East Coast rumours?

[Aictos]

Great news indeed for the ECML, As to dragging failed 390s, surely they as in the Class 67s would just use a emergency coupling?

Talking of the 67s, would any get reliveried into East Coast livery rather then DB livery?

 

[jon0844]

I'm surprised nobody has updated the Wikipedia page yet!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_390

I did find this funny:

Fewer (and smaller) windows than the old rolling stock has also attracted criticism for making the Pendolino's cabin interiors seem darker and claustrophobic, although the thicker window pillars are part of the coaches' improved rollover protection. The total window area of a Pendolino carriage is only 10.1 sq m (researched by JustinSmith)

 

[starrymarkb]

Who is Justin Smith? - Plus isn't the reason down to the pendo's ribbed structure? They still look bigger then those fitted to a lot of US stock though

Edit: - I've just realised who? If he added it himself then Original Research!

 

[jopsuk]

It gets funnier- no-one seemed to have bothered telling Virgin about this...

 

[ainsworth74]

Edit: - I've just realised who? If he added it himself then Original Research!

Indeed I was actually thinking about removing it because of that violation but I decided that would just reignite Justins anti-pendo window crusade

 

[jon0844]

Great news indeed for the ECML, As to dragging failed 390s, surely they as in the Class 67s would just use a emergency coupling?

Talking of the 67s, would any get reliveried into East Coast livery rather then DB livery?

It gets funnier- no-one seemed to have bothered telling Virgin about this...

And the press contact on the release was Alstom, not East Coast/DOR - so did the manufacturer issue the release first? It just gets more confusing as it goes on...

 

[Geezertronic]

I'm surprised nobody has updated the Wikipedia page yet!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_390

It was updated at 10:02

As for Justin's crusade about the seating and windows on the 390s, I had an extensive "discussion" on the subject in a previous thread on the subject

http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=33190

and I also did my own brief "research" which I "documented" in the Wikipedia Talk page for the 390s about the seating density (couldn't be bothered to measure windows).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:B...#Pendolino_Window_size_and_comparisons_to_APT

I was wrong to question of course, like all discussions on this forum

 

[222007]

Just found this link http://rail-news.com/2010/08/11/east-coast-asked-to-commission-new-11-car-pendolino-train/

 

[jopsuk]

And the press contact on the release was Alstom, not East Coast/DOR - so did the manufacturer issue the release first? It just gets more confusing as it goes on...

There's a glowing release on the East Coast website

edit: that rail-news.com have reproduced exactly.

 

[Crossforth]

Just found this link http://rail-news.com/2010/08/11/east-coast-asked-to-commission-new-11-car-pendolino-train/

Could that mean they are going to bring 390033 back into service?

 

[Geezertronic]

Could that mean they are going to bring 390033 back into service?

No, 390033 was written off as beyond repair.

 

[Crossforth]

Well then could they effectively create new carriages to replace the ones written off and then bring it back into service?

 

[ainsworth74]

My understanding was that four brand new 11 car Pendolinos were being procured with one of those intended to replace the written-off Grayrigg unit. Whilst some additional carriages were being produced to enable the lengthening of some of the rest of the Pendolinos to 11 car formations also.

 

[Geezertronic]

Well then could they effectively create new carriages to replace the ones written off and then bring it back into service?

No offence but why are you going on about 390033 for? This announcement has nothing to do with 390033? One of the new Pendolino's was ordered to replace 390033 (apparently), bringing it back to mainline action in any form would probably be an insurance scam?

 

[jon0844]

There's a glowing release on the East Coast website

edit: that rail-news.com have reproduced exactly.

Yes, but at the bottom of the release on the East Coast site is "Alstom Transport UK Limited press office: Helen Connolly, 01788 545623" and that's it.

Which is why it was either issued and/or written by Alstom's press office. It makes me wonder who came up with the proposal. Was it Alstom? Are they doing this to try and influence any future decision on new rolling stock for the ECML? Would this be considered unfair for any future tendering?

And to just re-print a press release verbatim is very shoddy journalism. Surely some of the above questions need to be asked?

