Forum / News / Euston Glasgow High Speed run
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Hartill
Posts: 102 Location: |
Internet suggests they may also try it a week later. |
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CTAYLOR
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CTAYLOR
Posts: 535 Location: |
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16012FH
Posts: 169 Location: |
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8001F
Posts: 5560 Location: |
Why dont they run it a couple of months time as a charity special like Railway Magazine did on the southbound record run? Mission accomplished-ran very close to time throughout. IU |
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16012FH
Posts: 169 Location: |
16012FH said: On the radio it said it didnt beat the record by 21 secs |
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heatonj
Posts: 63 Location: |
8001F said: It was an RM/Aviva charity special....missed the ATP time by 21sec or to achieve a new record by 22sec I suppose. The feeling was that there was no point trying and perhaps failing a second time until Carstairs was remodelled and the long 50tsr had disappeared. J |
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4027F
Posts: 18 Location: |
It does raise a few questions. 囫 My experience on board the Record Run train Robin Buchanan-Morgan Network Performance Portfolio Manager I was fortunate enough to be onboard Avanti West Coast*s 1Z57, the 10:36 from London Euston on Thursday 17 June. The ※Record Run§ was a bid to beat the time for the trip from London Euston to Glasgow Central, which is held by the Class 370 Advanced Passenger Train (or APT-P) in 1984, a train that many know was short-lived. Avanti*s 390044 每 by analysis - the fastest in the fleet, was specially chosen for this honour: in a world some think all modern trains have no personality, it*s great to remember that individual units still have their own traits. Being in the 3900xx series of course reveals that it is a 9-car train, rather than an 11-car, which, when every seconds count, means it can accelerate sooner when the speed limit goes up, as there are 46 fewer metres to clear the section. The driver, too was hand-picked: Neil, a Preston man, meaning that unlike other depots he &signed*, or had route knowledge, of the entire stretch of line and so we didn*t have to stop for a change of driver 每 hats off to him, and his bladder! 390044 was named in a short ceremony on platform 16: ※Royal Scot§ - a name synonymous with the romance of fast rail travel between England and Scotland. Platform 16, too, was specially chosen as the most direct route out on to the &Down Fast* line of the West Coast Mainline; the busiest mixed traffic railway in Europe. The souvenir brochure cautions, rather gleefully, that we should expect ※different driving techniques as this is a record run attempt§ and with that we surge away from Euston. If you wanted Milton Keynes, you*ll have a bit of a diversion! Ticking off the miles, with a handy guide provided for us, we were consistently on time - and on the edge of our seats 每 all the way. Every station and almost every field had well-wishers waving and cheering us on. For what would have looked like a &normal Pendolino* from the outside, the train really did have an aura about it. This, for me, goes to show exactly what we can achieve when we delve into the detail and focus on priorities to get the best performance outcomes from the whole system: temporary speed restrictions (TSRs) were dealt with by Network Rail 每 save one. If we put this attention to detail and collaboration into the railway each day, every day the result can be phenomenal. Asked onboard (and a little unwittingly giving a statement on behalf of RDG, but Seb Gordon tells me I said the right thing!): ※why should the public care about this record run attempt?§ my enthusiasm ran away with me: ※it*s really important for showing the role that rail has to play in rebuilding the economy and it goes to show what we can achieve when the railway collaborates to get the details right#§. As we arrived into Glasgow Central, the excitement was palpable. As I (probably out of child-like enthusiasm) hadn*t thought to start a stopwatch as we left Euston, we didn*t know if the time had been beaten. It &felt* right, but as we waited for the official verification from the Railway Performance Society, there was that familiar Avanti bing-bong and then a pause#too long a pause#my heart sank. ※I*m sorry to say#that we haven*t beaten the record§. Twenty-one seconds separated us from a record that has stood for nearly 40 years, and was made in very different operating conditions, it*s only fair to say. 21 seconds, from nearly four hours. 21 seconds 每 that*s about the time it*s taken to read from &it felt right* earlier in this paragraph. It was widely considered that the fly in the ointment was a 50 mph TSR at Carstairs, where the line splits towards Edinburgh, and about 20 miles shy of Glasgow Central. The headlines, whilst still encouraging, focused on the message that the record had not been beaten. There are some things, though, that I would like to draw out. First: 21 seconds#no more on that actually. Well, a bit more: had it been five seconds, I think it would have been annoying and likewise, five minutes would not have been quite so exciting on the way. The fact was that we were on the edge of our seats, the whole way and getting within 21 seconds, on today*s railway, is an enormous feat in itself! Secondly 每 excuse the figures 每 the (APT in 1984) time to beat was 3 hours, 52 minutes and 40 seconds. The time achieved by 390044 was 3 hours, 53 minutes and 1 second. Hence the 21 seconds. But the train was officially timed to take 3 hours and 53 minutes. So, in actual fact, the 401.34-mile journey, taking nearly four hours, was planned and delivered to a 1 second tolerance. 1 second. Now that is incredible in my book. We know that to win passengers back we must be accurate in delivering the product we offer. Thirdly 每 the Pendolino record for the 401-mile journey (albeit in the opposite direction) is 3 hours, 55 minutes and 27 seconds and therefore this journey shaved a whopping 2 minutes and 26 seconds off that! Fourthly 每 the average speed for the journey was 103.3 mph, from a standing start to a full stop, and on a normal weekday. Finally 每 the proceeds from the train are to be divided between two worthy causes: Action for Children and the Railway Benefit Fund. All in all, a fantastic achievement, and all those at Avanti West Coast, Network Rail and The Railway Magazine who played any part in this feat should be extremely proud. |
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