You cannot expect 26 out of 26 trains in service everyday. 6 for Barny and Okey, yes, but the 175s will do a swap during the day so in essence you need more to run the service (well not really but trying to explain diagraming to some people is easier said than done). Even people such as
@RPI have been through this and explained exactly what i have said above. I know for a fact certain people on here are much more clued up on what is going on than others realise
Ive been through the cascade plan many times on here before, that plan may change slightly but as far as im aware, there is no long term plan to keep the 175s on the newquay branch when it links up with Falmouth.
The following was the cascade plan:
175s replace HSTs (binned off)
175s replace 150s on Okey which are released for mid cornwall metro
175s replace 158s on Barnys which are released for Pompey Cardiffs
175s replace 80x on Exeter Penzance which are released for mainline (Bristol Oxford)
158s replace 16x on Pompeys which are then released for Metro West Enhancements
Also to note there may also be a further 16x cascade plan.........
In theory, once all 175s are *reliably* in service, the Pompeys could really go to 8x4car 158 diagrams. That would involve splitting up the 3 car sets into 2 car sets again (bar 798). Whether that is what happens or not who knows, but then you would be guaranteed a 158 set on Pompeys, with turbos only taking over if needed.
175 wise tho, we need to get all the diagrams currently being run to be reliable. If they are not then what is the point in pushing forward? The more we overuse the limited pool we have, the more risk there is to cancellations and disruption for passengers. Everyone on here goes on about Barnstaple needing 5 coaches for the morning peak - yes, yes it does. But the bigger question is do we risk putting a 5 car on and potentially disrupting the line massively if something failed (in the short term) or do we soldier on through with what we have until such a time when we can reliably put new traction onto the route.
Lots more to think about than people realise!