Southeastern Class 395 start passenger services end of June!

[energize]

The whole line whilst not being the most senic around is pleasent enough and odd to go from ashford to London and seeing the dartford bridge lol and nice going past everyone stuck I. Traffic.

Yeah it is quite satisfying to whizz past gridlocked cars by train isn't it Trouble is, for a lot of commuters the car's the only feasible way of getting to work. Especially if you live in Bristol where the buses are apparently expensive, dirty and always run late.

[ajfoxy]

I was a lucky one who managed to have a ride on the javelin as a guest on friday. I think that it is very good, Seats are a bit more comfy than that of a MK4 but still get that hard plastic feeling on your bum. The only fault i can find really is the noise of the Air conditioning unit which in the tunnels becomes very loud. Mind you, I'd rather have air con rather than nothing because obviously it doesnt have windows which helps with the pressure through the tunnels. While it only takes 17 minutes to Ebbsfleet you dont notice it as you spend about 10minutes in tunnels to get out of London. The interior was nice though, also had a cleaner on board, (not that it had any rubbish on it what so ever) but above the seats are a couple of digital displays which tell you if the seat is reserved or vacant which i thought was a nice touch.

Regards, Adam

[alexnick]

Does anyone know what will happen to the 395s after 2012?

AN

[bgstrowger]

Does anyone know what will happen to the 395s after 2012?

AN

They'll go back to operating the CTRL domestic services presumably.

[JSReeves86]

Lets get some info straight, 395s are Southeastern Highspeed units that will operate the Kent highspeed services along Hs1 and the classic lines. During the 2 weeks of the 2012 games they will be branded as the Javelin service (Southeastern don't like you calling them Javelins otherwise) presumably the 'Javelin' service will just be an Ebbsfleet - St Pancras shutlle simlar to the preview service shuttles but more regularly. After 2012 they will revert to the normal highspeed operation.

[alexnick]

Has nobody realised that the high-speed commuter service actually won't have a great demand? For most commuters, Cannon St., London Bridge, Blackfriars and Charing Cross are more useful for the major office areas in London. Time gained by 140mph running will be lost again on the buses or the tube - if you took the example of someone who commutes into the City.

AN

[bgstrowger]

Has nobody realised that the high-speed commuter service actually won't have a great demand? For most commuters, Cannon St., London Bridge, Blackfriars and Charing Cross are more useful for the major office areas in London. Time gained by 140mph running will be lost again on the buses or the tube - if you took the example of someone who commutes into the City.

AN

This is the thing, however on the Chatham line, which has the least to gain from running the high-speed services, we're keeping our peak-hour Cannon St trains. Plus we have the added insult of having stops added to the Victoria services (which I use) just to ensure the St Pancras journey times are competitive.

Personally, what I'd do is stop running the services on the Chatham line beyond Rochester and make use of the cross platform interchanges afforded there. Then, put a little investment in, electrify the Ashford-Hastings line and use the spare 395 capacity to run services there.

[JSReeves86]

Has nobody realised that the high-speed commuter service actually won't have a great demand? For most commuters, Cannon St., London Bridge, Blackfriars and Charing Cross are more useful for the major office areas in London. Time gained by 140mph running will be lost again on the buses or the tube - if you took the example of someone who commutes into the City.

AN

I can certainly see where you are coming from with that comments, however on the Ashford and Ebbsfleet route (the true highspeed) the time saving does count. For example I work near Liverpool Street and when I was living at home near Ashford I had to catch the 06:50 train from AFK - CHX which would get me into the office for 08:45. However last Friday when I used SE highspeed I caught the 07:48 (so nealry 1 hour later) and got into the office around 08:40 so 5 mins ealirr than I would have done via CHX. Ok granted that example depends greatly on which area of London you work, but you have to remember STP Is one of the best connected mainline stations in London.

The savings from Medway/North Kent/Isle of Thanet I cannot comment on but would feel would be less benefical.

[bgstrowger]

Does anyone know what the deal is with the fare supplement? For example, would I have to pay if I went from Faversham to Chatham despite that section not being on the CTRL?

[arabiandisco]

From what I overheard, the tickets which are affected are London via HS1 (or similarly named) tickets. So Chatham - Faversham ought not to be affected (though SET have RPI +3% increases to regulated fares, rather than the RPI +1% that the rest of the country gets, this being because of the high speed services, so you'd pay more regardless).

I guess Ashford - Ebbesfleet will also be more expensive than Ashford - Northfleet.

I'd be interested to know how Chatham - Ebbesfleet compares to Chatham - Northfleet though!

[bgstrowger]

I hold an annual season, so does anyone know if the 1/3 off I get is applicable to the supplement? I thought I read somewhere that it was.