Bus Deviation: London's Latest Trains

This post attempts to act as an interlude from the London bus scene, mainly because I don't have the time to cover the most recent contract changes, and sadly my "Random" series posts take an awfully long time to put together and at the moment having that luxury is simply impossible. So, I've tried to include my other transport-related interest here for a change and if you're into the railway network too, you might be able to correct me occasionally as my knowledge is limited in places! This post will specifically document the latest train types that have entered service on London-based routes, namely the TFL Rail/Crossrail Class 345s and the South Western Railway Class 707s.

A TFL Rail Class 345 arrives at Liverpool Street.

Chronologically, the first new train type to appear was the Class 345 "Aventra" model, the latest product manufactured by Bombardier, who were successful with their previous Electrostar train. These trains will eventually make up the entire allocation for Crossrail (or the "Elizabeth Line", something I refuse to call the service), spanning all the way from Reading-Shenfield/Abbey Wood via a mixture of existing main lines and some new tunnels in Central London. At the moment, the new trains are being tested on the TFL Rail service between Liverpool Street and Shenfield, which will be advertised as Crossrail from December 2018. The first one entered service in June 2017 (a little later than expected) and appearances have been intermittent since then, although they seem to be entering service at a rapid rate from now. Unfortunately these trains have suffered from a large number of reliability issues, with at least two breaking down each week, but hopefully these natural teething issues will be rectified before the glorified new train service begins.

At the moment the Aventras are running as 7-car formations, although they will run as 9-carriage trains once Crossrail is fully open, the reason for this temporary shortening is that the terminus at Liverpool Street can't accommodate these longer trains at the moment. You can walk through the train from one end to another and they are complete with a purple and grey interior colour scheme, which consists of mostly longitudinal seating, but there are a few (more comfortable) transverse examples located in the middle of the carriage, providing a bit of variety. The wide passages also improve overcrowding, providing a much better environment for standees. Interestingly, these trains have a minimalistic announcement system, where Emma Hignett simply states the key information rather than forming sentences with it (for example, "Next Station...Stratford"), which I think is quite effective, although other enthusiasts aren't happy with this system and prefer to have more announcements that flow better, which is understandable.

On Tuesday 29th August, I managed to ride one of these trains for the first time, on a semi-fast service from Romford-London Liverpool Street in the evening peak, before heading back out to Ilford. Personally, I find that these trains are the best new models available for suburban commuter routes. The interior colour scheme is sleek and reassuring, the seats are bearable (something of a rarity with new trains), the acceleration is superb and whilst the engine noise is quiet, there isn't complete silence which is always a bonus in my eyes. They are also some of the nicest trains out there in terms of their exterior paintwork and are miles better than the grim Class 315 trains that still make up the majority of the allocation on TFL Rail. As the Crossrail service will run through my local area and I will undoubtedly be using it on a regular basis, the high quality of these trains is a great relief and I certainly look forward to travelling on them in the future. 

Generally, they only tend to run on weekdays, with weekend appearances being sporadic and ever-changing. Although some trains may run unofficially, these trips are likely to be operated by a new Crossrail train, although there is no guarantee that a Class 315 won't turn up, so don't blame me if you're left disappointed! Each series of diagrams represents a different train.

