377/5 update

Slowly and surely the 377/5 are being delivered by Bombarider. Current First Capital Connect have now 12th units meaning we are now half way through the delivery programme and the current final unit, the 23rd is due mid november. 377506 made its passenger debut today, working along side 10 other Electrostars. So far the units have come into service as such

377501 - 24th March
377504 - 28th March
377502 - 30th April
377507 - 11th May
377508 - 18th May
377505 - 29th May
377509 - 27th July
377510 - 30th July
377511 - 5th August
377512 - 18th August
377513 - 1st September
377506 - 2nd September

377506 on the return leg of its first jounery in passenger service.

377504 showing off the livery of the 377/5's thats now been applied to 377501/502/504/505/507/508/510/511

Currently units 377516 and 377520 are still on comissioning test and both due at FCC's Cauldwell depot by the first week of October. No moves from Bombardiers Derby workshop where the 377/5 are being built to Southern's Selhurst depot are booked at the moment meaning there will be a gap after 377520 is delivered, but units 377503/514/515/517/518/519/521/522/523 are still due to leave Derby. The quickest a 377/5 was comissioned was three weeks with unit 377505. During the testing, normally done at night, the units have been to many distant places that they won't visit for a few more years including Tonbridge, Milton Keynes and Littlehampton.

FCC release statement over the recent 377/5 issue

First Capital Connect (FCC) have released a statement concerning the withdrawal of its new 377/5 Electrostars. It seems that during routine inspect of 377502 in the early hours of Friday morning an issue was discovered with the units power transmission system. This axle end earth return brushes and the bearing which return current to the running rails were found to be faulty. After discovering this unit 377505 was inspect (this was the latest Electrostar to have been delivered) and finding this to have the same fault FCC took the precaution of withdrawing all six Electrostars from service.

FCC found out about this problem early enough for it not to have presented any safety issue but did leave it short of units which it found frustrating to say the least. Bombardier has been busy working on the problem and is now carrying out the remedial work to the currently delivered units. All future 377/5 to be delivered (the 8th unit is due next) will have a modified bearing to solve this problem from returning.

The 377/5 have been a sore point between FCC and Bombardier for months now and in the past this has split out in the public when the former MD of FCC publicly attacked Bombardier for its failure leaving FCC short of trains which lead to a massive inter TOC, DfT, NR and freight alliance to allow stock moves and trained staff to operate different services using different trains. Thankfully this is now winding down with 3 377/2 returned to Southern from FCC and the 4th due shortly. All 3 375 Southern borrowed from Southeastern have returned and the 350/1 from London Midland are returning shortly. FCC did announce that the Electrostar will return at the daily rate of 2 per day starting today. However so far 3 377/5 have returned to duty, the three units being 377504, 377507 and 377508.

Return of the Electrostars & NR PAYG Oyster

No sooner had I put up my last post about the current state of the Electrostars and a major issue crops up with the 377/5 for FCC. As of Thursday evening all six units were withdrawn from service due to safety concerns. After a week of no information, FCC, on its regular web chat with interested parties the actually reason for the withdrawal

We stood down the 6 377/5 units last Friday due to a problem with the earth return brushes which was found on unit 377 502 on routine maintenance. We then examined 377 505 and found a similar problem. We therefore stopped the fleet for examination and rectification. There are 14 sets of return brushes on class 377/5 and not more than 30% have been found defective on any unit. However we do not want these to deteriorate further and the situation to go unchecked so the manufacturer, Bombardier, have been working on a solution. This solution has started to be introduced today and we expect to have trains back in service at the rate of two per day.

This was added to a different question -

As a precaution, we have had to stand down from service all 6 of our new and recently-delivered Class 377/5 Electrostars after discovering an issue with the power transmission system during a routine inspection. This relates to earth return brushes at the axle ends.

We welcome the manufacturer's commitment to fix the fault and will return the trains to service as soon as possible - hopefully starting Thursday and completing Monday.

And on the case of the doors at St Pancras International -

We are aware of the problems, which are caused by technical comms issues with the beacon at St Pancras and the receiver on the trains. We are running more test trains to understand why the problem continues to occur, and Network Rails engineers have been supported by our engineers to understand what is causing the interference to the signal between track and train.

It is the removal of the interference (which we are working to establish what is causing it) which will solve the problems.

Frustratingly the interference did not manifest when FCC/NR/Southern were testing last year!

On the case of PAYG Oyster on national Rail, FCC stated that currently implementation is likely to be late 2009 or even early 2010. There is still on going discussion with TfL and the DfT on resolving it and introducing it on all FCC services.

