I notice that the Chipwrapper have changed the header image from that article. The original featured a Pendolino in a yellow "Dutch"-themed Abellio livery which is something that doesn't actually exists. Instead it was ripped off of a guy who photoshops trains into alternative liveries and is quite high up a google search.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Infrastructure
First Group 'to lose Scotrail franchise' to Dutch firm
(129 posts)-
Posted 9 years ago #
-
So, how do we get a Merseyrail rather than a Greater Anglia?
By government including the things we want in the specification for the franchise, incorporating commitments made by Abellio in their bid in the franchise contract, and monitoring Abellio's performance against the specification and its commitments and enforcing penalties for failure to comply where necessary.
Posted 9 years ago # -
New picture out, they've done a little something to temper the "East German Phonebox" design of the front compared to previous artist's imrpessions;
There are some interior shots too, but no details I can find about cycle provision. They are a new design of train, specified to Scotrail's standard, so no existing ones to look for pictures of.
The trains will be living at Millerhill where a new depot is being built for them.
One key difference between them and the incumbent high-speed buses (Turbostars) is that they have a gangway at the end, so when two units work together you can access all the carriages. Currently you have to take a punt at one or the other, and if you end up in the busy half / the one with the football hooligans / hen party / no working toilets etc. you're kind of stuck there.
Posted 9 years ago # -
From a 4 page Centrefold in new spokes Mag
"provide greater off-peak cycle capacity on trains: all new and refurbished trains will have multi-functional areas, creating up to 6 cycle spaces per 3 car unit. Customers will be able to reserve their cycle spaces in advance on our customer app in line with ticket purchase and we will provide information on whether a particular train has spare capacity"
"On Board Cycle Facilities
"Together with train manufacturers and cycle users, we will examine innovative ways of providing better on-board cycle storage. This will be done as a priority when we refurbish High Speed Trains for the inter-city service network. We will ask manufacturers for a range of solutions offering the most efficient and user-friendly way of cycle storage and will look at best practices all over Europe to cater for cycle spaces We will consult members of our cycle forum on the design of any cycling-related rolling stock modifications. Conductors and ticket examiners, together with customer support teams will be trained, as part of our 'inspire' customer service training to be flexible regarding the number of bicycles to be stored on board trains and to regard customers with cycles as the same as any other customers rather than as a potential 'problem'.Posted 9 years ago # -
"...regard customers with cycles as the same as any other customers rather than as a potential 'problem'..."
O.T. but there were problems with the Airdrie - Bathgate trains yesterday with the result that there were lots of people, quite a few of whom had bicycles, waiting for the train at Livingston North. One 3 (I think, or is it 4) carriage train rolled up. We all got on, as far as I could tell, including all the bikes, I would guess we were into double figures with the bikes. Train Guard seemed to have no problems, just went on checking tickets...
Posted 9 years ago # -
If they deliver on the above I'd be happy.
However, as a note of caution
"all new and refurbished trains will have multi-functional areas, creating up to 6 cycle spaces per 3 car unit."
Paddy looks in his crystal ball and sees 3 monster pushchairs and no room for bikes...
Posted 9 years ago # -
@fimm
similar story on Fife trains. If cyclists try to be accommodating, remove paniers and extra stuff and organise bikes as well as possible, most conductors are great and 4 bikes to a 2 bike rack are not uncommon. Lots of fun and games when the inside bike is the first one to get off...Passengers who think it is their god given right to stand in the doorway, and look at you vacantly when you explain you have a large bike which you need to get to the bike area, are a different matter...
Posted 9 years ago # -
I have (a longish time ago, on a Saturday, in Fife) seen a conductor ask pushchair owners to move the chairs so that bikes could be put in a bike space.
(What's the person's job title these days? Conductor/guard they are not...)
Posted 9 years ago # -
Revenue Protesction Officer?
There are 2 levels on some trains - one who just checks tickets and another who also has responsibility for operating doors/checking platform is clear (but sadly no whistle). On less busy trains we have just the latter.
Posted 9 years ago # -
(What's the person's job title these days? Conductor/guard they are not...)
