Exactly. And TPE could then be the Intercity part of Northern. TPE currently run some odd services that like Manchester to Huddersfield, serving all stops inbetween, often all stops between Huddersfield and Leeds too, not exactly express. And in all other parts of Transpennine Express, Northern services serve the same stations to the Scottish border!
I think the Tyne valley line will be electrified at some point in the future. If you lived in Cumbria yourself you would understand that we don’t have that many direct routes to places and what services we do have are quite poor.
At some point, maybe. At some point soon, given how long Swansea and Sheffield have gone without, I would doubt.
Again, stock doesn't move around with operators. It moves when lease agreements end or when replacements arrive. If TPE took over the Tyne Valley route they could redeploy 185s there but that wouldn't happen until there was something to take over the routes they currently operate. They'd also need to train the crews on them, and possibly rewrite the timetables to account for not being able to use SP or MU speeds. In the short term it would just be the same 156s and 158s with a different name on the side.
That is completely untrue. For its size and significance Carlisle has a very good rail service. You want services from Carlisle to everywhere in the country but that is both unrealistic and totally unnecessary.
At what point have I said I would like a service to everywhere. That is untrue.
Also direct to Birmingham, so one change gets the entire XC network - though that may not be the logical change for much of it!
Carlisle (pop. under 80,000) has direct trains to London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, Barrow, Glasgow and Edinburgh. As pointed out already, many, many other places across GB are no more than a single change away.
I would say no, it was a glorified 'jolly'!
Depending on if you count the ~4tpd through Barrow as a good enough direct service for Grange-over-Sands and the other Furness line stations east of Barrow-in-Furness, although I think changing at Lancaster or Preston's quicker anyway.
I don't think Barrow to Carnforth has a particularly helpful Carlisle service, but regular trains to Manchester Airport probably make up for that.
I think this is probably a topic for a whole separate Speculative thread!
I agree with this. Although they can be wedged when there’s disruption on either mainline.
I don’t think many folk on the Furness line will be visiting Carlisle with any degree of frequency. Barrow and Lancaster are the more important settlements. I suspect many Furness line users visit Manchester or London more than Carlisle.
More likely it will be subsumed into a revived Intercity.
Do you think intercity will be a thing again or the operators will keep there names?
Although the government still hasn’t published their plans, what they have said is that GBR will be structured as regions aligned with how Network Rail is. The existing operator names will almost certainly go as they’ll want to promote that it’s one big railway not the bad old franchises. Some sort of branding to differentiate express/intercity services from more commuter focused ones seems likely, especially if they want to charge different fares.
I've long thought that the Manchester Airport - Scotland routes would fit really well under Avanti with the 80x stock. Either 5/6/7 car 807s, or more 805s (which gives scope for diversions as required but also happily runs on electric all day too if needed). This would then put the whole WCML under a single operator and some quite decent savings could be made, as well as uplifts to passenger experience with tickets and so on.
Even if the MIA routes were transferred to the West Coast operator, why would it necessitate the replacement of the Class 397s?
I'm no 80x fan, but it massively simplifies things rather than having the micro fleet. The less types of train an operator has, the easier it makes staffing, quicker to training new staff, quicker and cheaper maintenance (economies of scale). etc etc.
They will after the platform extensions at the airport.
You make a good point. A number of local railways are reliable because they are self contained. Running through services from large settlements invariably means running through busy junctions and would likely import delays.
