SprinterMan
Established Member
Hello, I think this is the right pace in the forum for this.
The other day I was thinking about all the various franchises and how they overlap, and was wodering if the following would make the railways better. I haven't taken into account IEP, Crossrail and all the new electrification so please look at this as if those things weren't happening, or will be sorted later :P
ScotRail
All fine really - Have all trains passing through Prestwick International Airport station call at it, and adervtise it more to be used for Airport passengers maybe?
NXEA, C2C, FCC
Merge C2C, NXEA and the GN part of FCC into a new "Super Anglia" franchise, and give them LM's & Northens 321/322 fleets. Look into reopening Fulbourn, Soham and Leiston stations. Ban 321s north of Ipswich. All Norwich services are 90 + Mk.3 formations apart from a few peak hour services that are 12 car 317/7 formations that run with a snack trolley to compensate for the lack of a buffet car. Serve Angel Road, Manea, Shippea Hill, Lakenheath, Eccles Road, Harling Road, Spooner Row & Buckenham with a more frequent service.
Southern, SouthEastern, FCC
Merge Southern , SouthEasten and Thameslink routes into larger Southern franchise. Run the Milton Keynes trains through to Brighton and brand both Bedford & Milton Keynes routes as Thameslink and timetable them to connect with WCML and MML services. Remove Gatwick Express, it is a rip-off and not particularly fast, and replace it with a new 1/4 hourly "Premier" service calling Victoria - Clapham Junction - East Croydon - Gatwick Airport - Haywards Heath - Brighton/Eastbourne, using pairs of 442s, splitting the train at Haywards Heath. Electrify Marshlink and Uckfield lines and give 171s to TPX. Classify 3 car 375/377s as Class 375 and 4 car 375/377s as Class 377. Stop Wandsworth - Kensington Service.
South West Trains
Extend platforms on Lyminton branch and dedicate a 450 to it. Take over Reading-Gatwick services and run with 158/159s.
Recieve extra 158s from Northern.
Heathrow Express
Build pantograph cars for Class 460s and draft them over to HEx. Transfer all Class 332s to Northen to cover for loss of 321/322 and for expansion.
Heathrow Connect
All fine really - Call trains at Acton Main Line maybe?
Chiltern & London Midland
Merge into "Chiltern Midland Express". Treat Chiltern Mainline as "Premier" London route and use former WSMR sets to fully compete with Virgin (as they are doing now). Build new Bicester curve for new Marylebone-Oxford services (as they are doing now). Transfer remaining 321s to NXEA and ALL 150s to Northern/FGW (as they are doing). New Class 172s replace 150s (as they are doing). Take over Banbury-Oxford from FGW and run Stourbridge Junction-Leamington Spa trains through to Oxford, giving Heyford & Tackley a decent regualr service to Birmingham, at the expense of their peak-only London service. New peak-hour only non-stop Northampton-Euston service to repalce withdrawn limited Virgin Service. Give St Albans Abbey branch to London Overground. Look into new Oxford/Aylesbury-Bedford services via Bicester/Quainton Road respectively, new stations at Steeple Clayton & Winslow and new "High-Level" platforms at Bletchley.
London Overground
Merge newly-acquired St Albans Abbey branch with Watford DC Line and run new Euston - St Albans Abbey service with Dual-voltage Class 378 via some new pointwork at Watford Junction.
Grand Central
Recieve 4 of 5 stored class 180s to replace their 3 HSTs that will go to CrossCountry.
Hull Trains
Recieve 1 of 5 stored class 180s to give them some slack in their fleet, allowing them to run a better service.
Arriva Trains Wales
Swap all pacers with Northern Rail for 150s.
Give borderlands line to Merseyrail.
Run both WAG1 and WAG2 trains with 57 + Mk.2 formations (as WAG1 does now) and call additionally at Colwyn Bay and Hereford.
First Great Western
Swap all pacers with Northern for 150s.
