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Yes, an issue that hasn't been getting so much attention is the availability of the Connect fleet. The forum is probably not that far from needing to start a "stopgap" thread for the 360s! It seems very rare that they are able to get the required 12 units out of bed in the morning (out of 20 -...

There are some with even longer memories who will remember the issues caused by class 86 bogies causing track damage. And that was when BR was effectively a single infrastructure, operating company and engineer! Agree with this. I think a significant weakness of the original NR traction...

Yes, coming from the team that's brought you such three increasingly epic threads of woe - the 246 page Class 810 thread, the 31-page "EMR Class 222’s - declining reliability" and the still new "EMR to introduce reduced Inter City service from Monday 20th July" (only 4 pages so far), it will not...

It's a pretty dismal rate of progress. Forgetting about the periodic (re)announcements of commitments since the original EMR franchise award, the first unit went off to Northampton nearly a year ago. So far, Siemens have managed 2 units of which only 1 is being put into service (and it was taken...

If GWR wanted to show how bad things could get then based on the current situation they'd surely have requested an EMR 222. Doing things years later than they should have is very much in the railway's DNA, unfortunately. Hoping I'll live long enough to see a newly-commissioned Class 810 being...

Three simple words: East Midlands Railway

It's a compliment to the many very well informed, thoughtful people on here (including @Railperf) that many of these ideas have been floating around on here significantly before the podcast was recorded. Pretty sure there have been cases where journalists have scrolled through here and things...

"How many yet to be taken to bits and rebuilt?" is perhaps the more pertinent question at this stage.

At the media launch in June, EMR were indicating the refurbished trains would start to enter service in July. Today is the penultimate day of July, so - and forgive my cynicism, which I'm sure is wholly unjustified ;-) - perhaps the basic idea is to get a couple of trips in today and tomorrow...

Yes and any kind of civils work would completely undo any economic (and probably carbon) benefits for such as small array. You just want to be able to turn up, nail the panel to a sufficiently robust structure, connect the wires and go. There is some history (mostly 2010-2015ish in my...

Yes, if you're trying to power a device from just a solar (and battery) solution across a whole year then you will need to think about the energy budget through a "reasonable worst case" scenario with 2-3 weeks in December that is consistently overcast and you get next to no output. That takes...

I think it is 18 with 19 necessary to run more or less the entire service at 5 cars only (maybe excluding the Lincoln and Melton trains). Today 4 are Cl810 which is a small but noticeable decline from earlier weeks when it was more like 6 (out of 10 Cl810 that seem to have been in regular...

The flannel tells me something though. The media release goes well beyond what's necessary for a departing senior leader. To me, that says he's well thought of and quite possibly had a hand in writing it. So it doesn't look like "fired" as in suddenly "escorted off the premises" - in those...

Not usually one to leap to the defence of DfT, but surely it was EMR that ran the procurement. There may have been DfT representation during bid assessment, but the technical due diligence that satisfied EMR that the Hitachi proposal would work was surely carried out by EMR and/or consultancies...

Not sure how long this has been a feature of the 222 fleet but you know things aren't great when the fault is so common and unrepaired that it's with getting some special stickers printed up: [Photo of a sticker on the vestibule door of an EMR class 222. It says "Button out of order, please...

Agree with all this. Presumably EMR would need DfT approval which suggests that DfT are not yet motivated enough. Ie if it had been explored then. EMR could say (in PR speak) "we approached Alstom for them to work on our 222/provide us 221s but they don't have capacity/tried to rinse us". The...

Luton Airport Parkway is worth considering from the M1

Certainly the timing of this union announcement, so soon after the other announcements seems quite interesting. On standards/regulations comments upthread: I'm not familiar with rail standards but having managed standards assurance/compliance work in other sectors, compliance with standards and...

I think there is usually space in the South Car Park all the time. It should be quieter than normal anyway as it's peak summer holiday season. However hopefully others that use the station daily will weigh in with a more informed view

Not the biggest fan of Neil O'Brien MP but he's really got the bit between his teeth on this at the moment. He wrote to DfT recently and got a reply from Hendy dated 13/07 which is visible on his Facebook page. There's the usual blather bit a couple of points I picked up on Hendy says (my...