Recent content by InTheEastMids

Well spotted! My trusting soul would never think that they are playing both ends. Beat up current EMR to manage down expectations and then claim credit as and when things improve

I cordially disagree. The problem for Govt of it happening now is that Govt cannot claim to have been unaware (1) that the 810s were very late; (2) that EMR was having problems delivering its IC service as far back as Summer 2025 and (3) knew that the service was crumbling in Summer 2026. So...

100% agree with this. It's certainly something that the acting MD of EMR has mentioned as an option in public media. It becomes the only option assuming that yesterday's announcements confirm that the ex-Avanti 221s will go direct to XC, and the 4 off-lease 180s, or what's left of them, are to...

We've had so many policy and pipeline announcements that just get quietly erased (e.g. Electric Spine) Then we've had situations like MMLE, which has been on and off more than my accursed work laptop. The most recent cancellation happened so late that compounds were being stood up, piling...

I think this a very simplistic take on what is clearly a complex investigation. My layperson's reading of the interim report suggests RSSB think a combination of a fault with the AWS magnet on the track, and the train crew's response to an unexpected AWS alarm might be the issue why it came to a...

Well, I've been out and about on EMR a bit this week. I didn't manage a single Cl810 trip, but did have 4 journeys on Cl222, and saw a couple of other Cl222 leaving Leicester. The majority of them seemed only to have 4 engines contributing to traction (i.e. higher revs during acceleration)...

Roger Ford's long-ish read on the Cl810 in August does state that EMR probably still has the nuclear option of rejecting the entire fleet. Retaining that option may be part of the reason why EMR are not accepting new Cl810 until the existing ones have improved. However the small problem with...

I don't agree, at least on today's evidence. This failure's causing 1 and a half cancellations, with the 2nd impacted train (1202 STP-Shef) being picked up by a replacement unit at Derby. This wouldn't have happened in June/July. There'd have been no spare, and all the services it was due to run...

Most of us are still waiting as we're quite a long way into a programme that has so far delivered a homeopathic quantity of refurbished trains. Is it 2, or 3 now? Hard to tell and the ones known to be complete don't seem to be worked very hard. It's 2 1/2 years since the refurb contract was...

Lord Hendy has got around to replying to a July letter from the MP for Harborough & Wigston, Neil O'Brien regarding EMR's performance. Three pages of ministerial blather that didn't seem to add to what is already known. However, feel free to read it yourself by following the link to Facebook...

Is anybody here able to give a progress update on the 360s?

True, but the risk of a corporate manslaughter prosecution relates to whether they have taken reasonable steps to secure the site (consistent with the risk of trespass and the potential hazards on site). Hence the case a few years ago at Bescot depot where DB Cargo where children broke in, one...

The new Rolling Stock & Infrastructure strategy paper alludes to this issue by talking about the benefits of flexibility and standardisation. If this had been the thinking back in 2017, then it is saying that another option (such as remodelling St Pancras) would/is much more likely to have been...

The technical explanation is that it's not an 80x because of the amount that was changed to get 4 generators into 5 shorter carriages. The doors open the other way. They have different traction motors, different cabs and are made of different metal. I haven't seen anything authoritative on...

I had a brief scan of one.network and there's a couple of other HS2 traffic management order applications along the Ph2 route. One is further south than this around Pipe Ridware. A brief Google search found an HS2 document talking about diversion of the gas transmission network at this...