chester to crewe line upgrade

[robert2000]

local chester paper stated that plans have been made to upgrade this line and electrify it.
wow, we may see the return of the pendolinos in chester, woooo.

 

[MCR247]

Yeah, using all spare pendolinos...

 

[robert2000]

does tht mean london midland will take over arrivas route as arriva cant afford new trains.
i wud love to see london midland trains in chester.

 

[MCR247]

does tht mean london midland will take over arrivas route as arriva cant afford new trains.
i wud love to see london midland trains in chester.

Doubt it. What stock would they use?

 

[robert2000]

im not sure, but london midland are getting new fleet in soon, correct me if im wrong.

 

[FLHH East Anglia]

Doubt it. What stock would they use?

350's?????

 

[robert2000]

were wud LM terminate the train from chester, i suppose BHM, or elsewere.

also does any1 know wat part of chester station would be electrified, i presume platform 1 and maybe 3 or 4.

 

[MCR247]

350's?????

Oh, you mean the ones that are on loan to Southern causing them having to keep 321s meaning they are stretched for trains :roll:

 

[tsubaki]

What effect would this have on the Wrexham - London service from Virgin?

 

[tbtc]

Makes sense - a relatively short stretch of line, but would have a bigger benefit in terms of the routes it could convert to electric (the Chester - Crewe "shuttle" and the hourly London - Chester service). The downside for the good people of North Wales is that they may lose some London trains if this does happen (in the way that the service to places like Hull/ Lincoln/ Sunderland were cut when the ECML was wired up).

However, one thing not mentioned above is the potential for through trains from Crewe to Birkenhead. Yeah, why not give the Chester - Crewe "shuttle" from ATW to Merseyrail? It's not on Merseyside, but then it's not Wales either...

At least doing this would free up an ATW unit for their London service

 

[Helvellyn]

Rail News reports that Virgin having been talking with Bombardier about adding a sixth pantograph car to their 221s, should they win the West Coast franchise again in 2012. Such a hybrid would use the a.c. overhead power under the wires, the engines only being used for extensions beyond the wires (e.g. North Wales Coast) or diversions.

Would be interesting to see what came of this, and also if DfT might look at strengthening XC units in the same way (220s to 5-cars and majority of 221s to 6-cars).

With electrification back on the agenda the skill of Network Rail, ATOC and the TOCs will be getting some momentum behind infill schemes alongside what is approved already.

 

[robert2000]

i think this would encourage the WAG express to continue going via crewe.

unless, which is quicker.

1. via wrexham after the double track upgrade
2. via crewe after that line upgrade

 

[VirginTrainFreak]

they may even use LM 323's you never know

 

[MCR247]

they may even use LM 323's you never know

Do you know for a fact they have about 8 spare daily in the peaks?

 

[merlodlliw]

i think this would encourage the WAG express to continue going via crewe.


I am sure this was on the site weeks ago, The local rag as just lifted the story from some other media. The story was some org? suggesting several lines
could be electrified, as there were gaps in WCML wiring in the North West
Crewe/Chester was one of therm.

As for the WAG £xpress(robert 2000), The Minister has stated Crewe was only temporary
to get the train running ASAP. But Ministers change, as do asperations,
interesting to note the Valley/Rhoose flights have been given extended subsidy
funding to 2013, the contract is up for interested parties to show an expression of interest.

 

[CosherB]

What would be the point of electrifying Crewe - Chester? It would not link up with any other electrified lines (except Merseyrail 3rd rail) so would not be part of a 'network'.

There are far more deserving 'gaps' in the present network; Manchester - Preston, for instance. I know this is already mooted for electrification, but it hasn't happened yet and it's a major northern route out of Manchester with wires at either end!

 

[tbtc]

What would be the point of electrifying Crewe - Chester? It would not link up with any other electrified lines (except Merseyrail 3rd rail) so would not be part of a 'network'.

There are far more deserving 'gaps' in the present network; Manchester - Preston, for instance. I know this is already mooted for electrification, but it hasn't happened yet and it's a major northern route out of Manchester with wires at either end!

...because it'd mean the hourly Voyager service from London to Chester could be replaced by EMU (or a fifth/ sixth coach added to the Voyagers, as discussed above).

Manchester to Preston would mean the TPE to Scotland could run under the wires (which will happen anyway in a few years with the electrification of the Eccles line), but it'd still mean DMUs running under the wires unless you electrify to Blackpool/ Barrow/ Windermere etc while you are at it