There are guards, who have a train safety role, e.g. the doors and platforms and other responsibilities say if the train has to stop inbetween stations. It is the guard who is responsible for despatching the train from a platform and ultimately tells the driver when it is safe to leave the station. You may hear a "buzz. buzz-buzz" (close the doors) and then "buzz-buzz" (ready to start) through the train's internal bell system if you are in earshot, which is one of the signals that the doors are closed, train is ready to start etc. I believe that on these trains, the guard is also responsible for checking that the station starting signal is not at danger before giving the order to proceed (although the driver is also responsible for double checking).
For those who are interested, here's the 84 page manual on preparation to move a train, including bell codes (page 23).
Then there are ticket inspectors who just inspect tickets. The ticket inspector does not have the train safety role and responsibility of the guard.
Trains and stations have to be specifically configured and approved for "Driver only operation" i.e. operation without a guard but with a ticket inspector, it's not really a function of how busy the line is. Airdrie to Bathgate line works on this principle but it does require certain investment to allow the driver to complete all the processes himself (e.g. CCTV repeaters in eyeshot of the cab so he can see the doors are clear, despatch signal repeaters)
Posted 9 years ago # -
84 pages! Who'd have thunk it?
What about driverless trains?
Posted 9 years ago # -
Abellio gave a presentation to CRAG last week, and it was very useful, but also gave a clear insight into why they won the franchise. They were on the trains asking passengers what they wanted months before any other bidder, and did their groundwork very effectively - coming to key cycling events with their Bike&Go product, for a start.
DfT still micro-manages/meddles and have decided that 9 Class 170 trains coming off lease would go to a TOC in England leaving Scotrail a bit short. That has been sorted - and includes having the extra cost of 2 old-style trains hire in to cover the shortage.
Apparently the Borders Railway is due to have (steam) loco hauled trains for initial services... I sense a can-do pragmatism in the new management.
Posted 9 years ago # -
"Apparently the Borders Railway is due to have (steam) loco hauled trains for initial services"
You mean from day one on scheduled services?
They'll be 'busy' - which may or may not be a good thing for establishing the service.
Though there can't be many people in The Borders who don't know the line is being re-opened!
Posted 9 years ago # -
"gave a clear insight into why they won the franchise. They were on the trains asking passengers what they wanted months before any other bidder, and did their groundwork very effectively"
Good that they did, and it would help them to put together a better bid, but I assume it still mostly came down to how much subsidy they were after(?)
Posted 9 years ago # -
There was a whistle in use at Haymarket when I went to Glasgow on Tuesday.
Posted 9 years ago # -
There was a whistle in use at Haymarket when I went to Glasgow on Tuesday.
At some busy stations, a platform dispatcher is there to help the guard know when the doors are clear (or closed on slam-door trains). It speeds things up as the guard doesn't have to keep an eye on all the doors. This is particularly the case on a long train on the outside of a curved platform; you may need multiple pairs of eyes as you cannot see the length of the train and therefore all the doors due to the bend. Bear in mind most people never bother to close the slam doors behind them, on a 9-car HST train that's ~16 doors needing to be shut and then checked to ensure they're locked. That would take a lot of time for 1 person.
Signals are given with paddles (traditionally a flag) or the hand, the whistle is there to attract the train guards attention to the signal (it's not the signal itself). The whitle also serves to let passengers know the train is about to depart. Some stations have a visual signal repeater for the driver or guard, who may not be able to see the main signal. Again platform dispatchers have a safety role to double check starting signals. This stops trains leaving the platform on a danger signal.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Abellio did a presentation at Dumfries on Monday - I missed it, but two Cycling Dumfries members went and were impressed. They plan to incorporate Dumfries's Orange Bikes into their Bike & Go scheme, which makes a lot of sense.
Slightly worryingly, they didn't seem to be aware that our trains currently carry 6 bikes - they promised new rolling stock and said it would carry 'more bikes' but that may possibly be based on the assumption that the current trains only carry the usual 2. Hopefully they will pick up on this one. The bike hanging spaces are pretty useful - the morning train from Carlisle seems to carry a fair few bikes, and even if there's only a couple of bikes, it's nice to have room for pushchairs and suitcases and still know you can get your bike on board, even if hanging it on a hook is a bit of a struggle (for me, anyway)
Posted 9 years ago # -
he morning train from Carlisle seems to carry a fair few bikes,
That uses class 156 trains, which have the big bike hanging space at the end of the train (and also quite a big space where you can put luggage).
There's a helpful PDF here that says what stock uses which line. It doesn't include the number of bike spaces on the sheet though, which would be handy given it's an accessibility sheet.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Good that they did, and it would help them to put together a better bid, but I assume it still mostly came down to how much subsidy they were after(?)
