How Transport for Wales Are RUINING Their Express Services - The BRAND NEW Class 197 "Civity"!

compared to most calf manufactured new builds in the UK the class 197 diesel trains have had smooth introduction from delivery to Mainline testing and eventual entry into passenger servers now that their sphere of operation has increased into cross-border Services between England and Wales I decided to give these a go and see what they were like spoiler alert they're a far cry from the class 158 and 175 Trails they were pleasing so let's get the show on the rails and find out why foreign we start today's Journey at Manchester Airport located in the ringway area of Greater Manchester the station opened in May 1993 to coincide with the opening of the airport's second term on the same day despite its recent opening the station has been refurbished and upgraded multiple times but more on that later for now let's enter the station and take a look around for now we can admire the modern designs that accompany the airport including the statue upstairs of Trafford born John Alcock installed in Terminal 1 in 1964 to commemorate the first non-stop flight across the Atlantic our area of concern however is on the lower level where the platforms are located as with most UK stations nowadays ticket barriers are in operation to access the platforms as well as transport for Wales Manchester Airport is also served by Northern and transpennine express the former providing Regional Services across the northwest of England and the latter of whom manage the station and provide its Intercity Services all across the North the Manchester Metrolink also serves Manchester and its suburbs and has done so as part of the 2014 rebuild of the station to add the tram platforms providing greater links in and around greater Manchester there is also a waiting room in between platforms two and three containing vending machines and a cafe however these prove rather expensive likely due to the many tourists passing through the station so I opted after buying this time and after enough Waiting Around Here Comes our train which is formed of two class 197 diesel multiple units arriving from llandudno in North Wales a total of 77 of these trains are on order from Spanish manufacturer CAF for transport for Wales as part of their full Fleet replacement strategy with the order being split into 51-2 core and 26 three-car units the main manufacturing of the units is taking place in Via sign Spain with the final assembly conveniently being done in Newport South Wales 21 of the two car units will have etcs equipment fitted for use on the Cambrian line in mid-wales whilst 14 of the three car units will be fitted with first class as part of the service upgrades on the Manchester to South Wales route the units are expected to operate all over the transport for Wales network with some exceptions replacing the class 150 153 158 and 175 diesel trains as can be seen our train is in a full Carriage contest which has two two Carriage sets coupled together which transport for whales aim to do more of as more 197s are introduced the units were first introduced between flandigno and blaneye Fest in yog in November 2022 and since the December 2022 timetable change their sphere of operation has increased the majority of routes to and from North Wales once further units have been handed over to transport for Wales and crew training is complete they will be gradually introduced on routes inbid and South Wales right time to board and take a look around whilst it's still quiet as to be expected the interior is very clean given these specific units only added traffic a few days prior to this trip seating is also in a two by two configuration with tables and unlike the class 175 and class 158 units the doors are much wider for faster boarding and a lighting I do like the open gangways on these units enabling easier movement throughout the train however the elephant in the room is that there is only one toilet on board and yes this is the same for the three car units compare this to class 175 trains which have three toilets on board also what's with this huge Galley taking up around a quarter of the train a bit unnecessary when a second toilet or more seating could have been added instead second toilet preferred of course the end gangways are open between units enabling free movement throughout the train and with that comes an end to the walk through I'm going to move back to the front of the train now to take my seat as British logic always is to board from the rear and with that let's take a look at our route for today the class 197 pair I'm on now is Bound for flandigno junction we first make a stop at East Didsbury before stopping at the central Manchester stops of Piccadilly and Oxford Road we then ride the original Liverpool for Manchester Railway as far as Earl's town where we then rejoin the West Coast Mainline at Warrington Bank key the home stretch is on the Manchester to Chester line by runcorn East frodsham and helsby before our Train Drops me off at Chester at around quarter to 12. right it's now time to take these new trains for a spin so let's get rolling foreign [Music] foreign our first stop and only stop on the style line out of Manchester Airport is East Didsbury as with Manchester Airport there is an interchange with the Manchester Metrolink I'll be at the Metrolink station is located a few minutes walk from here I feel now's a good time to get onto the important stuff so let's do a know your seat transport for Wales tweeted and I quote we have taken some lessons from the iet's and tried to make the seats more comfortable mine are slightly more padding these fantas Affairs are unfortunately as uncomfortable as the iet's unlike the sister class 196 units in operation with West Midlands trains there are armrests present which are foldable in the middle and on the aisle sides but not on the window side this slightly makes up for the poor seat joists in the spec I'm also sad to say that despite the good seat pitch the legroom overall is ruined by the seat support a common floor with calf designs one feature I do like about the seats is the foldable tray which features grooves for cups and is extendable for the placement of phones or laptops although it was rather stiff to operate needless to say as you can see I did make great use of this throughout the rest of the trip power and USB sockets are present at each seat as indicated by the labels although unlike the trains in transport for Wales Fleet that they're replacing even the class 150s and class 153s there was only one as opposed to the expected two although there are two USB sockets the tables seem to be okay and are topped off with a wooden design as with most modern units the most annoying feature was the passenger information screens which weren't synchronized with the system properly and were showed us not in service for the whole trip despite the announcements playing in the background which isn't helpful for those who have hearing impairments there also appears to be coat hangers located both next to the window as well as on the seat itself however the