Recieve extra 158s from Northern.
Give Oxford-Banbury route to Chiltern.
Run stopping Cotswold line services with 158s and fast Cotswold line services with HSTs.
Give Reading-Gatwick route to SWT.
New London - Maidenhead - Reading - Newbury - Hungerford - Bedwyn - Pewsey - Westbury - Frome - Castle Cary - All stations to Weymouth service using either HSTs or 158s for the Olympic sailing events and to compete with SWT.
Refurbish Class 165/1 and 166 to Chiltern 165/0 standard (new & better air con, no opening windows etc.).
Run most Avonmouth trains through to Severn Beach.
Virgin Trains
Large pendolino order to replace all Voyagers.
Electrify Crewe-Chester, Man Pic-Bolton-Preston and Preston-Blackpool North.
Cancel Wrexham - Euston service and revert to Class 57 haulage on Chester - Holyhead services. Do not sell 6 Class 57s to Network Rail. Take over Manchester-Scotland service from Trans-Pennine Express. Introduce Blackpool North-Euston Services. Transfer all Voyagers to CrossCountry. Pendolinos now used on all services. Stop serving Northampton as it is only limited service anyway. Pretendolino is kept as back-up.
CrossCountry
Recieve 21 Voyagers from Virgin. Reform 221142/43/44 as 4 car sets as they were originally. Remove tilt equipment & Buffets to bring into line with the rest of the fleet. Stop serving Guildford & Bath as these oddly timed 1 train per day services are pointless. Stop running trains via the Severn tunnel - The only XC trains into wales are now the Nottingham - Cardiff trains via Lydney. Build new Worcester parkway station on Birmingham-Bristol Mainline WITHOUT closing Shrub Hill. Re-introduce Manchester-Brighton trains calling at (The North)-Reading-East Croydon-Gatwick Airport-Haywards Heath-Brighton using the new inherited voyagers. Also, use the inherited voyagers to run more service as double sets. Use catering trolley with hotplate type thing to serve warm food (if heath & safety will allow) and overhaul bathrooms on all sets. Recieve Grand Central's HSTs and use them on Edinburgh-Plymouth route. Use HST fleet more intensively. Serve Manea regularly.
East Coast
Run a few more trains to Lincoln & Harrogate if possible.
Re-engine the inherited EMT HST with MTU engines and give the VP185 engines back to EMT to be used as spare engines.
Re-let franchise when the government sees it to be appropriate.
East Midlands Trains
Norwich-Liverpool through trains stopped.
Transfer Nottigham-Liverpool to Trans-Pennine Express.
Run Nottingham-Norwich via the following route: Norwich-Thetford-Ely-March-Peterborough-Stamford-Oakham-Melton Mowbray-Loughborough-East Midlands Parkway-Nottingham.
Take over Worksop-Lincoln, Barton - Cleethorpes and the Gainsborough - Barnetby via Brigg line from Northern. Run trains from Nottingham to Lincoln via Mansfield & Worksop and Nottingham to Cleethorpes via Mansfield, Worksop and Brigg.
Run most Grimsby trains through to Cleethorpes.
Fleet remains the same - new services are worked by spare stock no longer needed for Norwich-Liverpool trains.
Trans-Pennine Express
Give Manchester-Scotland services to Virgin.
Take over Nottingham-Liverpool services from EMT.
Inherit Class 171s from Southern, convert back to 170s and use to increase capacity and/or operate new Nottingham-Liverpool services. Reintroduce Windermere-Manchester Airport through trains with 185s cascaded from Scotland services.
Merseyrail
Given Class 150s by Northern, including that set with no toilet Northern got from LM. All sets refurbished to 507/508 standard (new light clusters, new interior, toilets removed to save on weight/maintenance etc.).
Borderlands line taken over from ATW and refurb'ed 150s used on it.
