Northern Rail add short formations to Twitter

[northwichcat]

I don't know how useful these will be - Will passengers who are flexible on travel plans avoid them? Will passengers just say why did you shorten service x and not service y instead? I noticed one passenger has asked what kind of carriages will run the shortened Southport service and Northern have responded saying "@NoelOakes It is 2 152 carrriages."

Short formations this evening:

15:37 #Leeds to #ManchesterVictoria 2 coaches instead of 3
15:58 Southport to Huddersfield due 17:54. Will be 2 coaches instead of 4.
16:23 #ManchesterPiccadilly to #Marple will be formed of 2 coaches instead of 4.
16:52 #Marple to #ManchesterPiccadilly will be formed of 2 coaches instead of 4.
17:18 #ManchesterVictoria to #Leeds will be formed of 2 coaches instead of 3.
17:18# ManchesterPiccadilly to #NewMillsCentral will be formed of 2 coaches instead of 4.
17:47 #NewMillsCentral to #ManchesterPiccadilly will be formed of 2 coaches instead of 4.
18:14 #ManchesterPiccadilly to #NewMillsCentral 2 coaches instead of 4.

 

[Qwerty133]

I don't know how useful these will be - Will passengers who are flexible on travel plans avoid them? Will passengers just say why did you shorten service x and not service y instead? I noticed one passenger has asked what kind of carriages will run the shortened Southport service and Northern have responded saying "@NoelOakes It is 2 152 carrriages."

Short formations this evening:

Be one for enthuiasts that being a brand new type of train

 

[northwichcat]

Be one for enthuiasts that being a brand new type of train

I think it's a pity they didn't say a class 151 instead. I imagine they'd be quite a lot of people that would have liked one of those to turn up.

 

[Qwerty133]

Checked with northern on twitter and they meant a 150 so don't know where they got 152 from.

 

[DarloRich]

it is clearly just a mistake about a class 152

useful information if you are planning your journey home and want a seat

 

[northwichcat]

Surely this 'amended service' that Northern have just tweeted about can't be right:

https://twitter.com/northernrailorg/status/309345196288663553/photo/1

A train that's 20 minutes down misses out 5 station calls and remains 20 minutes down throughout?

 

[greatkingrat]

Presumably at the time they posted that, they didn't know how much time would be made up. It now appears to be only 10 late at Salford Crescent.

As for the short formation reports, I am surprised they haven't done this before. I know FCC (and probably most of the London TOCs) show on their websites if a train is say 4 coaches instead of 8.

 

[Silv1983]

The person doing the typing on twitter is obviously not from an operational background - and has probably been told by a supervisor standing over his or her shoulder that it is a 150/2 - pronounced "One fifty [stroke] two" by many in the industry.

 

[brompton rail]

This info has been on their app for a while, but Northern started tweeting it to about a month ago.

Handy to know that the 07.39 Doncaster to Sheffield is formed of 2 coaches instead of 4. Then you can either rush for the 07.35 TPE and stand all the way ( but for only 25 mins rather than 40), or catch the 07.48 Northern which is a 158 but is slow and takes 45 mins, or stand on XC 07.56 but only for a shade over 20 mins!

 

[SS4]

I imagine it's for people who are in no great rush to get home and would rather sacrifice time to get a seat. It's not dissimilar to LM's seat guide detailing the chances of getting a train

 

[northwichcat]

Handy to know that the 07.39 Doncaster to Sheffield is formed of 2 coaches instead of 4.

I'm not sure what the usual traction is for that service, which highlights a potential issue. A 3 car 144 may fill in for a 4 car EMU - the 4 car EMU may not normally be crowded so to the passenger 3 carriages instead of 4 doesn't sound too bad, but then it's a lot more than 25% less capacity. And how can Northern get around that in a way that the average passenger will understand? It'll be difficult.

To make it even harder if a Northern EMU service out of Piccadilly was cancelled due to a crew shortage. Northern could then use that 323 on a service booked to be a 4 car 142 (which has happened before.) The 323, however, has one less carriage but a higher seating capacity than the 4 car 142.

 

[87015]

Is that a usual number of short forms?

 

[Cheshire Rover]

I think this is a good service. What I would like is easy access to what train type is running. I travel ATW to Man Pic but on occasion will change to Northern at Newton Le Willows and go into Man Vic. Whilst ATW are nearly always a 175, knowing what Northern train is on a service would allow me to work around Pacers, which are in my opinion not fit for purpose at peak times on busy routes.

 

[Tilly]

I can see that it's handy for people who can choose alternative TOCs to balance out the standing room only or a shorter time. If I'm travelling to Manchester then my only choice is Northern. I'm not too sure I want to know that I'm going to be cramped from Wigan. While be good to know train class though.

 

[D365]

it is clearly just a mistake about a class 152

useful information if you are planning your journey home and want a seat

152 was the designation for a half-156 in the vein of 155>153; only the latter conversion went ahead though... 150/2 that would be.

A useful Twitter service I must agree.

 

[sprinterguy]

Is that a usual number of short forms?

One diagram on the Leeds – Caldervale corridor and one, possibly two, diagrams shortformed on the New Mills/Marple run, plus the lone Southport to Huddersfield service – A fairly modest number of shortformed diagrams that probably isn’t atypical of Northern services at the moment.

 

[YorkshireBear]

Problem is it also attracts lots of abuse too...