 

[Geezertronic]

For those that are interested, here are pics of the intact coaches of 390033 leaving Wolverton Works on their way to Virgin's Training Centre at Crewe which is apparently going to be their new home

http://www.locoscene.co.uk/viewothersession.php?id=180036&he=#

Credit goes to Andrew_MK

 

[ainsworth74]

What are they going to do with them there use them for training on board staff?

 

[DaveNewcastle]

And while this flurry of Pendolino stories have been flying round, which was apparently not a scheduled press release by East Coast, and not expected to be announced today, that leaves us wondering what the "Big Announcement" is thet we're still waiting for (and which is apparently linked to the newly painted trainset.
I suspect that it is still to come.

One thing EC HAS just done is re-launch their "Minature Prices" low-price Advance ticket advertising campaign, with door to door leaflet drops and localised campaigns concentrating on journeys from local stations. (eg " 55,000 one-way tickets from £7:50 released every week from Newcastle to Edinburgh "). The campaign is scheduled to run for 11 weeks.

And tied into that campaign is an on-line competition to win £1,000 worth of PC World vouchers.

I wonder if there's more news to come.

 

[silentone]

The big announcement isn't related to the new set. Whatever this new onboard initiative is that will revolutionise East Coast is nothing to do with the Pendolino either.

All staff will be briefed by 7th September and whatever it is will launch in May (I'm guessing the date the Eureka timetable begins). It seems to be a case of all staff MUST be briefed by 7th September rather than the usual bit of paper that you can read or not.

 

[jopsuk]

And to just re-print a press release verbatim is very shoddy journalism. Surely some of the above questions need to be asked?

Most of the news on the site appears to be verbatim press releases. Mindyou, many more "mainstream" organisations (BBC, newspapers- especially tabloid) base a heck of a lot of their stories on barely rehashed press releases with little or no actual journalistic input, a practice known as "Churnalism" by some...

 

[Royston Vasey]

I have ultimate responsiblity for issuing press releases for my company, we expect and welcome any online news site who wants to reproduce our releases, as long as it is sourced properly and bears our name and contact details. There's no deception.

The release is only strange because it does not appear on Alstom's website. It does read like it was written by DOR and I suspect it is not an Alstom release. Our press releases often bear a quote and occasionally contact details of the other party which the release involves, its fairly normal practice.

 

[Burkitt]

This seems like an opportunity for some photoshopping...

 

[jw]

East Coast Press Release: The units will be very similar to the 52 Pendolino Class 390s, each of 9 cars, currently in service on the West Coast Main Line.

When they say 'very similar', how similar do you think it means?

 

[ainsworth74]

When they say 'very similar', how similar do you think it means?

Exactly the same only 11 cars long rather than the current standard of 9.

 

[jw]

Any changes to the interiors? Improved toilet plumbing?

 

[networkrail1]

This seems like an opportunity for some photoshopping...

even though its a small picture (would be better bigger)east coast livery suits the pendo i think.

 

[Crossforth]

even though its a small picture (would be better bigger)east coast livery suits the pendo i think.

Click the picture and it grows

 

[chic]

Hi, probably a silly question but is the body shell of the pendolino big enough to say stick an mtu diesel engine? I guess all the other electrical mcgubbins would need tweaked about and stuff, but could that work? I'm thinking either as two diesel ends like a HST or at one end like the proposed IEP.

 

[A0]

It looks like the reason for the Glasgow run is so that it can start from / return to Polmadie depot - which makes sense.

Out of interest, how would the Pendo compare with the 225 / HST for number of seats, given that it doesn't have two vehicles which can't carry passengers, which the 225 / HST have.

 

[Geezertronic]

Hi, probably a silly question but is the body shell of the pendolino big enough to say stick an mtu diesel engine? I guess all the other electrical mcgubbins would need tweaked about and stuff, but could that work? I'm thinking either as two diesel ends like a HST or at one end like the proposed IEP.

It would probably be far easier sticking a pantograph coach on a 220/221/222