Yes, at the end of the day, Hitachi delivered on a byzantine spec/contract that many felt defied the laws of physics, out of a new plant, in a new country and put up with the changes when Grayling decided that the electrification of Bristol and Oxford would be postponed.

I suspect that some of the issues like the seat padding and the fuel pumps are the result of initial penny-pinching and contracts that make replacement at Hitachi's costs, so the latter is incentivised to follow the letter of the contract rather than customer comfort. Does anyone know if Hitachi are actually making money on the original DfT contract, or the First Group 802 follow-on for that matter?

And as for Bath, yes, I remember well the NIMBY's and the costly measures that had to be deployed at places like Sydney Gardens.

 

I have to have some sympathy for Hitachi, though.  There's far, far more diesel running than was planned / expected - these trains should be running under electric OHLE power to Bath, Bristol, Oxford, Port Talbot and Swansea.

 
I understand the old station footbridge at Chippenham is too low, and being listed or heritage status probably can't be taken away.  But these days there are special lifting and jacking techniques so can probably be lifted and riser spacers added.  Then just add a couple of extra steps at the bottom of each staircase.

As far as I am aware there is no remaining obstructions between Bathampton Junction and the K&A aqueduct either.  Clearly doing this would help BEMUs as they could change mode away from the junction where they need to accelerate.   I write this as I have just discovered East Midland new 810s cannot work to Corby on electric because they pass an engine warm up beacon as wires don't extend far enough.

But with 5 trains an hour (sometimes 6 if including freight) Bath really ought to be a section that gets urgent electrification.  Especially as Hitachi seems unable to keep all IET engines operational.  Although I do not know why so many fuel pumps seem to be low quality and failing.

I have heard Hitachi are self certifying defects, and GWR has option to audit the defect list, but I wonder if they actually do it (as in send legal and audit staff armed with spirit levels to check seat sag, microbe swabs to check cleanliness of edge of windows, gas analysers to check exhausts and toilet smells etc.  Hitachi are paid a lot, and don't really seem to fully deliver diesel mode and passenger comfort on IETs.

 
It is ridiculous that we have so many miles of unelectrified railway still, especially when you consider the previous plans that were shelved. In the case of Bath, it isn't as though the preparation hasn't been done - tunnels, bridges and anything else in the was were all cleared ready for the wires to come, as far as the tunnels at St Annes. The IETs all have pantographs at the ready. Extending the OHLE from Thingummy to the far side of Keynsham should be doable on a series of overnight stints. Sydney Gardens might even benefit from not having so much diesel traffic. If not, that could be left without wires but with a need to have the horn sounding a warning until the train can use the leccy again. Alternatively, a bit of extra cash could be spent on something slightly less out of keeping with the Georgian splendour than the standard steelwork.

 

Below-the-fold comments on the social media posts of politicians are often toxic. Stepping away from the exceptionalism that prompts people to think of the railway through Bath as though it's different from any other stretch of line, people seem to have settled into being ok with the fact that electrification of the UK's rail system has been increasingly  badly handled. In England, no rolling programme of electrication, something that lowers costs and builds/maintains skills. In the west country we've ended up saddled with the sub-optimal situation where we have expensive dual-fuel trains and electrification that doesn't extend to Oxford, Bristol or Swansea. We're building an entire new railway whose trains will run on diesel and without so much as putting in foundations for the electrification that it will need. This approach really curtails opportunities for the railway to excel in what it does. Diesel exhaust from railway trains is the smell of a legacy transport system, and it should really be fading fast by now.

How to pay for it? Day to day we already are, in terms of increased overheads, and not of the electrification variety.

Mark

 
I did laugh at the ‘you can taste the Cardiff to Portsmouth diesels as they go past’. Oh please!!  That’s nothing compared to the original Valenta engines on an HST or the various other diesel locos that used to pass through Bath such as 37s, 47s and 50s when I was growing up. Happy days 

 

If the trains have batteries for more substantial parts of their journeys, there may be potential to explore the option.  To my mind, though, having London to Bristol expresses equipped with batteries just for four or five miles doesn't feel economicaly sensible.

I quoted the comments on the original post to show just how complex the situation is, and how under informed some of the public are - no fault of their own; bright people just to experts in this complex world of railway provision and operation.  I am struck by the irony of road vehicles being required to be clean through Bath in a way that trains are not, and the comment about the smell from passing Cardiff -> Portsmouth trains. Perhaps those (and the short runs on the same line) are a case for batteries initially, rather than the London trains for which I suggest that full electrification might be the better solution.

 
Could new trains(a cheaper option?) on the London to Bristol route be run batteries between Bathampton and Oldfield Park?

 
Its long overdue wiring from filton and Chippenham to Bristol TM and Parson street

 
Bath Spa is the second busiest 2-platform UK Station outside London - it's incredible how many people get off and on trains there which are calling at each platform ten times an hour, all day. And yet almost every train there is running under diesel power.  Wera Hobhouse, MP for Bath said in Parliament


That quoted on social media, here is a selection of feedback comments