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Topic: Adelante's (Read 2989 times)
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Steve Bray
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Yesterday I travelled from Reading to Great Malvern and back. According to FGW's timetable, these services are meant to be operated by Adelante's. Yesterday, both journeys were on Turbos. The train I caught in the morning was full and standing at Reading (possibly exacerpated by the 1010 Virgin train from Reading to the north being cancelled, so carrying a few extra passengers to Oxford), and also a number of passengers travelling to Hereford for the Hay Festival. All the other trains I passed on the Cotswold Line were similarly operated by Turbo's - so where are the Adelante's? More technical problems?
The Turbo's can keep pretty well to the Adelante's schedules, but then passengers holding seat reservations are let down; there's no refreshment trolley (less revenue?) and no a/c (or a/c that's pretty lousy).
Also, the 3 car turbos are not allowed to call at Shipton station (when an Adelante can), so passengers here have a loss of trains.
Recent Saturday journeys I've made on the Cotswold Line have also been operated by Turbo's instead of Adelantes, and its amazing how rarely one sees the train conductor. Yesterday, there was no sight of him/her from Reading to Great Malvern - maybe they are fed up of getting flak from passengers about the wrong kind of train being provided...
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whistleblower
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A lot of the Turbo services out of Reading are DOO (Driver Only) but I'm not sure which routes. It might explain why you didn't see a conductor. I know conductors are always on the Gatwick route and they work pretty hard on that. They're not shy!
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Gwr2006
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This probably has something to do with FGW needing to train their conductors on using the new refurbished HSTs that will take over all high speed workings from December. As a result there must be less traincrew available to work on Adelantes at weekends. In fact, I think many weekend Adelante workings have been replaced by Turbos for a few months whilst staff go through their training.
At least a train is better than no train at all, and we are not seeing mass cancellations just because the type of train is different. Of course, Turbos operate as DOO and do not need a conductor which may explain why you have not seen any.
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Industry Insider
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Turbos only operate as DOO between Paddington and Oxford on through journeys from/to the Cotswold Line. They HAVE to have a conductor between Oxford and Hereford. Adelates are being replaced by Turbos for a couple of reasons (all of which are FGW's fault);
1) Adelante reliability (they don't like hot weather AT ALL!)
2) Shortage of conductors due to not having enough of them to cover the service, especially at the weekend (not due to training - a pay dispute is currently stopping them from 'learning' HST's). The fact Turbos can operate DOO between Paddington and Oxford means that Conductors based at Reading can be used on other services that need a Conductor (i.e. Reading-Gatwick/Basingstoke).
On a seperate note, 3-car Turbos CAN call at Shipton in the 'down' direction (from London), but unfortunately are not allowed to in the 'up' direction. It's extremely silly as the Conductor/Driver can open one set of doors per carriage quite easily by using an external switch, and for the number of passengers that use Shipton that would be quite adequate. However, I expect it contravenes their 'safety case' or some similar beaurocratic bullcrap!
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Graham Ellis
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I think I may be beginning to understand why I once saw a travel alert telling me that a train would not be calling at Shipton on its way to London because of overcrowding and safety issue.
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Sion Bretton
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What is going to happen to these Turbos. We love to have them on routes here in West Wiltshire.  Could they run Salisbury to Bristol TM, Westbury to Bristol TM Frome to Swindon via Melksham. We know they did run Bristol TM to Oxford. See if they ran again with both Corsham and Wootton Bassett stations were reopened (yes I know they have to be built). |
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Graham Ellis
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What is going to happen to these Turbos. We love to have them on routes here in West Wiltshire. I understand that the turbos are wide and not allowed through Trowbridge .... ... and that the nodding donkeys are not allowed south or Warminster or Yeovil .... ... it gets to be a very interesting matrix! |
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Industry Insider
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Yeah, the Turbos have a quite restricted route availability and many places in the west of England are no-go areas for them.
There's a lot of rumours about what will happen to the Adelantes. It was stated that it was unlikely that they would be retained beyond Dec 2007 when the refreshed HST's should all be ready (slowly slipping behind on that deadline, too!), though as far as I know FGW have never categorically stated that they won't lease them beyond that date (either due to being clever, or due to not having a clue what they are doing!). Certain people have suggested a 6-month extention, other that FGW will keep them for much longer by either buying/leasing them.
Personally I think they are ideal trains for the Oxford-London half hourly fast service, as they would be on the Bedwyn-Paddington hourlys too, as well as certain through services from London to the Cotswolds and Cheltenham. Certainly enough work to keep a 14-strong fleet busy. Using HST's (whether with 7or 8 carriages) on these services will result in plenty of Mr. Darlings 'fresh air' in the carriages, wheraes using Turbos will mean a sub-standard quality of journey for passengers.
I know that Adelantes have not been jumped on by any other TOC due to their leasing and maintenance costs. I would be interested to see whether it is cheaper to run one on an average off-peak Oxford-London train than it would be to run a HST.
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