21 replies to this topic

[HP6]

Whats it like?

It was a pleasant ride to Amersham.

[hyposmurf]

It was a pleasant ride to Amersham.

Really?Not heard that before from passenGers travelling on the met line. So what is better on he train?Are they quieter,smoother ride,better temperature control?Im curious still not been on one yet.

[147]

Far better ride, depending on track conditions. Quieter. Air conditioned, although the driver has no control over this, so i would imagine A/C is permanently set at one temperature.

[hyposmurf]

Far better ride, depending on track conditions. Quieter. Air conditioned, although the driver has no control over this, so i would imagine A/C is permanently set at one temperature.

Well that sounds good.The old stock are pretty noisy, cold in winter and baking in the peak of summer.When do the ones to Amersham and Chesham run?Peak hours?Or are they just rotated and its hard to determine when they are going to be in use?

[147]

At the minute 20% of the fleet are s stock. They predominatly run on the uxbridge & watford roads Mon - Fri. Although there are two that run to amersham between the peaks Mon Fri.

[ianbartlett]

Well that sounds good.The old stock are pretty noisy, cold in winter and baking in the peak of summer.When do the ones to Amersham and Chesham run?Peak hours?Or are they just rotated and its hard to determine when they are going to be in use?

The 08.28-ish train from Chesham has been an S stock for a while now, and the 22.30-ish departure from Baker Street to Chesham has been S stock almost since they started operating. Not sure about Amersham, but haven't seen any there yet. Sorry for my approximated timings...not trains I use regularly - both are too late for me!

[Eaton]

My husband's been on one once (that I know of) into Amersham.

[Unremarkable]

I commute to and from the City in the week and have been lucky enough to travel on a new train once so far. It had far more standing room (vital in the Moorgate to Harrow on the Hill stretch of the line) and was overall a much more pleasant experience than the old met line trains. It wasn't a particularly warm day, so I can't comment of the air-conditioning element.

[PeterC]

I have been on one several times now, the ride is better, the seats are wider and there is far more standing room so its far easier to board at the City end.

At the "country" end the lower seating capacity doesn't seem to be as much of an issue as it should be in theory as all seats get occupied and you don't get the problem of the tripple seats occupied by two larger people.

[Matthew (Admin/MPJ)]

I have travelled on quite a few between Finchley Road and Harrow. They appear quite pleasant, but I reserve judgement until I have done a full journey to and from Amersham. At present with no school kids / students traveling, the number of passengers is down on most times. I am sure I will get a seat in the mornigns, not so sure about on my way home. I often now have to stand until Rickmansworth, sometimes beyond, so with fewer seats I am not looking forward to a longer stand! I am also not yet sure about how comfy the seats will be on a longer journey, or having to sit sideways staring at people! More standing room for the City is good, but we will have to wait and see how it is at the country end.

[147]

If my sums are correct, their are 8 fewer seats per carriage 64 less overall.
Timetabled s stocks off peak Mon Fri from amersham are1016, 1046, 1216, 1246, 1416, 1446.

[Matthew (Admin/MPJ)]

Now that the new S stock is in use, I have started this new topic and pulled posts from another topic in to make it more meaningful.

[Matthew (Admin/MPJ)]

The 07:44 from Amersham to Aldgate was an S Stock today (02/09/11) and I thus had my first full journey on one.

It was a Friday when numbers of passengers are usually lower and still holiday season, but after Chorleywood, there were no seats left that I could see . Of course, you can walk through the entire train to find a seat, but at Rickmansworth all those that got on had to stand and I did not see anybody trying to make their way down the train to find a seat.

Today I actually had two bags with me, a small case and ruck sack. I would have put one on the luggage rack, except there aren't any, so they had to be on the floor in front of me. I decided to sit on a side facing seat as this would provide more room than putting the bags on the floor in a four seat bay. The seat was not too bad, but by Finchely Road my rear was starting to feel a bit numb!

From Rickmansworth, I had people standing in front of me all the way into London. My bags in front of me meant they were not right up to me, but all I could stare at depending on the various heights of different people was either their bottoms, fronts and if a lady was not that tall my eye line was straight at their chest, which I found a bit embarrassing as I did not want to stare, but where am I supposed to look when sitting on a side seat! When the trains are busier, I am not sure I am going to enjoy having someone's bottom close to my head, or having to avert my eyes all the time if close up to other people!

