Is Traxx UK knocked on the head?

[Photohunter71]

Now that various tenders have been highlighted for EMu's and other such units to run on the railways in the UK. Can i take it from that, the idea of having a UK variant of Traxx has now well and truly been knocked on the head? After the class 88's arrive,will they be the last locomotives we will see for a very long time? What are the the thoughts on this forum?

 

[RichmondCommu]

How serious were the proposals to buy Traxx loco's for the UK? Were they something that was being actively considered by the leasing companies or was it just enthusiast chat?

 

[edwin_m]

Ian Walmsley seemed pretty keen on the idea and he was still at Porterbrook at the time. It was floated as an option for Norwich services, replacing the 90s and refurbishing the Mk3s, but I think with the aspiration for Norwich in 90 minutes this needs to be a new high-performance EMU. There have also been various suggestions for diesel haulage of EMUs or even double push-pull swapping diesel for electric locos to provide through London services to non-electrified routes, but bi-mode IEP has probably killed that one.