What happens to the Class 172s when the GOBLIN is wired?

[WillPS]

One thing to note in the ITT is it says Pacer withdrawal by December 2019. While this is the deadline for accessibility and retention toilets, it's also just before the Conservatives will want to start campaigning for the next general election. There's no reason why they couldn't have said December 2018 if they really wanted to give the North a good deal but saying December 2019 potentially allows franchise costs to be kept lower and allows them to boast about something they did which benefited the North close to an election.

Got rid of life-expired trains the month they legally had to?

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Got rid of life-expired trains the month they legally had to?

Indeed. Even after an election that has been widely reported as a "disaster" for Labour, there are several constituencies in the North that will simply never return a Tory MP. My own constituency of Batley and Spen stayed Labour, and Dewsbury, which the Conservatives took in 2010 in part due to some extreme Gerrymandering, went back to Labour despite still covering the affluent rural areas of Denby Dale, etc.. They may well try to claim the removal of Pacers as their own victory, forgetting conveniently that the disability equality legislation has been written into law for a long time. It is in fact a failing of consecutive governments of all shades that they're still with us today.

EDIT: Apologies for the continuation of topic drift- my only excuse is the extreme heat of Dewsbury station followed by the only too short relief of the air conditioned but very crowded 185 which caused me to forget which thread I was on. As you were...

 

[Bevan Price]

I wonder if we will find out that some of the new-build Pacer successors arrive as single coach "neo-153s" ?

 

[Emblematic]

Not really; there are tons of 3-car AC EMUs about. Motors in the end cars, compressors, pantograph and transformer in the centre car. Basically the same as a 2-car DC EMU with a means of supplying the DC in the centre car.

Perhaps tricky is overstating it - shortest reasonable configuration might be a better way of putting it. Anyway, my point being that you'd want at least one more car for gensets or batteries, if you're not to intrude into passenger space (IEP being a good example of the problem.) All of this kit is gradually becoming smaller and lighter, so it may happen in future.