What would a dream future cross-country train be like?

Transilien said:

It’s strange that cross country haven’t put them on their voyagers or turbostars. (I haven’t been on a refurbished one yet, but it’s still strange that XC have omitted them until recently)

Click to expand...

Julie has been busy. She has been heard on the 170s

In my opinion one of the bi-mode Siemens Vectrons with their identical railjet coaches.

milooo said:

In my opinion one of the bi-mode Siemens Vectrons with their identical railjet coaches.

Click to expand...

I would love that but- not in a million years in this country!

tbtc said:

However, keeping the existing muddle of services and paying to ensure that a "go anywhere" fleet of identical trains would have both Third Rail and 125mph capabilities sounds like a very expensive bit of gold plating, designed to make them sound prohibitively expensive. Keep It Simple, Stupid.

Click to expand...

It's a bit of a stretch to describe it as a "muddle" of services when it's literally 4 routes

A 125mph unit with third rail capabilities is just a Javelin, which given they are a precursor to the 80x units doesn't seem too much of a technological stretch. But I suspect rather than fitting a unit with shoes for 3rd rail capabilities, they would just use a combination of battery & diesel beyond Basingstoke if nothing else to avoid drawing from the power supply on the South Western.

43074 said:

It's a bit of a stretch to describe it as a "muddle" of services when it's literally 4 routes

Click to expand...

There are 7 routes radiating from Birmingham. Stansted, Nottingham and Cardiff are all in the mix.

Harpo said:

There are 7 routes radiating from Birmingham. Stansted, Nottingham and Cardiff are all in the mix.

Click to expand...

Yes, but tbtc was clearly referring to the North East - South West and Manchester - South Coast corridors, i.e. the Voyager routes

The 170 routes would struggle to justify a 125mph unit in the first instance because of the frequent stops

I would add a third NE service - sounds as if the Leeds-Wakefield-Sheffield fast is a candidate to extend to at least Birmingham. That would help a lot. I would have it call Tamworth/Burton/Derby/Chesterfield and try to mop up some of the more regional service - and maybe chop a few longer distance calls instead to speed those up.

NW is well served as the Liverpools do some of this.

SE - Reading/Oxford to Birmingham is probably the gap to address. And reinstating back to Southampton where possible would also help.

SW - there was a plan to extend the Bristol terminator to Exeter, I think that would be very useful once new stock is here - and longer. And Midlands Connect again might add a frequency or two along the route via Cheltenham.

E - second tph to at least Peterborough would be extremely well received

43074 said:

The 170 routes would struggle to justify a 125mph unit in the first instance because of the frequent stops

Click to expand...

There’s not much 125 running on XC at all away from the ECML and Cardiff to Birmingham (at least) needs serious improvement in every respect.

As long as we're dreaming, I would go 9/10 car 140mph articulated tilting quad mode trains with a full kitchen and restaurant service on every service.

3 travel classes a la Trenitalia Frecciarossa with 1+1, 2+1 and 2+2 reclining seating (with *proper* padding), reintroduce as many of the withdrawn service patterns as possible and add even more!

Bi-mode 24m long carriages (25Kv/diesel), with level platform access at least one carriage per unit, units either 9 or 5 carriages long.
Well padded, reclinable, ergonomic seats aligned with windows, choice with or without tables.
Plenty of room for luggage and bikes.
Decent catering facilities - at-seat service and restaurant options

My dream Cross Country train

Anything that is not a Hitachi IET

JCO1406 said:

My dream Cross Country train

Anything that is not a Hitachi IET

Click to expand...

How about a Pacer then‽

As that meets the requirements.

The Ham said:

How about a Pacer then‽

As that meets the requirements.

Click to expand...

As do voyagers and turbostars

The Ham said:

How about a Pacer then‽

As that meets the requirements.

Click to expand...

Sounds good to me

milooo said:

In my opinion one of the bi-mode Siemens Vectrons with their identical railjet coaches.

Click to expand...

Was going to basically say the same thing, a UK Vectron with a rake of eight or nine new coaching stock (inc. a driving car)

Once electrified, swap out bi-mode loco for electric and use the bi-modes for freight.

Crithylum said:

I don’t understand why everyone here is so obsessed with obsolete loco hauled trains. My preference would be a level boarding battery bi-mode 730. (Obviously not a 730 but something with similar layout and interior). Maybe a bit more luggage storage. The 1/4 3/4 door arrangement would massively speed up dwell times.

If we have magic money tree, I would go for all 10 car trains, with 10 rows in the middle section, and 5 rows in each end section. Without infinite money, I would do a uniform 8 car layout, with 6+11+6 (3 more rows per carriage), minus luggage racks. Likely around ~600 seats per train (slightly more with 10 car), triple a current 4 car.

Click to expand...

I know what you mean about loco-hauled... it's a "traditional" set-up so it ticks the enthusiast box, but even modern iterations of loco-hauled stock is not that different to an MU. During the brief stint of mk5a sets on TPE I always thought the sets looked better (more like "proper" trains) when working with one of the two DRS liveried locos.

I think people get hung up on door positions too- I'm more bothered about getting a seat and that seat being comfortable, than I am about where the doors are.

For XC (and other pseudo-Intercity services such as TPE or Liverpool to Norwich) I'd say that a minimum of 5 carriages worth of useable space is the priority. If I'm on a long journey I do like a proper buffet counter, if only because it means an excuse to stretch my legs... but there's a lot to be said for being able to order food and drink on your phone and have it brought to you rather than fighting your way through the standees! What annoys me about trolleys is the way that on some operators it feels like the trolley stewards are trying to break the land-speed record as they race down the aisle, rather than giving passengers a chance to ask for things. TPE are particularly bad for that, surely it is in the interest of the stewards to actually give passengers a chance to use their service?