2W03 0512 Shenfield to London Liverpool Street

2W06 0610 London Liverpool Street to Shenfield

2W21 0704 Shenfield to London Liverpool Street

2W26 0750 London Liverpool Street to Shenfield

2W43 0842 Shenfield to London Liverpool Street

2W30 1636 London Liverpool Street to Shenfield

2W47 1724 Shenfield to London Liverpool Street

2C74 1810 London Liverpool Street to Gidea Park

2C19 0729 Gidea Park to London Liverpool Street

2C14 0807 London Liverpool Street to Gidea Park

2C37 0849 Gidea Park to London Liverpool Street

2W46 0930 London Liverpool Street to Shenfield

2W63 1024 Shenfield to London Liverpool Street

2W68 1120 London Liverpool Street to Shenfield

2W85 1214 Shenfield to London Liverpool Street

2W90 1310 London Liverpool Street to Shenfield

2W07 1404 Shenfield to London Liverpool Street

2W12 1500 London Liverpool Street to Shenfield

2W29 1554 Shenfield to London Liverpool Street

2C56 1650 London Liverpool Street to Gidea Park

2C57 1732 Gidea Park to London Liverpool Street

2W52 1807 London Liverpool Street to Shenfield

2W65 1854 Shenfield to London Liverpool Street

2W78 1952 London Liverpool Street to Shenfield

2W87 2044 Shenfield to London Liverpool Street

2W00 2140 London Liverpool Street to Shenfield

2C25 0758 Gidea Park to London Liverpool Street

2C20 0837 London Liverpool Street to Gidea Park

2C43 0917 Gidea Park to London Liverpool Street

2W52 1000 London Liverpool Street to Shenfield

2W69 1054 Shenfield to London Liverpool Street

2W74 1150 London Liverpool Street to Shenfield

2W91 1244 Shenfield to London Liverpool Street

2W96 1340 London Liverpool Street to Shenfield

2W13 1434 Shenfield to London Liverpool Street

2W18 1530 London Liverpool Street to Shenfield

2W35 1624 Shenfield to London Liverpool Street

2W38 1717 London Liverpool Street to Shenfield

2W55 1804 Shenfield to London Liverpool Street

2C80 1850 London Liverpool Street to Gidea Park

A South Western Railway Class 707 stands at the elusive Platform 20 at Waterloo.

The second batch of new trains started appearing from August 2017. These are the Siemens Desiro City Class 707 trains, which are being used on the South Western Railway network to boost capacity for three years, until even newer Aventra trains arrive to replace them. Their entrance into service was heavily delayed; the original date was June 2017, although the first one didn't appear until the middle of August. Even then, it was only pushed into service so the old franchise operator (South West Trains) could claim that the first passenger service was run under them - no more appeared for another week or so. Then, the first diagrams finally emerged for some Windsor-London services and now there are four Class 707 trains booked to run every weekday. In terms of reliability, issues haven't been as noticeable as the Crossrail units, although there have been a few cancellations recently, mainly due to door issues on the 707s.

These trains are only partially walkthrough - as two trains are attached together you can only actually walk in your respective five car portion, unless you physically get off the train at the station and run between the units. They are painted in the red "suburban" South West Trains livery and are currently being used on a wide variety of London-based services, although the Hounslow and Windsor ones seem to be the most popular. The trains also feature an automated announcement system, which is rather amusing at times due to the noticeably large gaps between words/phrases. The Passenger Information screens are also quite effective, not only showing the next station, calling points and destination, but the status of London Underground and the rest of the South Western network are revealed sproadically, usually when there is a fairly large distance between stations. I managed to ride one of them on Tuesday 24th October, specifically on the 1815 London Waterloo via Hounslow circular service.

The interior of a Class 707 train.

The train departed from the hidden platform 20 at London Waterloo, it's part of the old Eurostar terminal but isn't really accessible as you have to walk some distance down another platform in order to reach it. Nevertheless, the train departed on time and I think that they're decent units overall. The interior colour scheme is bright and welcoming, the screens/announcements are informative and the seats are quite comfortable despite their rigid nature. It's a shame that they're only a temporary move as I always like having variety on my local train line, but if the new Class 701 Aventra trains are like the Crossrail units then at least I'll be gaining some satisfactory replacements.

Like the 345s, appearances on weekends are rare and often unadvertised - recently they've been helping out on the Twickenham Rugby shuttles. However, weekday diagrams are as follows:

2U07 0558 London Waterloo-Windsor & Eton Riverside

2U14 0721 Windsor & Eton Riverside-London Waterloo

Repeat every 2.5 hours until

2U67 2058 London Waterloo-Windsor & Eton Riverside

2U74 2221 Windsor & Eton Riverside-London Waterloo

9D10 0558 Guildford-London Waterloo via Epsom

9F09 0720 London Waterloo-Woking

9F96 0817 Woking-London Waterloo

2V47 1637 London Waterloo-London Waterloo via Brentford and Richmond

2R53 1815 London Waterloo-London Waterloo via Richmond and Brentford

2H92 0700 Shepperton-London Waterloo via Richmond

2R13 0815 London Waterloo-London Waterloo via Richmond and Brentford

2V39 1437 London Waterloo-London Waterloo via Brentford and Richmond

2R45 1615 London Waterloo-London Waterloo via Richmond and Brentford

2S55 1752 London Waterloo-Weybridge

2S64 1937 Weybridge-London Waterloo

 2R07 0645 Waterloo - Waterloo 0809

2S17 0822 Waterloo - Weybridge 0939

2S26 1003 Weybridge - Waterloo 1127

2V27 1137 Waterloo - Waterloo 1302

2R33 1315 Waterloo - Waterloo 1441

2S43 1452 Waterloo - Weybridge 1607

2S52 1633 Weybridge - Waterloo 1757

2V53 1807 Waterloo - Waterloo 1932

2R59 1945 Waterloo - Waterloo 2111

2S69 2122 Waterloo - Weybridge 2237

2S78 2303 Weybridge - Staines 2332

Thanks for reading and stay safe!

