/albums/with/72157702071089124" rel="nofollow">https://www.flickr.com/photos/h52/albums/with/72157702071089124</a></p> <p>Note also the daft instructions for Class 156 - and I'd welcome reports - to Scotrail SM team (cc me with a link) of security checking of the hooks, noting the unit number (156 XXX) like these</p> <p><strong>Class 220/221</strong></p> <p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/h52/albums/with/72157702071089124" rel="nofollow">https://www.flickr.com/photos/h52/albums/with/72157702071089124</a></p> <p>Likewise videos &amp; condition reports on the Cross Country (&amp; Virgin) Class 220/221. These really are not fit for purpose as the hooks are bending and pulling out of their ceiling fixings, whilst totally failing to hold the bikes stable, so they crash around damaging the train &amp; bikes. My proposal for the removal of the buffet counter and provision of luggage racks &amp; bike stowage would have fitted at least 4 bikes in this space, with a luggage rack over them, PLUS some perch/fold down seats for excess passengers.</p> <p><strong>Software Nerds/Cyclehack</strong> </p> <p>Some of you might know of the apps that have been developed through open rail data - notably Real Time Trains (Tom Cairns) and Open Rail Data - which shows your train reporting in each track section for a limited number of locations (very handy as it will show your train in the platform well before it appears on the Passenger Information Screens (PIS).</p> <p>RTT basically uses DARWIN, which harvests train running data from TRUST, to feed the PIS (or now called Customer Information System) to display on various phone apps, station screens etc.</p> <p>DARWIN v.16 now has the facility to attach (Push-Port) details of the trains, such as the number of toilets, the passenger loadings, and (it seems possible) the available bike spaces, whether or not these are reservable. </p> <p>Perhaps I need a primer to upgrade my software wrenching skills from PDP basic/Fortran4 on 80 column self punched cards. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16186&page=3#post-312561 Wed, 14 Aug 2019 18:37:13 +0000 LaidBack 312561@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Fuego. Unit had no hanging rack. Was with John S and his P-38 - also not allowed. Now on 170 train back from Dundee. Guard hasn't commented yet. Once we're past Leuchars it's non stop though :-)<br /> (Sorry - have hi-jacked Azuma thread and may shift gripe to the ScotRail thread). </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16186&page=3#post-312518 Wed, 14 Aug 2019 12:26:12 +0000 Arellcat 312518@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Which bike? I'm assuming it was the fearsome Nazca Quetzal tandem, but I fear it may have been a Fuego and that Scotrail is being petty. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16186&page=3#post-312504 Wed, 14 Aug 2019 08:31:06 +0000 LaidBack 312504@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Waverley. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16186&page=3#post-312484 Tue, 13 Aug 2019 13:40:14 +0000 chdot 312484@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Which station? </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16186&page=3#post-312482 Tue, 13 Aug 2019 12:42:16 +0000 LaidBack 312482@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Bike blues on a Scotrail train. New/old HST guard said no way to my bike.<br /> Said it would be banned on a 170 too. Well now on board that but quite discouraging. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16186&page=3#post-312477 Tue, 13 Aug 2019 11:58:27 +0000 SRD 312477@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>@arellcat I am currently taking food + clothes for 3 days and need ever bit of my Arkel’s humungous capacity... </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16186&page=3#post-312475 Tue, 13 Aug 2019 11:11:52 +0000 LivM 312475@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I went on an LNER service a few months ago and was interested to see that they were positively encouraging people going to London (certainly those in big groups) to check their luggage into the guard's van at the front. There was just about enough space for our (booked) bikes but only just! </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16186&page=3#post-312464 Tue, 13 Aug 2019 09:11:00 +0000 Arellcat 312464@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>@SRD, I used to travel with the bike using a biggish handlebar bag plus a big messenger bag. It was an attempt to approximate the utility of a Brompton. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16186&page=3#post-312462 Tue, 13 Aug 2019 08:42:09 +0000 chdot 312462@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Well that’s probably the problem of words and interpretation of rules. </p> <p>And the whole ‘when is a bike not a bike’. </p> <p>Suspect “bulk storage area” is what ‘we’ might call the guards van!</p> <p>Folding bike in bag ‘luggage’, unbagged not(?) </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16186&page=3#post-312459 Tue, 13 Aug 2019 07:42:17 +0000 SRD 312459@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>hmmm...so i tweeted about this, and LNER says that there is a 'bulk storage area'. which is odd, because the LNER staff on the train told me there was nowhere unless I had a bike reservation. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16186&page=3#post-312457 Tue, 13 Aug 2019 05:49:27 +0000 SRD 312457@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>First impressions: #AZUMA nice and shiny but luggage racks no longer fit my folding bike; there’s no space behind the last seats where big suitcases and bikes could go; and no guards van for bulky luggage. </p> <p>No problem this morning - only two passengers in the carriage but no idea what i'll do when i'm boarding at kings cross and someone else puts a suitcase on first (Images very good at sprinting to the end of the train to board, but sometimes people dive on while i'm folding the bike.</p> <p>(it's mainly the rack that doesn't fit; i suppose i could get a smaller rack?) </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16186&page=3#post-312296 Thu, 08 Aug 2019 20:18:53 +0000 HankChief 312296@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>So yesterday I went down to London on an Azuma train and am currently heading North on an old train.</p> <p>The Azuma was nice. Quiet and generally smooth (not totally smooth but certainly less jolty/rattly than the old trains).</p> <p>The seats are certainly harder and whilst I wouldn't say uncomfortable you definitely sit on them rather than in them as you do in the old trains.</p> <p>The on board team were getting used to the new trains and genuinely seemed excited about them. Our arrival in London was 3 minutes late which isn't too bad.</p> <p>More trains and faster stopping services will certainly be welcome once they have fully rolled out the azumas. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16186&page=3#post-311945 Sat, 03 Aug 2019 14:45:14 +0000 crowriver 311945@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>"the stuff that does survive still requires ongoing maintenance, and often major interventions"</p> <p>Most people realise that. The infamous example being the Forth Bridge, which once they had finished painting, they had to start all over again. Until recently, when they cleaned all the paint off and applied a new formula coating which allegedly won't need to be repainted again for x number of years. </p> <p>"Drainage is not a topic that gets the pulse racing. Nonetheless, proper maintenance of drainage assets is fundamental to the safe operation of the railway. "</p> <p>This is certainly an issue, but as I said above perhaps changes to the landscape surrounding the railway corridors is a bigger one? Lots of hedgerows torn out and trees felled in the past 40 years; Lots of former farmland now the site of suburban sprawl, tarmac and concrete. So drainage that was adequate when surrounding farms were well drained and bounded by hedges no longer up the task when dealing with run off from arable monoculture mega fields or suburban culs-de-sac?</p> <p>"But on things like leaves on the line (and treefall), the rail industry doesn’t seem able to adequately organise its vegetation management regime."</p> <p>Presumably because, like painting the Forth Bridge, it is a Sysyphean task that <em>costs money</em> and Network Rail's predecessor Railtrack was not keen on spending money, the better to make a profit for shareholders? Prior to Railtrack, BR had been starved of investment so perhaps the rot started in the 1980s? </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16186&page=3#post-311917 Fri, 02 Aug 2019 16:34:24 +0000 SRD 311917@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>yes, thanks Arelcat. i suspect you're right. but baffled that tall bikes are popular enough for a mention? </p> <p>i am willing to be m mildly positive about tandem's being allowed. but it is certainly incoherent, </p>