The air conditioning seemed OK, but noticeable as I got off was surge of heat. I don't know if that was caused by the sudden change in temperature from inside to outside, or the heat exhaust of the air conditioning system. A major problem of putting air conditioning on deep level tube trains is how to get rid of the heat extracted from trains in the tunnels as this would make them even hotter. The Met line is open air for most of its route and the tunnels are not small, but even so it will be interesting to note how warm the platforms at Kings Cross / Euston Square get when all S stock trains kick out heat.

One ride in rush hour does not mean I can make my mind up, there are good points about the trains, but also bad points. I need to get some ore experience of them to form a final opinion, not that I can change anything!

[roob_the_doob]

Forgot about the autumn timetable yesterday, so instead of a Marylebone train I got the next train to Baker Street, which happened to be one of the new ones.

Unimpressed, to say the least. The seats are horribly hard and small and are not at all suited to being sat on for more than a few minutes. By the time we'd reached Harrow I was starting to go numb in various parts of my anatomy. The floor would be more comfortable.

Aren't there ever any 6-footers involved in seat design?

[Kiff]

I've not been impressed either.. I had a seat in the corner, it was so narrow that I was leaning over due to the wall being too close and my largish shoulders.. People were standing by the time we got to Moor Park and I had my feet trodden on repeatedly.

Then the door sensors were so sensitive that the train was stuck in Harrow for over 5 minutes while the driver asked repeatedly for people to make sure their shirts etc. were not caught in the doors. The same happened at Finchley Road and Baker Street..

Even though it's more hassle it's more comfortable for me to do 2 changes from Aldgate East (instead of Aldgate) to get to the CHiltern Line train in Marylebone.

Nice air conditioning though and they don't smell like a public toilet, so I can't say there's no improvement over the old trains..

[Matthew (Admin/MPJ)]

Have to say my experience of the new trains is not improving. Yes I get a seat at Amersham, but it is not comfortable. The trains can take more people standing, but there seems to be not a lot for people to hang onto when standing, particularly in the area between the carriages.

Perhaps someone should adapt the plans on this site for our new trains.

sit-down-on-overground-prepare-for-war/

[Matthew (Admin/MPJ)]

An improvement has been introduced to one of the new S stock trains! Someone has put some Christmas decorations up!

Attached Files

•  Photo 13-12-2011 17 59 46.jpg   183.88K   20 downloads

[PeterC]

Now they are in more regular use I can usually get a seat at Chalfont and Latimer and always from Ricky where most of the schoolkids seem to decamp. Returning I may stand for longer than usual but that is more than compensated by not risking a fight at the City end as there are fewer muppets blocking the doors. Actually getting to an empty seat is a lot easier, with the old trains there would usually be a couple of standees steadfastly blocking the access to empty seats.

I find the fixed seats perfectly comfortable but the tip up seats in the wheelchair bays do leave me numb. There seems to be overcapacity for wheelchairs, one of the bays could have been replaced by an additional bay of transverse seating.

[147]

Now they are in more regular use I can usually get a seat at Chalfont and Latimer and always from Ricky where most of the schoolkids seem to decamp. Returning I may stand for longer than usual but that is more than compensated by not risking a fight at the City end as there are fewer muppets blocking the doors. Actually getting to an empty seat is a lot easier, with the old trains there would usually be a couple of standees steadfastly blocking the access to empty seats.

I find the fixed seats perfectly comfortable but the tip up seats in the wheelchair bays do leave me numb. There seems to be overcapacity for wheelchairs, one of the bays could have been replaced by an additional bay of transverse seating.

The trains comply with the bare minimum required by the Railway Disability Act. How many wheelchairs do you see on a train ? I drive them for a living and can count on one hand the number I seee during the course of a day.

[PeterC]

The trains comply with the bare minimum required by the Railway Disability Act.

According to legislation.gov.uk trains of between 8 and 11 coaches only require 3 spaces but the S8 stock has 4. All shorter trains require 2.

[Matthew (Admin/MPJ)]

According to

http://www.railnews....refuses-to.html

Transport for London are not accepting any more new S stock trains for a while as they are unreliable.

[chesham101]

We used the new met line trains recently for the first time and were very impressed with the walk through feature and the comfort, especially compared to the old trains which threw you all over the place!