All ormskirk line trains are formed of 6 coaches today due to racing at aintree 508120/508143 is one of the sets out working this morning. Also the polar express train formed of 508127/508134 has been stabled at kirkdale for the past few days its in the far siding next to the main shed.
also saw the polar express units at kirkdale, 508127 had a temporary lamp on but it was not in use, was wondering why the trains were 6 car but on the way back from ormskirk platform 2 at kirkdale was rather packed. is it a new bike shed being built at seaforth and litherland forgot to mention it 2 weeks ago. is sandhills iecc the curved low level building on dunes way.
Some dire units on today's Ormskirk pairs. They were comprised of 507014 + 508131, 507017 + 507018, 507032 + 508112, 508114 + 508122 and 508120 + 508143. Not exactly a great selection of 508s!
507033 has been fitted with air conditioning and was on the Southport line. Colourful 507002 was stabled in the wall siding at Southport alongside 507011.
Was at Liverpool Cent earlier, despite all Wirral services being 6 carriages, people still insist on all standing in the same area on the platform, saw 2 trains leave with back 3 coaches standing and the front half 3/4 empty
(09/12/2012 19:05)N271CKB Wrote: [ -> ]Was at Liverpool Cent earlier, despite all Wirral services being 6 carriages, people still insist on all standing in the same area on the platform, saw 2 trains leave with back 3 coaches standing and the front half 3/4 empty
Works out quite well actually.
Means passengers at James Street can actually get a seat though.
Merseyrail/Network Rail, in their infinite wisdom, decided against putting any seating or CIS information screens on the platform beyond the normal 3-car marker board, which means, ultimately, passengers will not move down the platform.
My opinion is that the 3/6 car marker boards should be removed at Liverpool Central (Wirral) and an 'S' board placed at the current 6-car marker. That way, even 3-car units stop right at the far end, and means the areas around the escalators/passageways are kept clear.
May be academic anyway. The current ramblings from the Rolling Stock replacement project seem to be favouring a train with 4-coaches (and no 6/8-car workings). That is why I am starting to think that the massive 377 order may be of great interest to Merseytravel.
4 coaches will be a shambles im afraid , if you have ever seen some of the Southport and Ormskirk services then that has to be a none starter without an increase in frequency at certain times of the day .
It doesn't work well on the Wirral Line because nowhere near as many people are getting on at James Street compared with Liverpool Central, and very few are using the front cars there either. I went through there twice today in the leading car with no more than three people on at the same time, and no passengers boarded at James Street on either occasion. Getting a seat wasn't a problem on any Wirral Line train this afternoon from what I saw.
The 19.15 from Central to Chester was cancelled despite being only five minutes late, which seems ridiculous - at the very least, it could've run in service as far as Hooton. I've noticed a couple of shoddy cancellations over the last week or so where the train isn't particularly late. Nursing their figures again it seems.
On the Northern Line, it seems 507028 and 508130 became stranded at Hunts Cross after a points failure there, and consequently 507027 and 507033 were drafted in from Southport as their replacement.
As for rolling stock replacement, let's just say I'll believe a fleet of 4 car EMUs when I see it. As for the 377s, I've already explained they're most likely connected with the future replacement of Southern's 313 and 442 fleet, as well as much-needed capacity expansions down there.
A 4-car unit is sufficient IMO, especially if specified with 3+2 seating. London Overground manage fine with their 378s.
I am fairly confident that something from the Bombardier Electrostar family (377,378,379) will replace the PEP fleet.
I initially thought that the Siemens Desiro City may be considered, but I think it is unlikely, especially with some of the technology being implemented in these designs being fairly untested & new. It also would generate bad press in terms of "Germans taking British jobs" etc etc.
As for any other stock - very unlikely. Merseytravel can't afford to obtain something bespoke. Needs to be something cheap, easy to produce, easy to source parts, and with a proven record in the UK.
You won't get 6-car trains in the future, primarily because carriages are built longer than they used to be. Difficult to lengthen most Merseyrail platforms.
5-car units are a no go because you need 2 car and 3 car mixed sets, fixed 5-car sets are overkill during the day.
4-car units are a good compromise. Longer carriages than present, with better seating configurations. You would probably get a lot more seats in a 4-car 377 with 3+2 seating than a current 507 6-car.
I would like to see 3 car units myself, they are a suitable size and the 3/2 seating would be stupid up here because lets be honest, the average size of a man up north is greater that the size of a man down south. In the words of Rafael Benitez "Thats a fact"
The 507/8's are having mods such as Aircon which seems a bit pointless if they will be gone in 5 years... so does the return/rebuilt/refurb of 507002. I think that Merseyrail should wait until a labour government is in government so that they get more investment into new trains. Surely the units are DDA compliant? There are more important units out there to replace... ie- pacers and some of the more unreliable emu', even from the PEP family. I'd like to see the back of the 315's. I dont really like what NXEA did to them in the refurb. I think that Merseyrail did a better job on the 507/8's.
I think 5 years is an optimistic time frame for the 507/8s to be replaced. Even so, the air con will still see at least 5 years of usage so probably not as silly as it first seems. Most of the networks issues seem to be infrastructure related anyway, the trains on the whole seem fairly reliable.