Yeah I heard that timings are very tight, those 2X142s they sometimes use on the early morning Crewe trains really struggle to keep up generally arriving 10 mins down or more.
No surprise that a 75mph DMU can't keep up with timings scheduled for a 90mph EMU
The morning Crewe-Salford Crescent service is timetabled to be run by a pair of Pacers and even with the extra time it really struggles with accelerating leaving Heaton Chapel and Levenshulme and holds up following services.
With most of the EMUs at peak times between Stockport and Manchester doing Heaton Chapel and Levenshulme calls it means it's only really the Stoke services that need the 90mph capability, the rest need the very fast acceleration more.
I understand a computer simulation of a Glossop-Manchester run doing a 319 was carried out and it was considerably slower than a 323, which is one reason why Porterbrook have looked at options of making the 319s 75mph units with faster acceleration.
see also "319s aren't suitable for the kind of passengers/luggage you get on Manchester Airport services, despite serving Luton Airport and Gatwick Airport on a regular basis)
In another thread I was making the point about whether the non-refurbished 319/3s (with 3+2 seating) would attract extra passengers by replacing refurbished 156s (with 2+2 seating and tables) which need extra luggage capacity more than extra seats. Other users went off on a tangent as they wrongly assumed I was saying 319/3s weren't good enough for a journey of under 75 minutes, when I was saying they would be a downgrade opposed to the current rolling stock.
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Why, in this case, cannot the ScotRail units go directly to Chiltern ?
Scotrail don't have any 2 car 170s and I think Chiltern are looking at making a uniform fleet of 3 car 168s by shortening the 4 car 168s and converting the 170/3s.
Doesn't it depend on what the new Scotrail franchisee wants to do with them?
I don't think you can presume they are "spare".
We'll know in September.
Scotrail is believed to have some DMUs which can be released but it's understood they want to release 156s.
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If Chiltern hadnt got to the 170's first it may well have been Scotland taking them from TPE.
Network Rail's provisional platform lengthening plans assumed that either 4 car 170s, 172s or 175s will operate on the Mid-Cheshire Line and the Hope Valley Line but a recent update now implies we'll wait and see what rolling stock is intended to be used before the platform lengthening is undertaken.
(The Mid-Cheshire and Hope Valley lines have been identified as suitable lines to cascade regional DMUs to with no new local DMUs proposed and electrification resulting in regional DMUs being made available.)