It didn't. The evaluation was structured to give a strong weighting to quality (price 65%, quality 35%), which was a big move away from the usual (at the time) DfT approach of lowest priced acceptable and deliverable bid wins, and Abellio won on quality not price.
Posted 9 years ago # -
@PS
Thanks.
Ask a 'technical' Q on CCE and expect/get an answer!
Posted 9 years ago # -
"Apparently the Borders Railway is due to have (steam) loco hauled trains for initial services"
"You mean from day one on scheduled services?"
rather, from day minus one/two of the schedule. All sorts of special events being planned for this: http://www.bordertelegraph.com/news/borders/articles/2015/03/03/525528-rail-celebrations-to-get-majestic-launch/
“For instance, the opening of the Borders Railway is a huge news story in Holland which is the home of Abellio who will run the ScotRail franchise from April 1.”Steam trains are also to be used occasionally in first few weeks, although this will reduce capacity for normal traffic.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Well this morning I made my first journey on a Scotrail train since Abellio took over the franchise yesterday.
While we were all waiting for the guard to arrive at Waverley, I noted that new Abellio decals had been applied to the train doors. I commented to a fellow passenger that it was a pity they hadn’t bothered to clean the train first: it was clear where the old decal had been, then a bit of a wipe with a rag, smearing some diesel and dust mix around, before applying the new decals, trapping a layer of muck under the transparent film.
Anyway, the train departed and arrived on time. I spotted a new service magazine (images below) and took a gander. Overall there seemed quite a corporate feel, a lot about vision, missions, ambitions, etc. Photos of the transport minister, etc. Some stuff about cultural ties ‘twixt the Netherlands and Scotland. To be fair there was a lot of hard information on what the new franchise holder will deliver: including a section on cycling (see below). Apparently Glasgow, Edinburgh (presume Waverley?) and Stirling stations will get ‘CyclePoints’. Other ‘city stations’ (up to 10) will get ‘Bike & Go’ services. 3,500 more cycle parking spaces too.
Other info included plans for HSTs on intercity routes from 2018, new electric trains on the EGIP enhanced Edi-Gla service, etc.
Nothing in it about the free ticket giveaway mind you…
(click thumbnails for full sized pic)
Posted 9 years ago # -
Overall there seemed quite a corporate feel
The whole point in the blue/saltire livery specified by Transport Scotland was to stop the wasteful spend on rebranding that happens every few years when another member of the transport operator oligopoly takes over the running of a franchise, but I note they're still managing a bit of it, e.g. what Crowriver noted of the hurried application of new Abellio logos and also they've paid DRS to paint two new Class 68 locomtives and 2 rakes of Mk 2 coaches into the corporate livery for the peak-time Fife Circle services. Perhaps this is a visual trick to try kid on to commuters that they're not actually using 40 year old carriages coupled up to a freight locomotive because of a lack of rolling stock? There's still plenty of trains rattling around in the old pink/purple First livery or Carmine/cream SPT colours and the service they provide will be the same no matter what colour they put on the outside.
I think an HST is going to look daft in Scotrail livery.
Posted 9 years ago # -
The first thing I noticed is that the staff (at Haymarket, at least) are no longer wearing hi-vis (as if directing and assisting passengers around a station is Highly Dangerous) but bright blue waistcoats (which is probably somewhat less visible in a big crowd but stands out well enough at the times I'm going through Haymarket (which I admit are slightly outside peak commuting hours)).
Posted 9 years ago # -
I think an HST is going to look daft in Scotrail livery
Posted 9 years ago # -
I was on that freight train tonight. Noisy on the outside but very smooth on the inside. And to be honest, all the punters want is a seat.
Posted 9 years ago # -
...and a socket for their laptop? Or was that elsewhere?
Posted 9 years ago # -
Noisy on the outside...
That'll be the throaty Caterpillar engine of the Class 68. A lot of people became quite excited when footage was shown of the prototype undergoing tests.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Posted 9 years ago #
-
Some sort of surly, mechanical frog.
I'm not sure if they have a nickname yet (Google says "turtles"). The locomotives they replaced were known as "skips" as they looked much like an upturned rubbish receptacle on wheels.
Posted 9 years ago #
Reply »
You must log in to post.
posts
