Other possible short lines for Parry People Movers

[William3000]

Given the, I imagine, relative cheap costs relative to the wider railway of running the Parry People Mover, are there any other towns within 2 or 3 kilometres of an existing line or station that could be reopened or relaid to benefit from a similar shuttle. Some initial thoughts:

Radley to Abingdon
Audley End to Saffron Walden
Saxmundham to Leiston
Wellingborough to Rushden

Be interested to hear other’s thoughts.

 

[generalnerd]

I’m pretty sure parry went bust, but VLR exists and makes similar vehicles. I’d like to see the hull freight ‘high line’ be converted to passenger rail and use these people movers. There’s a line in Cardiff that could also use them but I think that’s getting tram trains soon

 

[Meerkat]

Given the, I imagine, relative cheap costs relative to the wider railway of running the Parry People Mover, are there any other towns within 2 or 3 kilometres of an existing line or station that could be reopened or relaid to benefit from a similar shuttle. Some initial thoughts:

Radley to Abingdon
Audley End to Saffron Walden
Saxmundham to Leiston
Wellingborough to Rushden

Be interested to hear other’s thoughts.

They are tiny and still need two crew so running costs will be high. Really can’t see any possibility of building anew line for them being better than a bus, or guided bus at most.

 

[Class15]

Saxmundham to Leiston

Yes please!

 

[Tetchytyke]

They are tiny and still need two crew

They don’t need two crew, they just have two crew with WMT because they replaced a 153 which had two crew. No reason why they can’t operate with just a driver.

 

[MCR247]

Given the, I imagine, relative cheap costs relative to the wider railway of running the Parry People Mover, are there any other towns within 2 or 3 kilometres of an existing line or station that could be reopened or relaid to benefit from a similar shuttle. Some initial thoughts:

Radley to Abingdon
Audley End to Saffron Walden
Saxmundham to Leiston
Wellingborough to Rushden

Be interested to hear other’s thoughts.

The Stourbridge Shuttle worked because it was ‘downgrading’ - not (re)opening a line. The previous set up (the do nothing option at the time) involved using a Class 153, a driver and a guard to transport relatively few passengers compared to the capacity of the 153, I imagine using also a relatively large amount of fuel to too. The PPM option offered potential savings on all of these things, except train crew. It possibly also saved on maintenance costs for the track due to the lower weights involved too.

When it comes to opening a new line or reopening an old one, the cost of the PPM compared to a real train isn’t really the problem.

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

The PPM technology is a bit obsolete now - the way forward surely is going to be lightweight battery-electric railcars. I quite like SNCF's proposed 'Draisy' scheme.

Draisy

Many of France’s rural rail lines have languished amid low passenger demand. With DRAISY, we are reviving them by offering a service tailored to the needs of rural areas. How so? By designing a light, economical and environmentally-friendly train system

We and our partners want to restore the appeal of “small lines” (around 100 kilometres long) by offering more frequent service. DRAISY will serve stations at the ends of larger lines, allowing passengers to make a connection directly in order to take other trains on the main network.

 

[Bald Rick]

Given the, I imagine, relative cheap costs relative to the wider railway of running the Parry People Mover, are there any other towns within 2 or 3 kilometres of an existing line or station that could be reopened or relaid to benefit from a similar shuttle. Some initial thoughts:

Radley to Abingdon
Audley End to Saffron Walden
Saxmundham to Leiston
Wellingborough to Rushden

Be interested to hear other’s thoughts.

It would be far, far cheaper, and far more beneficial, to have a connecting electric bus service.

 

[Meerkat]

They don’t need two crew, they just have two crew with WMT because they replaced a 153 which had two crew. No reason why they can’t operate with just a driver.

Then you need staffed stations or the driver checking tickets…..with resultant lengthy platform stops

 

[generalnerd]

Then you need staffed stations or the driver checking tickets…..with resultant lengthy platform stops

Or use the honours system like in Germany. Have high fines for those without tickets. Maybe staff one major station (like a junction that probably already has staff) or something like that