11 or 9-car 390?

[387star]

How do I find out whether a virgin service will be a 9 or 11-car pendolino?

Presume the 11-cars do run to glasgow

Weird only slightly over half the fleet have been extended

Haven't had the pleasure of being in a brand new set do they still smell new?

 

[Harbon 1]

It normally says on the platform departure screen 'Virgin 11-car Pendolino' or something like that

 

[Qwerty133]

Haven't had the pleasure of being in a brand new set do they still smell new?

didn't last August

 

[dk1]

Although planned diagrams, Virgin are very good at short notice alterations & step-ups at Euston to maintain a reliable service.

 

[jopsuk]

are there any services that can't be run using the 11 car ones, that have to be 9 car?

 

[transmanche]

Although planned diagrams, Virgin are very good at short notice alterations & step-ups at Euston to maintain a reliable service.

are there any services that can't be run using the 11 car ones, that have to be 9 car?

I too wonder why they didn't go for a uniform fleet. (I understand they have 35 11-car units and 22 9-car units.) Did the DfT prevent them from getting the 26 extra carriages needed?

 

[dk1]

I too wonder why they didn't go for a uniform fleet. (I understand they have 35 11-car units and 22 9-car units.) Did the DfT prevent them from getting the 26 extra carriages needed?

Ask DfT. I am sure Virgin would die for a fleet of 11-car Pendos 6-car baby Pendos as well as the Voyagers & anything else going.

 

[rebmcr]

Haven't had the pleasure of being in a brand new set do they still smell new?

The buttons, doors, racks, and other fittings are all slightly different. Just enough to 'feel' odd without being able to figure out exactly what's 'wrong' with them.

Noticably, however: Walls and seat backs are more white/cream than beige, and tables are slightly different colours, that seem 'fresher' for contemporary fashions. These might be purely down to age though!

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

I too wonder why they didn't go for a uniform fleet. (I understand they have 35 11-car units and 22 9-car units.) Did the DfT prevent them from getting the 26 extra carriages needed?

The Pendolino upgrade order (106 vehicles: 4x11-car and 31x2 extensions) was solely a DfT project.
Virgin managed their introduction, but the price, numbers and the spec was entirely down to Dft (having refused Virgin going for its own deal - twice I think).
It also included a new fleet maintenance deal with Alstom.

Partly this was because the Virgin franchise was due to expire at the point the new vehicles came in (Mar 2012).