Random Transport Chatter

[Pilot]

longest possession time available in the year.

Possessions... the bane of my life. Those, and freight paths that aren't used!

Oh, and maybe those annoying night time Class 1s!

[Redirect Left]

after all, if the lights are off, the CCTV can't work.

haha. That is some priceless information there. Railway CCTV isn't infra-red or other night vision enabled.
The heating was almost certainly on, at least at Wakefield Westgate, the chronic condensation on the windows was almost certainly indicative of a huge heat difference, and if there were any maintenance going on at the stations, they'd obviously seen me and parked all their vans out the way and got out of sight

[Pilot]

after all, if the lights are off, the CCTV can't work.

haha. That is some priceless information there. Railway CCTV isn't infra-red or other night vision enabled.

The BTP say they have access to 55000 CCTV Cameras. Let's estimate that around half of these on stations (in theory, it's likely more!), so that's 27,500 CCTV Cameras. A Cheap Infrared CCTV Camera costs about £129 (each), so 27500*129 = £3,547,500. I imagine the electricity bill to keep the lights on is a lot cheaper!

As for Heating, you don't want the pipes freezing over now do you?

[Redirect Left]

As for Heating, you don't want the pipes freezing over now do you?

It was widely reported (and actually occured for once) that this Christmas would be one of the warmest on record

[JamieLei]

after all, if the lights are off, the CCTV can't work.

Railway CCTV isn't infra-red or other night vision enabled.

I highly doubt any CCTV of any image quality is night vision enabled. I don't actually know if it is; I'm just guessing that it isn't.

To be honest, it's not a bad complaint. Draft it up in a letter, and send it to the Head of Stations at each TOC concerned.

[Redirect Left]

You can get nightvision CCTV where the image quality is certainly enough to make out enough detail to make out all important things (example) - a true night vision camera will have everything it needs to see in the night attached (example) and that alone will identify to any potential cable thief that the camera is going to see what they're doing through its nightvision., so may deter them purely through that.
Plus, more money from the additional trespassing fines the night-vis picks up

[JamieLei]

You can get nightvision CCTV where the image quality is certainly enough to make out enough detail to make out all important things (example) - a true night vision camera will have everything it needs to see in the night attached (example) and that alone will identify to any potential cable thief that the camera is going to see what they're doing through its nightvision., so may deter them purely through that.
Plus, more money from the additional trespassing fines the night-vis picks up

Easier and cheaper to leave the lights on IMO
Also those cameras are only good because they have some ambient light anyway.

[Redirect Left]

Easier and cheaper to leave the lights on IMO

Considering Wakefield Westgate is clearly using old flourescent lights (Usually at least 36 to 79W each for any sort of decent brightness - for comparison, your average flourescent tube in the home or office is usually 32 to 58W), the electricity from all of them powering an entire station will quickly wrap over to the 1000W mark (usually one electrical unit is measured as 1kWh, or 1000W being on for 1 hour). The ambient light needed for them cameras is usually very low, low enough that a full moon with only partial cloud cover is enough for them to get a good enough image, so you'd only need a few lights on instead of an entire stations worth.
So easier very much yes, cheaper almost certainly no - At least in this case, with stations that use more modern lighting that uses less W for the same amount of brightness, possibly, at least to a lesser degree.
I've used nightvision cameras, i'm a very paranoid person and all the places I live are covered with rather overkill CCTV

[Ameecher]

It's not just the cost of the units though, it's the cost of installing them which will always be much higher than you expect, especially on a live operating railway. It might not be the greenest thing to do but consider also that engineering trains might be running and stations are a key reference point for drivers so if they don't see it lit up like normal it can lead to confusion and potentially an accident. Likewise, if the platforms can't be gated off, I suspect NR and the TOC still have a responsibility to mitigate risk and highlight the 3ft drop to track level by leaving the lights on. Cheaper than a lawsuit.

[Pilot]

So, Vivarails Class 230 has caught fire during testing today at Kenilworth, blocking the single line between Leamington Spa and Coventry.

https://twitter.com/chris_railway/statu ... 7136283648

[Nawdic]

Someone didnt put enough fire proofing in...

[Dave]

So, Vivarails Class 230 has caught fire during testing today at Kenilworth, blocking the single line between Leamington Spa and Coventry.

https://twitter.com/chris_railway/statu ... 7136283648

Whoops. There goes the 230 then...

[Chris]

I still can't believe the d stock actually became a serious idea... Fornsome reason they wanted them on the Harrogate line a few years ago

[Redirect Left]

Looks like quite a major fire too, rather that a little bit of an oopsie. Glad Arriva Northern went the new train route rather than upcycled tube trains. Although does mean I'll have to travel further to ride these if they survive this slight setback and London Midland keep their order...

[Dave]

Their Twitter has said the train didn't catch fire... one of the detachable engine modules was the culprit.

So whilst said module was attached it wasn't "the train"? Hm.

[Redirect Left]

I would argue that anything attached to the train, becomes part of the train. Thus, the train set on fire.

Sounds like Vivarail trying to cover themselves and keep their dream of pushing old stock back onto the network alive

[Pilot]

With Heathrow Connect being taken over by Crossrail, and Greater Anglia getting new stock, does anyone have an idea as to where the Class 360s from these operators will go once they are replaced? They're basically Class 350s as far as I know, just lacking the end gangway, so maybe London Midland could be a home for these?

They're also new-ish Units, built between 2002 and 2005, so scrapping them would probably be out of the equation. I'd love to see Northern take them on, but I doubt they'll get them, as they have both 319s and new build electric units coming.

[Redirect Left]

Got on a VTEC train earlier, after seeing some signs at Wakefield Westgate indicating they had rolled out free wifi!

It's a yes/no situation with the free WiFi.
Yes: There is free WiFi, buuuut
No: You need to pre-book your ticket directly with VTEC, and you also need to opt-in to their marketing, can't tick the opt-out box.

If you don't do the required stuff, it's the same as always, 15 minute free, then £5 for the rest of the journey.

I'm not sure if this is temporary, or if the whole 'free wifi' part of tenders allows to have all these ifs and buts. (or if VTEC was done before that free wifi was part of tender?)

[Ameecher]

With Heathrow Connect being taken over by Crossrail, and Greater Anglia getting new stock, does anyone have an idea as to where the Class 360s from these operators will go once they are replaced? They're basically Class 350s as far as I know, just lacking the end gangway, so maybe London Midland could be a home for these?

They're also new-ish Units, built between 2002 and 2005, so scrapping them would probably be out of the equation. I'd love to see Northern take them on, but I doubt they'll get them, as they have both 319s and new build electric units coming.

I would hazard a guess they either go to the GE to be united with the other 360s or go to LM to get rid of the few 319s they have knocking about.

[Pilot]

With Heathrow Connect being taken over by Crossrail, and Greater Anglia getting new stock, does anyone have an idea as to where the Class 360s from these operators will go once they are replaced? They're basically Class 350s as far as I know, just lacking the end gangway, so maybe London Midland could be a home for these?

They're also new-ish Units, built between 2002 and 2005, so scrapping them would probably be out of the equation. I'd love to see Northern take them on, but I doubt they'll get them, as they have both 319s and new build electric units coming.

I would hazard a guess they either go to the GE to be united with the other 360s or go to LM to get rid of the few 319s they have knocking about.

Greater Anglia are replacing theirs though as well aren't they? I thought the GE was getting a full new build fleet? I would imagine that LM would take them on, like they will apparently be taking TPEx's 10 350s when their new build electrics arrive.