New service: Ellesmere Port - Stanton & Thornlow - Ince & Elton - Helsby - Frodsham - (Halton Curve) - Runcorn - Liverpool South Parkway - West Allerton - Mossley Hill - Edge Hill - Liverpool Lime Street to give Elesmere port decent service in both directions, and to put the Halton curve into regular use. Northen no longer run south of Warrington Bank Quay on the Earlestown - Chester line. A few former SouthEastern or London Overground Class 508s can be heavily refurbished and pressed into service if capacity on the electrified routes becomes an issue.
Northern
Class 142/143s inherited from ATW/FGW.
Class 150s inherited from LM.
Class 332s inherited from HEx.
Class 321/322s transferred to NXEA.
Class 158s transferred to FGW/SWT.
Class 150s transferred to FGW/ATW/Merseyrail
Class 180s transferred to GC/HT
Northern seem to have come off worse in alot of my transfers so far. Lets remedy that :P
Government subsidised large (110+) order for LM-style Class 172s to replace classes 142/143/144 and to cover for transfer of classes 150/158 and for expansion to show that the gorvernment do care about the North of the country :P
Runcorn-(Halton Curve)-Chester & Ellesmere port line service are all transferred to Merseyrail. Northern operate 4 Liverpool Lime Street - Warrington Bank Quay and return trains per day, but do not venture south of Warrington Bank Quay or serve Runcorn at all anymore.
Worksop-Lincoln, Worksop-Cleethorpes and Barton-Cleethorpes all transferred to East Midlands trains.
Re-site Teesside airport station closer to the airport and give it a proper service.
New services: Carlisle - Whitehaven - Barrow - Carnforth - Lancaster - Morecambe - Heysham
Man Vic - Bolton - Blackburn - Clitheroe - Settle - Carlisle
3 return trains per day Stockport - Stalybridge via Reddish South.
What do you railwaymen & women think of my proposals? Any comments would be welcomed. Go easy on me as I am relatively new-ish here and I know this has a few flaws (money ect.) and it has taken me about 4 hours to work out & type :P
The other day I was thinking about all the various franchises and how they overlap, and was wodering if the following would make the railways better. I haven't taken into account IEP, Crossrail and all the new electrification so please look at this as if those things weren't happening, or will be sorted later :P
ScotRail
All fine really - Have all trains passing through Prestwick International Airport station call at it, and adervtise it more to be used for Airport passengers maybe?
NXEA, C2C, FCC
Merge C2C, NXEA and the GN part of FCC into a new "Super Anglia" franchise, and give them LM's & Northens 321/322 fleets. Look into reopening Fulbourn, Soham and Leiston stations. Ban 321s north of Ipswich. All Norwich services are 90 + Mk.3 formations apart from a few peak hour services that are 12 car 317/7 formations that run with a snack trolley to compensate for the lack of a buffet car. Serve Angel Road, Manea, Shippea Hill, Lakenheath, Eccles Road, Harling Road, Spooner Row & Buckenham with a more frequent service.
Southern, SouthEastern, FCC
Merge Southern , SouthEasten and Thameslink routes into larger Southern franchise. Run the Milton Keynes trains through to Brighton and brand both Bedford & Milton Keynes routes as Thameslink and timetable them to connect with WCML and MML services. Remove Gatwick Express, it is a rip-off and not particularly fast, and replace it with a new 1/4 hourly "Premier" service calling Victoria - Clapham Junction - East Croydon - Gatwick Airport - Haywards Heath - Brighton/Eastbourne, using pairs of 442s, splitting the train at Haywards Heath. Electrify Marshlink and Uckfield lines and give 171s to TPX. Classify 3 car 375/377s as Class 375 and 4 car 375/377s as Class 377. Stop Wandsworth - Kensington Service.
South West Trains
Extend platforms on Lyminton branch and dedicate a 450 to it. Take over Reading-Gatwick services and run with 158/159s.
Recieve extra 158s from Northern.
