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Recent content by Pumbaa

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    First Rail Stirling (Lumo) Rolling Stock

    It’s the same setup as the Guards panels on 222s. Combined close and interlock button. When dispatching you wait for it to light up before giving the bells.
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    Class 730 LNR & WMR Delivery/test Updates

    No new train since 2014 (?) has been delivered with above solebar CET and tanking ability following a change in the relevant standards. Not a spec oversight issue.
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    St Pancras - Leeds?

    An outline business case was prepared in late 2020 in conjunction with some early ECML ESG work and further work to optimise the MML timetable as it was becoming clear how travel was changing. It would have required a small follow-on order of 3x 810s (minimum Hitachi would entertain, 2 for...
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    On what routes, if any does on train catering make a profit?

    Don’t know about post 2017, but at the end of the SWT franchise the catering operation required a net subsidy of around £4m pa. Sales covered around 40-50% of the total cost, and were decreasing year on year. As someone else pointed out above, in the scheme of a £850m railway to operate, a £4m...
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    Willenhall & Darlaston: which services should call at these new stations?

    The market for these stations to Walsall is virtually non-existent. As much as local politics is loud, the reality is very few journeys paying not a lot is a very expensive and very limited social benefit. The destination of trains north of the stations is largely irrelevant, but providing...
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    Project Oval: TfL win DfT contract to expand contactless system to 233 rail stations by May 2024, Railcards coming to contactless payment cards

    TOCs are fully aware. Oval is a political project - there are a number of factors that TOCs don’t like, and a number of solutions and alternatives proposed by TOCs that politicians don’t like. It is an uneasy compromise. There is a well known split anomaly on a route described above. The...
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    Class 730 LNR & WMR Delivery/test Updates

    Both are right. ASDO can be by door. For Penkridge it is, so 3 full carriages and the first set of doors on the fourth open.
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    Luton Airport Express at Bletchley this afternoon

    Good point, and I’m not sure. All I know is the version used by the Siemens stock is not able to meet the required spec.
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    Luton Airport Express at Bletchley this afternoon

    Pantograph is incompatible with the restricted height in StP box. Until someone can invent a 110mph pantograph that can fit into the required space, there is no electric route.
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    Class 730 LNR & WMR Delivery/test Updates

    Pretty much. There’ll be the odd 730 or 350 on a non 730 or 350 “route” as required for either stock moves or provision of passenger demand. Intent was to get as many of the longer distance routes out of Euston at full length 240m long, particularly weekends. Not sure yet how close that’ll be...
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    Class 730 LNR & WMR Delivery/test Updates

    As detailed in another thread, the rollout is really very tricky so necessitates a few trips that weren’t originally planned to fit round the stabling restrictions and keep the fleet cycling while managing the cascade out of 350/2. Long term when all the stabling is available and the fleet...
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    British Airways

    Bad example - ML is Heathrow based, so will just be rotating in and out as needs require. There are 12x 777 permanently based at Gatwick, with up to 3x Heathrow based frames supplementing at any one time. Gatwick examples retain the original CW seats, Heathrow are fully refurbed into new CS...
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    350104 new livery

    It’s in standard colours.
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    Progress on Avanti West Coast's 805/807s Hitachi AT300 sets

    Can you recall which of the xx21/xx16 stoppers are not booked 80x?
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    Chiltern MK5s Starting 2026 (non speculative updates thread)

    Not sure what all the concern about capacity is about. Chiltern appear to be withdrawing 25 - not particularly intensively used - passenger carrying vehicles and replacing them with 65. (Admittedly I thought they had more currently). Evidently some moving parts we don’t know, but combined with...

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