‘755’ near miss
A Class 755 was 0.25 seconds from hitting a car on a level crossing after barriers raised as the train approached.
A joint operation between Southeastern and British Transport Police to tackle fare evasion over 28 days in late autumn and early winter has resulted in almost
2,000 criminal prosecutions being brought forward and more than 6,500 penalty fares issued.
The operation took place at Chatham, Gillingham, Rochester, Strood, Sittingbourne, Rainham and Gravesend stations, with more than 1,500 penalty fares issued at Chatham and 1,640 at Gillingham.
At the latter, 538 criminal prosecutions were sought.
Some staff were subjected to violent and intimidatory behaviour, and use of body-worn video cameras with swift intervention from the BTP is said to have helped.
Southeastern general manager for revenue, crime and enforcement Siobhan Bradshaw said: “Nobody wants to witness violence or intimidatory behaviour when travelling by train, and no one deserves to be treated that way at work. We’re pulling out all the stops to make sure that no one gets away with hurting our colleagues, who are there to look after and assist our passengers, and ensure that everyone pays their fare.
“There is no excuse whatsoever for criminal behaviour, which includes not paying for a ticket for your journey. Evading the train fare is unfair on everyone - not least honest passengers who don’t expect to see their train fare subsidising people who don’t pay.”
Bradshaw added: “This was an important operation that also resulted in some really good news stories for the local community - thanks to the eagle eyes of our teams.
“A missing 15-year-old was spotted at Gillingham and taken into police care, while at Chatham a vulnerable dementia sufferer was seen without his carer and was accompanied to his destination to ensure his safety.”
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the same route on the same day.
A Stadler spokesman told RAIL on December 10: “With support from Stadler and Greater Anglia, Network Rail is leading an in-depth investigation to determine the causes of a number of track circuit operation incidents. We are working closely with our partners to investigate these signalling faults. Short-term measures have already been implemented and further mid-term measures are currently being evaluated by a joint task force.
“The new trains have been subject to industry standard safety checks and authorisation before they were permitted to enter passenger service. They are inspected as part of planned routine exams to ensure that the required safety standards are maintained.”
A Stadler source said the problems were unlikely to be linked to the unit’s flange lubricators.
The problems are not affecting the remaining members of GA’s ‘legacy’ fleet (nine Class 156s and one Class 170), although it is understood that a ‘156’ did suffer a slide which is being investigated.
More four-car ‘755s’ have been introduced after five Class 153s and 11 Class 170s moved to Transport for Wales. The ‘156s’ are due to move to East Midlands Railway this year, although that will be a staged release. GA has 18 four-car and one three-car ‘755s’ accepted for passenger traffic, so the rural fleet should have a net gain in terms of trains.
Buses are being laid on in place of cancelled trains. At various times, services were completely suspended on the IpswichPeterborough and IpswichFelixstowe route, while a reduced service was introduced on other routes. Norwich-Sheringham services terminated at Cromer, while the Norwich-Cambridge trains terminated at Ely.
GA’s plan to accept more threecar ‘755/3s’ has been delayed by the problems. Trial running and commissioning trips, carried out by Rail Operations Group as well as by the operator, have also been cancelled while investigations continue.
It also puts into doubt the introduction of the 12-car Class 745 Stadler electric multiple units, which are very similar to the BMUs.