Great Northern Timetable changes

After three years of planning First Capital Connect are introducing the biggest timetable change on its Great Northern (GN) route for 15 years. With the addition of five trains to the FCC GN fleet and regular 12 car trains, FCC will introduce an extra 5,000 seats during the peak period.

The work to introduced this timetable has progressed with both Network Rail and stakeholders being involved throughout. The improvements are know in FCC speak as 'Seats For You', although during the consultation period it was know as the Cambridge & Peterborough Capacity study. By gaining five class 321 from London Midland and using them on the Peterborough route, this in turn frees some class 365 Networkers to increase many 8 car trains to 12 cars on the Cambridge route. For example the 07:15 and 07:45 Cambridge to London Kings Cross are listed by the Government as some of the most crowded trains in the UK. The new service allows these trains to be increased from 8 to 12 cars.

Peterborough route also sees improvements with 06:54 and 07:14 departures from Peterborough callings at Huntingdon and St Neots in the morning peak with 12 car trains. An additional 12 car train runs north from Kings Cross at 17:40.

There are off peak improvements and the Sunday 14:56 Ely to Kings Cross doubles from 4 to 8 car service. There are various other additional off peak trains in the new timetable.

To achieve this Network Rail has increased platform lengths at Cambridge and Royston to allow 12 car trains to call there. Upgrading the power was also needed with £1.6m spent to allowed the lengthen and additional trains to run.

In a few years futher changes will be made as part of the Thameslink Programme with new 12 car trains and an entirely new fleet for both the Great Northern and Thameslink sides of FCC and with the running of trains from the GN side through the Thameslink Core.

Thameslink Update

Due to the slow but regular introduction now being seen by Thameslink customers of the class 377/5 Electrostars more changes to the timetable have been made. As it stands units 377501/502/504/507 have being delivered to FCC. Unit 377508 went into service this morning 13 days after being delivered for testing with 377505 on test at the moment.

A summary of some issues are below

• 17:06 Sutton to St Albans reduced to 4 cars
• 17:40 Sutton to St Albans increased to 8 cars
• 17:05 Sevenoaks to Bedford will run two minutes earlier and take up the 'Crowd Buster' path meaning it loses stops at West Hampstead, Elstree & Borehamwood, Radlett, Leagrave and Filtwick.
• 18:16 'Crowd Buster' will be reduced to four cars and take the 17:05 path meaning it picks all all the stations lost to the Sevenoaks service above. Once enough 377/5 have arrived the 'Crowd Buster' will start from Elephant & Castle.

Midland Mainline Chaos

Last night northbound commuters and travelers were greeted by chaos just before 9pm due to a train fire with an East Midlands Trains (EMT) heading for London St Pancras. The service was the 1928 Nottingham to St Pancras service when shortly before 2100 reports came in that the rear power car was smoking and flames were seen. The train came to a halt just south of Leagrave station at 2057 when all railway lines in the area were blocked as a safety measure. Just after this came reports that the OverHead Line Equipment (OHLE) power was lost between Sanridge and Sundon trapping four FCC services.

The local Fire Brigade arrived on scene around 9pm and managed to put the fire out within 20mins. The train was finally moved to Luton station at 2210 after the Fire Brigade deemed it safe. However the railway lines weren't handed back until 2230 and the 2030 St Pancras to Nottingham service was allowed through under slow speeds to assess the damage. The driver reported that the contact wire on the OHLE was down meaning repairs were necessary.

The four trapped trains in the area were evacuated around midnight with one EMT train being used to pick up passengers off two stranded FCC services. Meanwhile arrangements were being made for buses replace all trains between Bedford and St Albans with approximately 40 buses being involved at its height.

The lines were open again for trains (on the slow lines) by 0230 and a full service between St Albans and Leagrave was possible at 0300 after Network Rail fixed the OHLE. But due to the several hours of cancellations the morning peak was one of delays southbound but FCC managed to run an almost full service. Both FCC and EMT are now running a full service although Friday will see EMT hit by industrial strike affecting services.

FCC GN News

The first of First Capital Connect's five class 321 EMU stands at Hornsey depot.

As part of the Great Northern 'seats for you' project to increase capacity with additional trains, five 4 car 321 units are being delivered to FCC. So far the first two have arrived from London Midland and the next three due shortly. Before they go into service two of the units will have an internal refreshment and three will carry the FCC external colours. Unlike the 377/5's (for the moment) being introduced the units will also have logo on the sides. This is all due by the May timetable change with the following three units refurbished and final two externally completed later this year.

