Recent content by LunchSociety

As far as I am aware, though I am sure someone will correct me if necessary, due to the signalling situation on the Airport spur the 345s will now not run until ETCS is live on that section which will require 387s to replace the 332s and I believe GWR are awaiting 769s to free up (directly or...

Is there anything concrete to say they won't eventually get an orange front end? Obviously the lights need to be altered to some degree but is it not possible that TfL is in the process of designing that modification, getting it signed off by the relevant parties and obtaining parts and decided...

In the industry I work in we are now starting to see massively increased pressure from customers and other stakeholders regarding environmental issues. It will not be too long before this happens on the railways - in the next few years, it will become politically untenable to have large swathes...

The linked article from the Vivarail website confirms that a toilet will be fitted.

I would imagine that the new stock will almost certainly have 'ironing boards' or at least something very similar - seems to be the way of things for new stock.

I would assume that the Electrostars will remain and the Metro fleet will be replaced, probably with Aventras for some commonality with the rest of the fleet. That being said, it wouldn't be outside of the realms of possibility for a Hitachi product to be selected - there would be some...

I believe the other issue is a conflict between signalling systems - the idea was for the Elizabeth Line class 345s to use ETCS on Heathrow services which the 332s do not have and cannot be economically retrofitted. The class 387s, I believe, were built with passive provisioning for ETCS and I...

As I live on the Kent coast, I am unlikely to travel on these units much if at all but I am pleased to see how good they look. I think they will be a step-change in quality for the areas they will serve and its nice to see some new rolling stock for Northern rather than the usual cast-offs...

Personally, I agree with you though articles I've read suggest that not everyone agrees. I'd rather see High Speed extended along classic lines already served by 395s to further improve journey times though of course this would not be without its own set of problems! :lol:

I completely agree and think that the order size would be the problem factor even if Hitachi could find other customers for such a train. It would be very interesting to see how the finances would compare for a compatible bi-mode vs electrification of the necessary areas.

Assuming bi-modes are the route taken then I would imagine you're closer to the truth and since the maximum speed required on diesel would be a lot less than the 125mph on GWML and ECML then one would imagine the engines could/would be considerably smaller

The other example that comes immediately to mind is the Class 373 Eurostar sets though of course they are certainly no longer new by any stretch of the imagination.

The only seats that don't have armrests between them are, I believe, the ones next to the door pockets for somewhat obvious reasons.

As these are the units I use most often, on both the HS1 and the 3rd rail network, I agree wholeheartedly with this. They are superb units.

Have we heard any suggestions as to why this might be the case? One assumes that this is not a planned "test" but we seem to hear quite often about IEP sets running with at least one engine out. Have these particular MTU engines been used in any other rolling stock?