I say the IC225 fleet has, on the whole, been successful and has fulfilled the primary role it was developed for, namely to deliver an high speed (in UK terms) electric service to a newly electrified route. That the IC225 have been the backbone of ECML services for 30 years is testament to that.
There are of course other things the IC225 fleet didn't do. I'd suggest that is more a promise unfulfilled than failure.
140mph in regular revenue earning service is on that has already been commented on. However this more of a failure of government to facilitate the finance to install the signalling systems enable this to be safely done. There is a question in my mind as to whether the 140mph top speed is something BR knew it was unlikely to be able to deliver even prior to the introduction of the IC225 fleet, but managed to use this as a bit of a headline grabber to secure funding for ECML electrification and IC225 fleet. Maybe I am just being cynical.
I think another example of a promise unfulfilled is the fact that only an ECML fleet was built. The reason why there was no WCML fleet is similar to the lack of 140mph running. Ultimately, lack of government funding. I was thinking about whether things may have been different in respect of WCML IC225s if privatisation hadn't reared its head. I appreciate that IC250 was intended to be the flagship WCML project , however I do wonder if in a none privatisation scenario, whether a more austere upgrade of the WCML may have instead gone ahead in the early to mid 1990s with some modest infrastructure upgrades to facilitate 125mph in some places and a fleet of follow on build IC225 trainsets in lieu of Class 93 and mk5 coaches.
There are of course other things the IC225 fleet didn't do. I'd suggest that is more a promise unfulfilled than failure.
140mph in regular revenue earning service is on that has already been commented on. However this more of a failure of government to facilitate the finance to install the signalling systems enable this to be safely done. There is a question in my mind as to whether the 140mph top speed is something BR knew it was unlikely to be able to deliver even prior to the introduction of the IC225 fleet, but managed to use this as a bit of a headline grabber to secure funding for ECML electrification and IC225 fleet. Maybe I am just being cynical.
I think another example of a promise unfulfilled is the fact that only an ECML fleet was built. The reason why there was no WCML fleet is similar to the lack of 140mph running. Ultimately, lack of government funding. I was thinking about whether things may have been different in respect of WCML IC225s if privatisation hadn't reared its head. I appreciate that IC250 was intended to be the flagship WCML project , however I do wonder if in a none privatisation scenario, whether a more austere upgrade of the WCML may have instead gone ahead in the early to mid 1990s with some modest infrastructure upgrades to facilitate 125mph in some places and a fleet of follow on build IC225 trainsets in lieu of Class 93 and mk5 coaches.