Heathrow Express
Build pantograph cars for Class 460s and draft them over to HEx. Transfer all Class 332s to Northen to cover for loss of 321/322 and for expansion.
Heathrow Connect
All fine really - Call trains at Acton Main Line maybe?
Chiltern & London Midland
Merge into "Chiltern Midland Express". Treat Chiltern Mainline as "Premier" London route and use former WSMR sets to fully compete with Virgin (as they are doing now). Build new Bicester curve for new Marylebone-Oxford services (as they are doing now). Transfer remaining 321s to NXEA and ALL 150s to Northern/FGW (as they are doing). New Class 172s replace 150s (as they are doing). Take over Banbury-Oxford from FGW and run Stourbridge Junction-Leamington Spa trains through to Oxford, giving Heyford & Tackley a decent regualr service to Birmingham, at the expense of their peak-only London service. New peak-hour only non-stop Northampton-Euston service to repalce withdrawn limited Virgin Service. Give St Albans Abbey branch to London Overground. Look into new Oxford/Aylesbury-Bedford services via Bicester/Quainton Road respectively, new stations at Steeple Clayton & Winslow and new "High-Level" platforms at Bletchley.
London Overground
Merge newly-acquired St Albans Abbey branch with Watford DC Line and run new Euston - St Albans Abbey service with Dual-voltage Class 378 via some new pointwork at Watford Junction.
Grand Central
Recieve 4 of 5 stored class 180s to replace their 3 HSTs that will go to CrossCountry.
Hull Trains
Recieve 1 of 5 stored class 180s to give them some slack in their fleet, allowing them to run a better service.
Arriva Trains Wales
Swap all pacers with Northern Rail for 150s.
Give borderlands line to Merseyrail.
Run both WAG1 and WAG2 trains with 57 + Mk.2 formations (as WAG1 does now) and call additionally at Colwyn Bay and Hereford.
First Great Western
Swap all pacers with Northern for 150s.
Recieve extra 158s from Northern.
Give Oxford-Banbury route to Chiltern.
Run stopping Cotswold line services with 158s and fast Cotswold line services with HSTs.
Give Reading-Gatwick route to SWT.
New London - Maidenhead - Reading - Newbury - Hungerford - Bedwyn - Pewsey - Westbury - Frome - Castle Cary - All stations to Weymouth service using either HSTs or 158s for the Olympic sailing events and to compete with SWT.
Refurbish Class 165/1 and 166 to Chiltern 165/0 standard (new & better air con, no opening windows etc.).
Run most Avonmouth trains through to Severn Beach.
Virgin Trains
Large pendolino order to replace all Voyagers.
Electrify Crewe-Chester, Man Pic-Bolton-Preston and Preston-Blackpool North.
Cancel Wrexham - Euston service and revert to Class 57 haulage on Chester - Holyhead services. Do not sell 6 Class 57s to Network Rail. Take over Manchester-Scotland service from Trans-Pennine Express. Introduce Blackpool North-Euston Services. Transfer all Voyagers to CrossCountry. Pendolinos now used on all services. Stop serving Northampton as it is only limited service anyway. Pretendolino is kept as back-up.
CrossCountry
Recieve 21 Voyagers from Virgin. Reform 221142/43/44 as 4 car sets as they were originally. Remove tilt equipment & Buffets to bring into line with the rest of the fleet. Stop serving Guildford & Bath as these oddly timed 1 train per day services are pointless. Stop running trains via the Severn tunnel - The only XC trains into wales are now the Nottingham - Cardiff trains via Lydney. Build new Worcester parkway station on Birmingham-Bristol Mainline WITHOUT closing Shrub Hill. Re-introduce Manchester-Brighton trains calling at (The North)-Reading-East Croydon-Gatwick Airport-Haywards Heath-Brighton using the new inherited voyagers. Also, use the inherited voyagers to run more service as double sets. Use catering trolley with hotplate type thing to serve warm food (if heath & safety will allow) and overhaul bathrooms on all sets. Recieve Grand Central's HSTs and use them on Edinburgh-Plymouth route. Use HST fleet more intensively. Serve Manea regularly.
