Maybe Northern will procure a fleet of them and they're using it to test the lie of the land. 5-car would be good for many services here, with an occasional 10 in the peaks midweek even if some coaches in the rear unit are locked out of use due to platform lengths.
Aren't there going to be some 323s going spare ?. I don't think Northern were going to take all of the 323s West Midlands Trains will release when their 323s are all released by 730s.
As for why at Longsight. What I have slowly learnt is that any problem child in the Aventra fleet is dealt with outside Derby. For instance each of the last four (iirc) 710s for TfL are being "finished" one at a time at Ilford (an Alstom facility). This is being done at a rate of roughly one every three months. So my guess is that the 720s that have been lying around unused or unusable for (three ?) years are being steadily worked through at the Alstom facility at Longsight. At the rate of four per year that would take a couple of years (yawn).
Below are what is believed to be outstanding early build 720s.
Can anyone confirm that the only 720/5's I have not ridden on are the ones stored up north pending repair/rebuild etc ?
502
503
504
505
509
510
516
519
534
Any timescales to getting these in service?
Cheers all.
They might not be all that bad. For instance 720516 was used for testing with weights inside so might just need seats putting in. But Derby seems to be being left to get on with producing new trains without being distracted by post production snags/fixes/repairs.
So I doubt Northern are going for another microfleet.
