In leaf Fall season any acceleration and deceleration superiority that the Class319's do have can be curbed by defensive driving and the need to prevent excessive wheel flats , which can be a major problem at this time of the year.
On the 29th 319374 failed at Thatto Heath heading to Liverpool as it could not get the power to pull of, Then tonight the very last Train to Liverpool took 10 mins to get from Thatto Heath Station to the Bridge thats about 1000 Meters away and arrived into Liverpool Lime Street 41 mins late!
Am sorry but apart from the extra seats these 319s just aint doing the job compared to the 142/150/156 units that ran on the line before, Even someone who works for the company said these Trains *aint fit* as well!
It's not like DMU's have never had problems getting going from Thatto Heath! I've known of it and experienced it for several years!
What didn't help the situation with 319374 is that the RHTT hadn't run, so the railhead was worse than could be expected. To be correct the unit didn't have trouble getting power, just transmitting that power to the rail.
When you consider that the size of the area that a wheel has in contact with the rail is about the size of a 50p and you have four axles trying to put down about 1300hp, you are going to have problems on a steep gradient when it's slippy. The units have sanders, but they put sand down by the bogies either side of the power car, there simply isn't room on the PMS for sanders.
As for speeding up journeys, the options are limited, the maximum line speed between Huyton and Wigan is 60mph, so even though a 319 will accelerate more quickly and brake later, it will be a small saving.
SD.
(31/10/2015 00:40)T42 PVM Wrote: [ -> ]On the 29th 319374 failed at Thatto Heath heading to Liverpool as it could not get the power to pull of, Then tonight the very last Train to Liverpool took 10 mins to get from Thatto Heath Station to the Bridge thats about 1000 Meters away and arrived into Liverpool Lime Street 41 mins late!
Am sorry but apart from the extra seats these 319s just aint doing the job compared to the 142/150/156 units that ran on the line before, Even someone who works for the company said these Trains *aint fit* as well!
I think Sprinter Drivers comments are more near the mark than yours. And do you belive everything that you are told? Why aren't 319s "aint fit"?
I live on the line and use it just about daily and i have never seen so many problems until these 319s entered Service
Thatto Heath as Sprinterdriver has said is on a gradient , an uphill pull away on an untreated rail at this time of the year is always going to be bad .
Though unrelated as such to this topic there is one known place that has the same problem that is the first departure up the Glasgow Queen Street High Level Tunnel incline in the morning.
As I understand it, the block on tread brakes on sprinters cleans contaminant off the wheel. The disk brakes on 319's don't.
That's correct. To help with the problem some class 158's were fitted with scrubber blocks to clear the wheel treads.
In a year of driving 319's I've only had one problem. The unit was on half power and I still kept time!
I'm not pretending the 319's are perfect, far from it. In time they will settle down and overcrowded 142's on busy trains will be a hazy memory. It seems almost half the 142 fleet being stored when they were new as they needed plenty of mods and locos and stock substituting on a daily basis has been forgotten about too!
SD.
I think the difference with the class 319's is that they are not brand new units , but a design that has previously been used elsewhere did they have this problem with there previous owners.
noticed this morning that Thatto Heath now has information screens working in both shelters.