East Coast
Run a few more trains to Lincoln & Harrogate if possible.
Re-engine the inherited EMT HST with MTU engines and give the VP185 engines back to EMT to be used as spare engines.
Re-let franchise when the government sees it to be appropriate.
East Midlands Trains
Norwich-Liverpool through trains stopped.
Transfer Nottigham-Liverpool to Trans-Pennine Express.
Run Nottingham-Norwich via the following route: Norwich-Thetford-Ely-March-Peterborough-Stamford-Oakham-Melton Mowbray-Loughborough-East Midlands Parkway-Nottingham.
Take over Worksop-Lincoln, Barton - Cleethorpes and the Gainsborough - Barnetby via Brigg line from Northern. Run trains from Nottingham to Lincoln via Mansfield & Worksop and Nottingham to Cleethorpes via Mansfield, Worksop and Brigg.
Run most Grimsby trains through to Cleethorpes.
Fleet remains the same - new services are worked by spare stock no longer needed for Norwich-Liverpool trains.
Trans-Pennine Express
Give Manchester-Scotland services to Virgin.
Take over Nottingham-Liverpool services from EMT.
Inherit Class 171s from Southern, convert back to 170s and use to increase capacity and/or operate new Nottingham-Liverpool services. Reintroduce Windermere-Manchester Airport through trains with 185s cascaded from Scotland services.
Merseyrail
Given Class 150s by Northern, including that set with no toilet Northern got from LM. All sets refurbished to 507/508 standard (new light clusters, new interior, toilets removed to save on weight/maintenance etc.).
Borderlands line taken over from ATW and refurb'ed 150s used on it.
New service: Ellesmere Port - Stanton & Thornlow - Ince & Elton - Helsby - Frodsham - (Halton Curve) - Runcorn - Liverpool South Parkway - West Allerton - Mossley Hill - Edge Hill - Liverpool Lime Street to give Elesmere port decent service in both directions, and to put the Halton curve into regular use. Northen no longer run south of Warrington Bank Quay on the Earlestown - Chester line. A few former SouthEastern or London Overground Class 508s can be heavily refurbished and pressed into service if capacity on the electrified routes becomes an issue.
Northern
Class 142/143s inherited from ATW/FGW.
Class 150s inherited from LM.
Class 332s inherited from HEx.
Class 321/322s transferred to NXEA.
Class 158s transferred to FGW/SWT.
Class 150s transferred to FGW/ATW/Merseyrail
Class 180s transferred to GC/HT
Northern seem to have come off worse in alot of my transfers so far. Lets remedy that :P
Government subsidised large (110+) order for LM-style Class 172s to replace classes 142/143/144 and to cover for transfer of classes 150/158 and for expansion to show that the gorvernment do care about the North of the country :P
Runcorn-(Halton Curve)-Chester & Ellesmere port line service are all transferred to Merseyrail. Northern operate 4 Liverpool Lime Street - Warrington Bank Quay and return trains per day, but do not venture south of Warrington Bank Quay or serve Runcorn at all anymore.
Worksop-Lincoln, Worksop-Cleethorpes and Barton-Cleethorpes all transferred to East Midlands trains.
Re-site Teesside airport station closer to the airport and give it a proper service.
New services: Carlisle - Whitehaven - Barrow - Carnforth - Lancaster - Morecambe - Heysham
Man Vic - Bolton - Blackburn - Clitheroe - Settle - Carlisle
3 return trains per day Stockport - Stalybridge via Reddish South.
What do you railwaymen & women think of my proposals? Any comments would be welcomed. Go easy on me as I am relatively new-ish here and I know this has a few flaws (money ect.) and it has taken me about 4 hours to work out & type :P
