Thing is the 319s are failing almost every day,2 failures last Saturday,1 on Monday 2 on Tuesday,don't know about Wednesday and Thursday as I wasn't in work,and 2 failed today.By comparison over the same period of time there has been 1 x 156 failure.
319364 failed on Wednesday on the Wigan Line and 319368 had an issue with the cab door which caused a cancellation on Thursday, so yes it is pretty much every day!
(08/01/2016 21:23)jtd508110 Wrote: [ -> ]319364 failed on Wednesday on the Wigan Line and 319368 had an issue with the cab door which caused a cancellation on Thursday, so yes it is pretty much every day!
Well it must just be my luck then - considering that after over 40 journeys on a Class 319 last year (and one so far this year) on all of the 319 designated routes not a single one of those units has failed and then been replaced by a spare diesel unit or resulted in the journey being cancelled
As a commuter on the Wigan line, there were a few problems/cancellations when they were first introduced but then seemed to settle down. It's only been this week that problems have started occurring especially in a morning with the Wigan stoppers. The Preston service when I have used it in an afternoon has been very reliable.
Without being able to break down the failures im wondering whether its the same batch of units that are failure prone or whether its just across the board.
The worst case scenario is now that the 319's which operate the Manchester airport shuttle that one of the 319's drops on the airport approach.
Not a huge problem if that happens as a 323 can couple to a 319 in an emergency
(09/01/2016 15:56)Gordon V Wrote: [ -> ]Not a huge problem if that happens as a 323 can couple to a 319 in an emergency
Although finding a driver who signs both might be an issue.
Have you compared the supposed failure rate of the 319s to the 323s?
(10/01/2016 16:30)childwallblues Wrote: [ -> ]Have you compared the supposed failure rate of the 319s to the 323s?
It wouldn't be a fair comparison. Northern have I think 15 weekday class 323 diagrams with 1 x 323 out for service for the forseeable future for retractioning, while with 319s they have 20 units and 16 diagrams. That means a 319 found to have a minor fault at the start of the day could more easily be kept out-of-service until it's fixed than a 323 with a minor fault.
The 323 isnt going to be Northern unit come the 1st April , so i can see towards the end any new drivers brought into the grade will not be trained on 323's anymore.