East London's Trio Of Changes

Saturday 14th October 2017 was an exciting day for many enthusiasts, particularly those based in East London, as three routes were awarded to different operators as part of the tendering process. Go-Ahead London were unsuccessful in retaining route 257, which passed to Stagecoach London, although the latter company ended up losing routes 103 and 175 to Arriva. So, a mixed bag for Stagecoach, congratulations to Arriva and commiserations to Go-Ahead, who seem to have lost a worryingly large amount of work from Northumberland Park (NP) garage recently!

A Go-Ahead London WVL-class Wrightbus Gemini arrives at Whipps Cross en route to Stratford.

Go-Ahead London only operated route 257 for 5 years, from their Northumberland Park (NP) garage. The allocation generally consisted of Wrightbus Eclipse "Gemini 1" vehicles, which were transferred  from Putney (AF) garage back in 2012. The route itself is one of the shorter ones in East London, being only 5 miles long. Originating at Stratford, the 257 travels through residential Maryland before arriving at the transport hub of Leytonstone. There is a brief rural interlude until Whipps Cross, where the 257 follows the high street through Leyton Bakers Arms until Walthamstow Central, where it terminates. The Peak Vehicle Requirement of 16 caters for a 7-8 minute frequency, which is justified from my observations as the 257 seems to be pretty busy all day, especially with the opening of Westfield Stratford City and further developments in Walthamstow Town Centre. Even though Northumberland Park (NP) garage have been slammed for their poor operation of other routes, the 257 was always one of the more reliable services they ran. There weren't many complaints about the buses either, apart from residents who probably weren't too keen on buses roaring away in the middle of the night, as the WVLs certainly weren't the quietest vehicles around! After an absence of five years, Stagecoach London successfully won the route back from Go-Ahead, presumably because the garage is in a much better position logistically, and the convenience of having existing vehicles they could use for part of the allocation.

Stagecoach London 12428 picks up passengers at Walthamstow Bus Station at the start of a journey to Stratford.

In addition to the existing E400s, seven brand new ADL E40H MMCs were ordered for the new contract and these buses are based at Leyton (T) garage. They entered service prematurely on their flagship Central London route 55 (which is normally run with New Routemasters), and there have been occasional appearances on routes like the 275 and 179 since the contract gain. However, they do predominantly work the 257, which is a good thing as they suit the route very well. The 257's external surroundings are urban 90% of the time, and some of the roads can be traffic-filled in rush hour, so the stop-start technology can be effective at these times. However, my bus (12428) was very powerful too, allowing the bus to really open up on the rural section between Leytonstone and Whipps Cross. The other part of the allocation is some existing ADL Enviro 400 vehicles that were previously used at Rainham (RM) garage, which Stagecoach lost on the same day as they gained the 257. Therefore, it made sense to transfer them over to Leyton (T) garage for the new contract, rather than splashing out on a full allocation of new vehicles, which would probably cost them the tender. The 62-reg buses have settled in at the garage nicely, making appearances on pretty much every other route found there. As a result, some of the native E400s at Leyton have started to appear on the 257 regularly, such as 10180 pictured below.

Stagecoach London 10180 arrives at Walthamstow Central en route to Stratford.

Stagecoach London have made a decent start to their new contract on the 257. Apart from the first day, where there were a couple of noticeable service hiccups in the evening, the reliability has been superb. This was certainly the case when I rode the route, with almost perfect headways and no curtailments or bunching. However, this is not too surprising, as Stagecoach London have had previous experience with operating the 257. When I rode the route from start to finish at the end of October, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's a great example of an urban East London route that never becomes boring, there are almost always shops to look at and when there is purely housing, something interesting pops up a minute or two after. The rural section between Leytonstone and Whipps Cross is also fun, allowing the bus to reach high speeds. Embarrassingly, the last ever Go-Ahead 257 towards Walthamstow, WVL194, actually broke down outside the Sir Alfred Hitchcock Hotel stop on this section, which has also made this stop very popular for photography in recent times! Nevertheless, I would definitely recommend the 257 if you want to explore inner East London, although I'd suggest doing it during the off-peak, as even the fast section can be gridlocked during rush hour.

Stagecoach London 17979 passes through Romford. This photo was taken in June 2014!

