Last week I met the Chair of BGORUG, the Barking Gospel Oak user group and other ex. members of the statutory Rail Timetables Committee who are still involved in the industry. This is the outcome of the discussion on the current status of the WLL/NLL and GOB lines New trains (Class 710) for the North London Line (NLL) and West London Line (WLL) have been built by Bombardier and at least four are sitting in the sidings at Bombardier’s Willesden depot, but they can’t go anywhere until:• Safety checks for the new design have been run and approval gained from Network Rail• New software is written and approved before any running tests can be carried out - e.g. the 1,000 miles "run in" and gauging tests along the routes to check they won't hit anything.• Drivers current and new have to be trained on the new trains and over the route(s) - Some of the driver training can be carried out on a simulator at Willesden, but ultimately drivers have to actually drive a real train (but not necessarily over the entire routes).• Each train has to be “run in” over 1,000 miles of Network Rail track - It depends what's in the TfL / Arriva Rail London contract with Bombardier, but recent practice for several other TOCs has been 1,000 miles fault-free running - so a fault at 999 miles means starting all over again. It's a job generally done by a freight TOC who have drivers trained for this task, and Bombardier's routine has been to do round-trips between Crewe and Wembley. That's 150 miles each way, so in this case three round trips plus a final run from Crewe to Willesden would do the job. Say 4 days per unit if all goes well - so 32 days for the 8 GOB units. After that, units can go to Euston - Watford and thus release existing 378s to provide the extra trains needed for NLL / WLL.The trains from the Barking – Gospel Oak line are due to be sent to the West Midlands following a complete refit. It is not known whether they are "overdue". However, it is known that West Midlands Trains (WMT) need them for the 9th December timetable, to replace other trains scheduled to transfer to East Midlands Trains and to operate additional services (which latter may or may not happen). WMT will want to at least fit them with toilets, work which we believe is currently being done on GOB Line 8th unit to assess how long the job takes. Common sense suggests WMT are going to get very twitchy if they don't receive them by (say) 1st November.The first new trains will almost certainly go to the Barking Gospel Oak Line to free up the trains for the Midlands. That is TfL's plan. What Barking - Gospel Oak Rail User Group (BGORUG) want is for TfL to source older units for GOB Line (explanation supplied if you PM me) now - there are several options, none easy, but at least one must be "do-able" if the will is there (which at the moment it isn't). If this were done, then TfL could switch their priority to put the new 710s on Euston - Watford first, and thus release 378s for the NLL / WLL service increase that much sooner. TFL who historically have been good at communicating with stakeholders are either not responding to communications or are being economical with the truth.TfL have been saying for some time that 710s will be introduced to the GOB Line by November, but as every day passes with no visible signs of progress on the safety approvals that (very vague) date looks more and more at risk. It is also incorrect to suggest that 710s will go to the Richmond line - in fact it will be existing 378s released from Euston - Watford. However, It is the case that a recent new additional order for 710s (5-cars) will eventually go to the NLL / WLL, to release 378s for a planned frequency increase on the ELL. 710s won't be able to operate on the ELL as they don't have end doors for emergency detrainment in Brunel's single-track Thames tunnels. There was a consensus that TFL were prioritising personnel for the Elizabeth Line to ensure it opened on time over all other projects.This all gives BGORUG and NLL / WLL campaigners a common cause. The Chair of BGORUG has suggested that the WLL/NLL: should start a similar campaign (User Group) as it would help both Lines and would be happy to help get it started.BGORUG http://www.barking-gospeloak.org.uk/
Libby Kemp ● 2730d