XC Voyager Refurbishment

[Anonymous10]

Might that be why the entire GWR fleet has yellow ends?

The tfw fleet has red and deals with level crossings.

 

[AndrewJM70]

The colour scheme outside looks fine, but to me is largely irrelevant as long as the interior is smart, the train is not packed and runs on time. The interior refurb looks stunning and welcome news that an extra 12 sets are also coming.

 

[Goldfish62]

The colour scheme outside looks fine, but to me is largely irrelevant as long as the interior is smart, the train is not packed and runs on time. The interior refurb looks stunning and welcome news that an extra 12 sets are also coming.

Yes, the proposed internal refurb looks really great. Maybe a turning point for XC at last.

 

[Travelmonkey]

We can only but hope although I still feel I will be sitting in a luggage wrack like a sardine for the foreseeable,

 

[RealTrains07]

What i find odd about the interior colour choice is how on the voyagers. Pink is the designation for first class and blue for standard class.

However on the 170s it is the complete opposite?

Surely it would have made sense to have consistency across both fleets?

 

[GoneSouth]

Yes, the proposed internal refurb looks really great. Maybe a turning point for XC at last.

Yes, lots of positives with this and the increase in capacity of the Avanti units.

That pink has to go though!

Looking forward to using a Voyager with clean seats and windows that aren’t full of condensation and mould.

Are they doing anything with the seat reservation system or is that staying as now?

 

[RealTrains07]

Yes, lots of positives with this and the increase in capacity of the Avanti units.

That pink has to go though!

Looking forward to using a Voyager with clean seats and windows that aren’t full of condensation and mould.

Are they doing anything with the seat reservation system or is that staying as now?

Iam gonna assume its remains as it is and xc will take a similar approach to avanti and avoid the extra cost

 

[SWRtrain_fan]

deleted

 

[AJDesiro]

Iam gonna assume its remains as it is and xc will take a similar approach to avanti and avoid the extra cost

The Pendolino refurb involved changes to the TMS which entailed a significant change to the reservation displays behind the scenes, with the only visible change being a 'traffic light' LED next to each reservation display.

 

[RealTrains07]

The Pendolino refurb involved changes to the TMS which entailed a significant change to the reservation displays behind the scenes, with the only visible change being a 'traffic light' LED next to each reservation display.

Yes they did add LED indicators in the end however the displays themselves still retain the same screens as before and havent been moved. So the new seats avanti brought in kept the same spaces as before

 

[Bletchleyite]

Yes they did add LED indicators in the end however the displays themselves still retain the same screens as before and havent been moved. So the new seats avanti brought in kept the same spaces as before

The way the LCDs are driven seems different, though, the format is different and the confusing "available if unoccupied" seems to have gone. Are the occupancy cameras working now I wonder?

 

[modernrail]

Good to see them accepting defeat on seat/window alignment in the renders. Now let’s just hope they also stick with shoving people on particularly long journeys into the seats without a window as seems to happen frequently now. Then the traditional XC experience will be complete.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Good to see them accepting defeat on seat/window alignment in the renders. Now let’s just hope they also stick with shoving people on particularly long journeys into the seats without a window as seems to happen frequently now. Then the traditional XC experience will be complete.

Like with the Pendolinos the seat layout is not changing presumably due to the cost of moving all the reservation gubbins. The only exception is Coach D on the Avanti units which is returning to the existing layout.

Seat selection is the solution to the issue about window alignment, provided the selector shows the window positions clearly. XC did have that a while back - do they still? If not they should reinstate it.

 

[43096]

Like with the Pendolinos the seat layout is not changing presumably due to the cost of moving all the reservation gubbins.

That really is no excuse. VTEC managed to fit seat reservation displays to the HST and Mark 4 fleets without needing a major exercise in re-cabling to each seating bay, so it cannot be beyond the wit of man to do the same with seat res displays on the Pendolinos and Voyagers. If they're modding/changing the res displays there is absolutely zero excuse.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

That really is no excuse. VTEC managed to fit seat reservation displays to the HST and Mark 4 fleets without needing a major exercise in re-cabling to each seating bay, so it cannot be beyond the wit of man to do the same with seat res displays on the Pendolinos and Voyagers. If they're modding/changing the res displays there is absolutely zero excuse.

Yes, but look how crap they are. Even the TfW ones have them frozen on “Reserved Peterborough to King’s Cross” Very cheap things. At least the Voyager ones are easy to read and functional. The Pendolino ones are hideously outdated though.