Unfortunately, the 257 gain did come at a price for Stagecoach, who lost routes 103 and 175 to Arriva at the same time, which caused lots of grief within the enthusiast community, as Stagecoach operated these routes for a considerable amount of time. Route 103 runs between Rainham Interchange and Chase Cross, via Dagenham East and Romford, whilst the 175 operates from Dagenham New Road to Hillrise Estate, also running across Romford Town Centre.For both routes, the old allocation mainly consisted of ADL Trident ALX400s and Enviro 400s, based at Romford (NS) for the 175 and Rainham (RM) for the 103, although the latter route also saw Scania OmniCity vehicles on a regular basis. In addition to the typical day-to-day allocation, Stagecoach London's 19000, named Spirit Of London in remembrance of the 7/7 attacks, also made regular appearances on route 103, and this bus deliberately performed the last ever Stagecoach 103 trip, which is a superb way to end the contract! There were never too many issues with service for both routes and neither of them are particularly difficult to operate, with only one or two traffic hotspots in Dagenham and Rush Green.

Arriva London DW248 pauses at Ilford Station en route to Becontree Heath on the 150.

Some of the DW-class Wrightbus Gemini VDL DB300 vehicles bound for route 175 arrived prematurely and were used on routes 150, 173 and 368 before the new contract. However, their poor performance on the A13 dual carriageway and the involvement of route 150 in a route branding scheme has resulted in them appearing on route 368 and 175 more than anything else. These vehicles have migrated from either South Croydon (TC) or Tottenham (AR) garage to work the 175. In addition to the 103/175 gains, the school trips on route 150 previously operated by Go-Ahead London were incorporated into the main contract, which was retained by Arriva on Saturday 14th October 2017.

Arriva London DW229 is seen on stand at Rainham Interchange.

The 103 DW-class vehicles are based at Grays (GY) garage, allowing them to intermix with the examples that work native routes 66 and 370, but there have been no appearances of other vehicle types on the 103. These vehicles were previously found at Ash Grove (AE) garage working urban routes, so this new contract allowed them to experience a brand new type of environment, especially on the 370 which spends a lot of time in the middle of nowhere! The service on the first day was pretty poor, with lots of curtailments and a noticeable number of large gaps. However, reliability has improved greatly since then, condemning the views of many enthusiasts who were sceptical that Arriva would be able to provide an adequate service. The buses themselves are decent and I was fortunate enough to have a fast journey, with my driver using kickdown regularly, even through Romford Town Centre! The 103 surprised me when I rode it, it's nowhere near as residential as I initally thought, with the section between Rainham and Becontree Heath being particularly interesting, with the nice open roads and somewhat industrial nature South of Dagenham East. Even though the section North of Romford predominantly consists of housing, the 103 does use the A12 dual carriageway for around 30 seconds, something I didn't even know about at first! So, if you're looking to sample one of the routes under the new contract, I'd definitely recommend the 103 over the 175, as my experience on the latter route was nowhere near as good.

Arriva London DW245 is seen at Hillrise Estate on route 175.

Unlike the 103, the 175 is operated from Barking (DX) garage, which is actually in a convenient location for the Southern terminus of the route. Since day one, the service on the 175 has been considerably worse than on the 103, with even bigger gaps and regular curtailments. In recent times there have been some signs of improvement but there's a lot of work to be done if Arriva want to meet the previous standards presented by Stagecoach. Rather embarrassingly, a number of buses have been displaying the incorrect destination on the front blind; the route was permanently withdrawn from Dagenham Ford Works last year, so I'm slightly confused as to why the destination was being displayed as it isn't even on the line of route. In contrast to the 103, my bus (DW245) was awful, struggling to reach any speed faster than 10mph and having a hideous vibrating noise throughout the journey, which became really irritating towards the end of the journey. My main problem with the 175 is that pretty much the entire route was already familiar to me, it's essentially a "sideman" service which doesn't do anything useful apart from providing back up to other routes on busy corridors. Coincidentally, the best section of the route is also the only part where the 175 is a lone wolf, the view of London from the terminus at Hillrise Estate is fantastic! However, the schedule also seems to be very loose, resulting in a painfully slow journey. In conclusion, the 175 was disappointing. The buses are in a deteriorating condition, the routeing is far less interesting than the 103, and the service isn't particularly good either. There also haven't been any odd workings yet, so you're probably going to be dumped with a sluggish Gemini.

This rounds off the recent bus service changes in East London. I wish good luck to Stagecoach and Arriva for the next five years operating routes 257, 103 and 175, even if I only recommend the first two. On that note, there is also a brand new page/feature on the blog, which gives tips/tricks to enthusiasts in order to make their day more effective. Additionally, there is a route recommendation service, where you can leave a comment telling me what makes a route appealing to you, and I should be able to find something you'll enjoy. Since its implementation on Monday, there hasn't been one comment on the page yet, so hopefully its advertisement here will boost its popularity.

Thanks for reading and stay safe!