I’ve also noticed trains coming in from North Pole still full of rubbish - so on a short turnaround you then also have the cleaning crew to contend with.
Fridays 1550 to Great Malvern came in late and was dirty plus the reservations (and carriage numbers) didn’t come on until after we’d left Paddington - so lots of confused people.
Why oh why can’t the empty stock be cleaned before leaving Paddington, or even when stabled for part of the day??? It makes everyone’s life miserable, especially the cleaning crew who have to battle through boarding passengers
It does appear that Hitachi are still struggling to operate that depot effectively. The previous scheduled transfer into Paddington last Friday - 5H35, to form 1H35, 1545 to WSM - was cancelled "due to a problem at the depot (
MU▸ )". (Code MU is no more specific than "Depot operating problem".)
I fear that the modern way of designing depots (and many other things too) is all about "efficiency", and has forgotten the value of flexibility. These do not go together, quite the opposite - they usually trade off against each other. And safety and staff welfare concerns have complicated this area of design. It's all very well to put in cleaners' access to just enough sidings to work if every train comes and goes exactly as planned (and every cleaner, too) - but the world ain't like that (
GWR▸ 's bit of it especially so). I imagine that moving trains between sidings is dictated by gong into and out of the maintenance sheds, and doing it for cleaning alone is at times impossible. Big Chinese puzzle!
In January 2018 Hitachi applied to build some extra facilities for train cleaners and cleaning (to the Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation, replacing the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham as local planning authority). I don't think this was partly for the class 802 fleet, since trains for the West of England service were already stabled at North Pole. The class 800/1 fleet has expanded a little since originally planned, but I suspect the main issue is that the original design assumptions were just to idealised.
The issue is that trains can only now be cleaned at sidings where there is an access platform, and the stuff involved can be carted back and forth between those siding and storage and disposal buildings. The application is for this:
Ensuring that the trains are cleaned and maintained to a high standard is vitally important to the applicant. A number of additional requirements have been identified for the site in order to enable safe and efficient cleaning of trains.
Consent is being sought for the following:
Train Cleaning Storage Facilities
New facilities are required for the storage of train cleaning materials, equipment, consumables and chemicals.
- Cleaner’s welfare facilities:
- Two-storey cleaner’s building to be installed at the westend of the site to accommodate approx. 60 staff comprising; office space, mess room, shower/toilet facilities for the cleaners. Size: 6.2m W x 21.2m L x 6.5m H
- Cleaning Storage Units:
- Storage Unit A: Heavy cleaning unit used to store cleaning equipment required to clean trains and provide floor space to put together the required cleaner’s kit. Size: 3.3m W x 9.8m L x 3.2m H
- Storage Unit B: Daily cleaning unit used to store a variety of cleaning equipment to clean the trains. Size: 3.3m W x 17.2m L x 3.2m H, made up of two (3.3 W x 8.6m L x 3.2m H) units.
- All buildings to be of modular construction and founded on concrete foundation
Ancillary Works
A number of minor, ancillary works are required in connection with the principal components of the development described above and would comprise:
- Additional Walkways - in order to facilitate 360° access to trains in all stabling positions and facilitate safe ingress and egress to the trains for cleaning operatives:
- All walkways to be concrete construction, crossing platforms to be polyurethane pre-fabricated units to match existing.
- Lighting - New walkways and lighting shall be designed and installed to replicate existing, comprising:
- LED bollards and lighting in the walkways to match existing
- 1no. new feeder pillar to accommodate for the extra loads incurred by the additional lighting requirements
- Waste management facilities:
- no. Concrete waste bin storage area (1.0m x 5,0m), 1no. Static waste compactor unit (4.2m x 9.1m) and skip storage area for 2no (1.8m x 4.3m x 2.0m)
The application was approved in March 2018, but by June 2019 (the newest satellite picture i can see) little had been done, other than the removal of two sheds from where the building is to go. Only two tracks have visible access platforms at that date.