FCC have also taken on 23 staff from Bombarbier who are now hard at work doing the heavy maintenance on the companies 365 EMU 'Networkers'. This will strength FCC's internal resources especially at the companies major depot doing all the heavy maintenance.

377 News

377501 was on test today although the unit isn't expected to come into public service until later on this week.

Unit 377504 will be the first in passanger service from Tuesday 24th March 2009 running the following trains

0210 Bedford - St Pancras International
0358 St Pancras International - Bedford
0540 Bedford - Brighton
0816 Brighton - Bedford
1410 Bedford - Brighton
1709 Brighton - London Bridge
1842 London Bridge - Brighton
2007 Brighton - Bedford

Southern 377's start working on Thameslink

The first unit in service 377207 formed 2T27 bedford (09:24) to Brighton (11:59) which due to a fault at Farringdon ran fast from East Croydon to Brighton.

Finally after a long period of testing and training the first Southern 377 unit ran a passanger service over the Thameslink metals prior to full services from monday. Although the inital jounery was marred by a 25min delay changing power at Farringdon, the introduction went smoothly with a service being provide. Inside the first class FCC head have been attached to the Southern seating but still feel very werid to be in, especially at stations like City Thameslink. They service also saw staff from FCC, Network Rail and Bombarbier aboard to ensure a pretty smooth running jounery. This wasn't always the case but as with any first time there are always problems.

The service ran

Bedford (0924) 0929, Bedford South Junction (0926) 0930, Filtwick (0937) 0938, Harlington (0937) 0943, Leagrave (0942) 0948, Luton (0948 ) 0951, Luton Airport Parkway (0950) no time recorded, Harpenden (0956) 0959, St Albans (1004) 1005, passing through not calling at - Hendon (1014) 1016, West Hampstead (1016) 1018, Carlton Road Junction (1018 ) 1019, Kentish Town (1019) 1021, St Pancras International (1024) 1030, Farringdon (1029) a. 1034 d. 1051, City Thameslink (1032) 1055, Blackfriars (1035) 1059, London Bridge (1042) 1107, Bricklayers Arms Junction (1045) 1111, Sydenham (1050) 1115, Norwood Junction (1052) 1117, Windmill bridge Junction (1053) 1119, East Croydon (1055) 1125, Purley (1059) 1128, Stoats nest Junction (1100) 1130, Earlswood (1105) 1134, Gatwick Airport (1111) no info, Three Bridges (1115) no info, Balcombe Tunnel junction (1118 ) no info, Haywards Heath (1127) no info, Keymer Junction (1131) no info, Preston Park (1143) no info, Brighton (1149) 1259.

This is the unit on its return jounery to Bedford although the side displays showed St Albans.

Oysters & First Capital Connect

Oysters take over!
Originally uploaded by MackenzieBlu

As we all hope that Oyster is put on all National Rail stations in zones 1-6 (well techinally 1-9) at some pont this year a few TOC (Train Operating Companies) have quietly got on with installing Oyster readers at their station. It now seem FCC is busy behind the scenes installing the equipment in all their station within the travelcard area. I have recently seen Oyster touch in machines at Tooting and Wimbledon Chase. FCC have commited themselves to installing Oyster card readers by the end of March 2009. Thats two months time. After this time they will be a period of testing making sure that all machines work correctly before the public can use them some time in "late 2009".

Stations that FCC are installing Oyster readers on are

Zone Two
Loughborough Junction

Zone Three
Cricklewood, Hendon*
Harringay, Hornsey, Alexandra Palace, Bowes Park*
Tooting, Haydons Road, Wimbledon Chase

(* Zones 3/4 boundary stations)

Zone Four
Mill Hill Broadway
New Southgate, Oakleigh Park, Palmers Green, Winchmore Hill
South Merton, Morden South, St, Helier, Sutton Common

Zone Five
New Barnet, Grange Park, Enfield Chase, Gordon Hill
West Sutton

Zone Six
Elstree & Borehamwood
Hadley Wood, Crews Hill

Other station served by FCC in the travelcard zones (1-6) where Pyster PAYG doesn't work include

SWT - Wimbledon*
Southern - Sutton, Carshalton, Hackbridge, Mitcham Junction, Mitcham Eastfields, Streatham, Tulse Hill, Norwood Junction, East Croydon
SouthEastern - Herne Hill

(* Already Oyster installed barrier equipment for the District Line)

FCC network in 2015

FCC network in 2015
Originally uploaded by MackenzieBlu

Here is a map of the propsed FCC network once the completed network is fully operational. Not the new links in the south deep into Southern's and Southeastern's terriories. The stations served aren't 100% fixed yet and aren't due to be confirmed offically until 2013. For now this is the most complete map.