That is going to take time. You really need to have more frontline staff, and to make that happen ability to cover work. Even on networks where there is no 'multiple operator' running, the railway can't sensibly recover from disruption at present - for example, even though the lines into London Victoria reopened early evening last night, whole service groups did not resume until this morning.
There's a big asterisk there and that's that they're only intended to go 45 miles off-wire between charges to not strain the batteries. A return journey on a line of 45 miles is evidently considered too long for a BEMU to make on its own without charging at the end.
In terms of what end, it would providing the maximum amount of flexibility available within a depot. As it stands now if there is a CrossCountry driver at Manchester who calls in sick and there's no spare, nothing can be done. But CrossCountry and Avanti drivers at Manchester both have common route knowledge over Manchester to Birmingham, so while an Avanti driver couldn't simply step in, under GBR with these merged depots you could have an intercity driver who normally works London diagrams step in to take it to Reading, or at least as far as Birmingham where another spare can be called in.
Well that's good then I suppose, putting pressure on Labour to transition away from ROSCOs means a more efficient railway in the long-term. But truthfully I still wouldn't consider it a vote-winner in the grand scheme of things. A sensible policy, just not a headline one.
It certainly would make cascading fleets easier I'm sure. Your analogy of buying a car is interesting because the original idea of ROSCOs was that private operators could make them compete to offer the best available trains like a company leasing cars. The obviously glaring problem here is that trains aren't cars, and if for example you are in a situation where you wanted to run 125mph over the WCML, you needed a tilting train, which meant you need a Pendolino, of which there was only. So in that sense Angel Trains ceased to be a train rental company and more of a rolling stock landlord.
Maybe they are trying to build something free of a personality, as it's bigger than any one person. He must be near retirement. The guide is Treasury.
If that was requested now, or before Covid, what would happen? They'd see if the EMR pilot is signing on at one end and has a rest room at the other end of their section? Someone would be signing off on two drivers pay for movement of one train?
Have fun levelling all platforms at far flung stations (which has been discussed in other threads).Dft has confirmed all future rolling stock will have level boarding
Don’t mind the gap: level boarding commitment for new trains
Disabled passengers and families are set to benefit from unassisted level boarding as the standard on new Great British Railways (GBR) trains.www.gov.uk
Lots of wiggle room there - ‘Will aim to have’ … ‘all new trains wherever possible’ ….etc..Dft has confirmed all future rolling stock will have level boarding
Don’t mind the gap: level boarding commitment for new trains
Disabled passengers and families are set to benefit from unassisted level boarding as the standard on new Great British Railways (GBR) trains.
Pretty sensible decision in my opinion. Bombardier already proved it possible on the London Underground subsurface stock, Stadler have proven it possible on the main line railway, and Alstom are continuing that with the new TPE stock procurement. It might mean an end to a more traditional intercity unit with full end doors on each end of a saloon area (which I do like to be fair), a functional railway takes priority. Plus Stadler's SMILE/Giruno shows you can still make a nice express passenger unit with level boarding even if the doors are in the middle rather than the end.Dft has confirmed all future rolling stock will have level boarding
Don’t mind the gap: level boarding commitment for new trains
Disabled passengers and families are set to benefit from unassisted level boarding as the standard on new Great British Railways (GBR) trains.
The Bletchley EWR train crew depot is based on spare land at the side of the WMT maintenance depot
Leadership and control staff are the only areas of pure overlap. Anyone on access contracts wont be needed but there small beer.
In my opinion too.Dft has confirmed all future rolling stock will have level boarding.Pretty sensible decision in my opinion.Don’t mind the gap: level boarding commitment for new trains
Disabled passengers and families are set to benefit from unassisted level boarding as the standard on new Great British Railways (GBR) trains.
Even if the off-wire limit is 45 miles (I'm not convinced it is, but let's say it is for the sake of this discussion), taking my example, you'd cover all Calder Valley and East Lancs services by electrifying from Leeds to Bradford Interchange (which is already planned) and from Preston to Blackburn. A large proportion of the UK's non-electrified network can be covered similarly, with short extensions to the current OHL network.
Is it? I don't believe that's officially planned, or at least I can't find anything saying so.
The ES3 design is underway as we speak and is certainly a NR project, so I don't really know what you mean by it not being part of NR plans. Technically you are correct that it's not fully funded (although obviously the current stage is). However, as with every other project, it has to go through DfT business cases and funding doesn't get allocated until those are approved. So saying it's unfunded is pretty meaningless.
Aren't they getting a plug connection at the station rather than overhead wires?
Indeed, but as per my point upthread, you don't need much electrification to do this.
I’m not remotely doubting our fellow contributor but as the builders of the new TPE fleet haven’t yet determined the charging time (according to October’s Modern Railways), despite knowing the total capacity of the batteries, I will be interested in what is being delivered power wise by those OHLE charging sections.
755s are probably up among the best for Regional, with the related 231s and 756s at TfW. These could be a good template for GWR and Northern's fleet tenders.
755s would be ideal but no local content may see some pushback against them getting the contracts
For regional trains, arguably the Aventra might be the best example because of it's sheer versatility. It can be configured for urban rail like the 710, regional express like the 345, and interregional like the 720/730. There is even a bi-mode intercity option though that hasn't really been exercised yet. The FLIRTs are another good example for regional trains in terms of accessibility. I think both fleets combined could very much become the standard for Regional Express, Commuter and Metro units.