former appears to be more secure than the latter electronic seat reservations are present just above the windows however since the covid-19 pandemic I don't think I've actually seen transport for Wales use seat reservations on their Express services in the event this fails there's a reservation card holder located at the top of the seat as we rejoin the West Coast Mainline branch on our approach to Manchester Piccadilly alongside Depot can be seen in the background which is where Avanti West Coast maintains its pentolito Fleet and where transpen on Express maintains its Nova 2 and Nova 3 fleets also built by the 197s manufacturer Cath Manchester City's Etihad Stadium can also be seen on the background on the approach into Central Manchester our next station call is Manchester Piccadilly arguably the busiest and most impressive station on today's route which saw around 20 million passengers in 2022 transport for Wales also provides services to South and West Wales from the main station Concourse albeit now a much nicer Mark 4 sets alongside the existing class 175 Fleet which will eventually be replaced by the class 197s in due course we will avoid the main shed sadly as we instead call at one of the only two through platforms although we do have a spectacular view of the 1860s built main shed at its full Glory doesn't it look amazing a mere minute later through Central Manchester then seizures arrive at our next stop of Manchester Oxford Road which is located right in the heart of the infamous Dean's gate castlefield Corridor perhaps one of the most congested Railway bottlenecks in the country that has been responsible for many delays and cancellations on services in and out of Manchester the most notable example being the May 2018 timetable change I mean to the also called link service expansion as we arrive do take note of the visually similar class 331 also built by calf as an electric variant of the class 195 which excluding the visual cab front is very similar to the class 197 we're on right now however that's a subject for a future video in the meantime we then shortly passed the station of Dean's gate itself we now join the Liverpool to Manchester via chat lost line which forms part of the former Liverpool to Manchester Railway the world's first Intercity Railway built by George Stevenson in the 1830s recent line upgrade Works have increased the line's top speed from 75 to 90 miles an hour which is 10 miles an hour slower than the class 197's top speed of a hundred it was around this point where I began to notice the units rather rough and poor ride quality however if the class 195s are anything to go by this should hopefully be resolved in due course this comes to spiders currently running over chat Moss a large peat bog covering an area of over 10 square miles with depths ranging from 24 to 30 feet an Infamous area in Railway history the bog could have ultimately grinded construction of the line to an unexpected halt owing to the nature of its terrain George Stevenson however came up with the unique idea to effectively float the line by sinking layers of bound Heather and branches into the bog after which layers of tar and Rubble were added to provide a solid foundation for the lines construction which has proved effective given trains 25 times the weight of the rocket the line's original steam locomotive frequently traversed the line daily and not one has sank yet following a call at Newton The Willows we diverge off the chat Moss line at earlstown where we begin to join the West Coast Mainline whilst the chat Moss reach was fully electrified in 2015 the line between news and the Willows and earlstown has been electrified since 1973. for electric mail trains both stations not seeing an actual passenger carrying electric train serve them for 42 years as I've mentioned previously one of the many floors with the class 197 is that there is only one toilet on board which is PRM compliant so let's go check it out right door lot and we can begin naturally it's Immaculate inside owing to it being a brand new train rather spacious and even includes a baby change Ram as with all accessible toilets these days however it does have a strange handle and way of opening there are also two coat hangers located in the toilet one just above and one below next to the open Button as for the top the soap is well stocked as can be assumed by my poor aim of the dispenser however the tap was only shown to dispense a little bit of water at a time which was disappointing especially when trying to wash off the suit the dryer took a while to get going however once it was working it was perfectly fine overall I'd say the toilet was around average the tap situation was rather disappointing right now let's head back to our seat and complete the journey to Chester foreign the main stretch of the West Coast Mainline we arrive at our next stop at Warrington Bank key one of three stations to serve the town center of Warrington along with nearby Warrington Central and the recently opened Warrington West the most notable feature of the station being the Unilever Factory right next to it which was given the green light to be demolished by Warrington Borough Council in December 2022 after falling into disuse in 2020 after Warrington we once again diverge from the West Coast Main Line ahead of our next stop of runcorn East [Music] and as we call it our last stop of helsby I'll draw my conclusions an upgrade over the class 150s and 153s using the Conway Valley and Borderlands lines absolutely an upgrade to the class 175s and 158 is used on transport for Wales as Flagship expresses such as Manchester turfland did know a huge no these units had so much potential to be better given the routes they're intended to be used on and the quality of what they're replacing but sadly they failed to live up to those expectations nevertheless they do provide a nice Ambiance as well as newer stock which the whales aboard as franchise so desperately needs however when these stocks appear on the Manchester to South Wales route I think I'll wait an extra hour for the mark 4 sets now being introduced on the route for now however welcome to Chester foreign [Music] and that's it guys as we approach the end of the platform we can see another 197 heading back to Manchester airport or at least it was intended to do so however as the failure of the unit cut its Journey short here yikes anyways thanks so much for coming along with me on this ride and I hope you've enjoyed the video if you did please do give it a like as well as share the video as that really helps the channel to grow if you're new to the channel and want to see more content such as this why not consider subscribing as well as enabling notifications as I now upload new videos every Friday at 5pm right time to catch my Avanti service onwards which is surprisingly working today I'd also like to wish you all a belated happy new year thanks so much for watching as always and I'll see you next time

Channel: OM the Rails

Views: 67,253

Keywords:

Id: -k24Qz0kH9s

Length: 16min 58sec (1018 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 13 2023