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Moderator note - split from: https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/class-175-to-gwr.272524/ I would struggle to disagree more; the clue is in the name, regional express. Fewer station calls mean dwells make up a smaller percentage of the overall journey time, and passengers will not be just...

I've started this topic largely in response to the following post by @Belperpete, to avoid taking the class 197 thread too far off-topic. For starters, there was (in my opinion at least) no pressing need to replace the class 175s and very little to be said against retaining the class 158s. Had...

A DMU with a restaurant car? There have certainly been buffet cars on plenty of EMUs, and possibly the kitchen/shop on class 22x DEMUs counts, but I'm not sure about DMUs. The 197s do have the catering cupboard so it's kinda one step on the way to a buffet already, but the only place I want to...

In mainland Europe, I understand there is the concept of 'rolling motorways' where lorries are carried on trains (much like the Le Shuttle service through the Channel Tunnel). Here in Britian, we generally assume that we cannot do this due to our constrained loading guage. Obviously, large HGVs...

I understand that Pembrokeshire County Council acquired the assets of Edwards Bros (Tiers Cross) at some time over the past year. However, during a recent Zoom meeting one of the other participants said that she believed that the council had taken over at least two bus operators. My efforts with...

mods note - split from here. Merseyrail does however illustrate one of the issues with having batteries for traction (rather than just for 'hotel power' which is almost certainly worth having) - once the train is capable of moving itself without wires/3rd-rail it opens the door to...

Moderator note: Split from https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/caf-civity-for-tfw-news-and-updates-on-introduction.182501/ Quite a few changes to the plan there (see my bold) beyond the ones we already knew about with 197s instead of 170 now intended for Pembrokeshire. What is going to happen...

I was in agreement until the first comma of your third paragraph. However, construction of class 197s absolutely should not ever be considered for anything, except perhaps as what Northern's class 195s should have been. On routes like Cardiff-Portsmouth, they would be little better than the...

It is often noted in these forums that class XXX is not suitable for cascade to route YYYY to ZZZZ because class XXX would not be permitted to run at the full permissable speed to the route due to the full speed being an SP (Sprinter, although Turbostars are permitted to use them) differential...

We're getting told off on the main class 197 topic so I've created this one for speculative stuff like alternatives. In Ireland, the InterCity Railcars are getting new intermediate vehicles built after eight years, and the bi-modes that I propose should have been built instead of 197s could...

From the topic how far on a tank of fuel I have a report that a 2 car 156 will do 3mpg per set, or roughly 6mpg per vehicle. Now, I have some figures for a bunch of Northern DMUs: Class 195: 0.81 litres per mile Class 170: 0.97 litres per mile Class 158: 0.72 litres per mile Class 156: 0.68...

Only semi-speculative this one... (The short version, to save you reading this long post if you don't want the detail, is that the fixed TfW paths to Manchester and Birmingham don't seem to permit what TfW seem to have proposed). We know that TfW proposed introducing a service every two hours...

Does the Traction Decarbonisation Network Strategy (TDNS) published by Network Rail say how many battery and hydrogen trains will be needed if and when the recommended electrification programme is completed? I had a very quick look and don't think it does, but maybe I missed it. Given the...

I'm aware that distributed traction means not all motor coaches on AC EMUs have a pantograph, and even when there are two pantographs there may only be one transformer on the unit. Thus there must be inter-car connections to distribute the power from the pantograph(s) between all the motors. A...

At the end of Feb I'm planning to head from Cardiff to York going on TfW via Lydney to Cheltenham then the XC125 through to York. However, I've not yet decided how I'll come back (which will be on the 2nd of March). One option is fairly simple, XC IC125 to Bristol Parkway and then GWR through...

The rail industry decarbonisation taskforce have recommended additional electrification (roughly 4,250 route kilometres) to support the nation's net-zero carbon target. However, I have not been able to find any details of which routes they would be targeting. Does anyone have more information on...

I am aware that a class 90 with a mark 3 and DVT (plus two class 67s in most cases) has been in use testing the new OHLE between Bristol Parkway and south Wales. Could anyone let me know whether this is still running and if so when I might be able to see it on Saturday (14th December)? Or...

Train operators publish some performance data, such as this example from Transport for Wales Rail Services (TfW). Among other things, TfW shows the percentage of delay minutes attributable to TfW, Network Rail, and other train operators (TOCs). However, both TOC and Network Rail delays can...

Most trains seem to have at least a few seats where your view is at least partly blocked by a window pillar. So, I have wondered whether it is possible to ensure that every seat has a good view (unless it's night time or the train is in a dark tunnel of course). Also, if having every seat...

In a topic on future uses for the IC225 fleet, it was suggested that class 67s with mark 4 stock could have been an alternative to new DMUs for Manchester-Swansea serivces. I argued that, if this were to happen, fewer new DMUs should be ordered. However, 'hexagon789' was in favour of ordering...