 

[43096]

Yes, but look how crap they are. Even the TfW ones have them frozen on “Reserved Peterborough to King’s Cross” Very cheap things. At least the Voyager ones are easy to read and functional. The Pendolino ones are hideously outdated though.

The TfW ones are like that because they stay in that state until they get another signal to change. Presumably TfW are not updating the reservations for them. That’s not an indicator of the effectiveness of the system.

 

[GoneSouth]

Yes, but look how crap they are. Even the TfW ones have them frozen on “Reserved Peterborough to King’s Cross” Very cheap things. At least the Voyager ones are easy to read and functional. The Pendolino ones are hideously outdated though.

I’d argue the GWR ones are the easiest to read, and the traffic light system is great

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

I’d argue the GWR ones are the easiest to read, and the traffic light system is great

The standard Hitachi AT300 UK ones then, yes they're very good, and of course you'll find them on 800/801/802/803 with GWR, LNER, HT, TPE and LD. Enterprise has had them fitted to their De Deitrich carriages too.

 

[AJDesiro]

Yes they did add LED indicators in the end however the displays themselves still retain the same screens as before and havent been moved. So the new seats avanti brought in kept the same spaces as before

But their data feed has been updated, and the actual programming behind the scenes has changed, just retaining the screens. I believe that they can now update in real-time.

That really is no excuse. VTEC managed to fit seat reservation displays to the HST and Mark 4 fleets without needing a major exercise in re-cabling to each seating bay, so it cannot be beyond the wit of man to do the same with seat res displays on the Pendolinos and Voyagers. If they're modding/changing the res displays there is absolutely zero excuse.

It was much easier for VTEC since they just fitted battery-powered wireless displays. The Pendolino/Voyager displays are wired and require major re-cabling efforts as a result, newer displays, like the Televic ones fitted to the IETs, are presumably easier to modify since they're daisy-chained (older designs may be too, I'm unsure).

 

[dk1]

I’d argue the GWR ones are the easiest to read, and the traffic light system is great

Same with LNER. Just perfect.

 

[Energy]

It was much easier for VTEC since they just fitted battery-powered wireless displays.

Indeed, wireless battery ones with eInk displays to prolong battery life.

The Pendolino/Voyager displays are wired and require major re-cabling efforts as a result, newer displays, like the Televic ones fitted to the IETs, are presumably easier to modify since they're daisy-chained (older designs may be too, I'm unsure).

Televic supplied the original Pendolino and Voyager ones as well.

 

[YorksLad12]

Same with LNER. Just perfect.

Perfect-ish. Board an LNER train at London, or any of the terminals, and the seats will all be red or amber as they are either reserved or could be reserved along the route (apart from in the unreserved coach).

One thing I dislike about electronic reservations is that you can only see the lights for the seats opposite the side you board from, unlike paper reservations. It would have been nice if the coloured lights had also been incorporated on the sides of the seat backs, but then there would have been a cost.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

It was much easier for VTEC since they just fitted battery-powered wireless displays. The Pendolino/Voyager displays are wired and require major re-cabling efforts as a result, newer displays, like the Televic ones fitted to the IETs, are presumably easier to modify since they're daisy-chained (older designs may be too, I'm unsure).

Quite. It’s very easy to look at similar looking things and make sweeping assumptions without knowing the more complicated logistics, I would have easily assumed Avanti would certainly have addressed the dated reservation systems in their refurbishments were things not so awkward.

The TfW ones are like that because they stay in that state until they get another signal to change. Presumably TfW are not updating the reservations for them. That’s not an indicator of the effectiveness of the system.

Ye, but it does suggest how cheap and simple they are, to think they don’t even switch off when not in use.

 

[43096]

Ye, but it does suggest how cheap and simple they are, to think they don’t even switch off when not in use.

It's clever - it uses e-Ink so it doesn't need a continuous power supply. That's the point...

 

[Benjwri]

It would have been nice if the coloured lights had also been incorporated on the sides of the seat backs, but then there would have been a cost.

What about displaying how many unreserved seats there are on the outside of the train, is the bottom line of the outside PIS ever even used?

 

[DaveyJones]

But their data feed has been updated, and the actual programming behind the scenes has changed, just retaining the screens. I believe that they can now update in real-time.

I think the entire unit has been replaced. The screens are clearer than the old ones.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Ye, but it does suggest how cheap and simple they are, to think they don’t even switch off when not in use.

They are e-ink, like Kindles. That stays displaying what it was last told to display permanently not requiring any power to do so. Which was done because they are battery operated, so they could be installed with no wiring.

I think it does reflect very badly on TfW that they can't be bothered going through each set with a roll of black insulation tape to cover them, though.