Quite a few Wigan to Liverpool services in the morning peaks are diagrammed for 2 sets, as are a few in the evening. By December you should have 4 car electrics.
In the past summer Sundays all services are booked for 2 sets too.
SD.
just watched the announcement on the news on BBC nw. Sounded very positive but these are the original Thameslink units from what -25 years ago and unrefurbished at least not in the last few years.
I lived in south London when they introduced Thameslink, and they were great new - I guess I should be grateful for any hand me downs Northern get, but I don't think their PR people should overset public expectations
I wonder if once in service with Northern, there will then follow a gradual programme of refurbishment as the original plan was to fit air conditioning in them before entering service up here. Can't see this happening now unless some spare units can be sourced.
Just been reading in Modern Railways , that the Dft is getting into a pickle with regards trains for both this Northern Rail franchise as well as a bigger pickle with regards Transpennine .
Christmas probably comes as a surprise to the Dft. It is a pickle entirely of their own making. You can only put your head in the sand for so long. The simple answer would be a new build of Electrostars for the North West, but I won't hold my breath!
SD.
Network Rail and Northern Rail have known the dates for each section of electrification coming alive , how Dft has allowed this situation to fester is laughable though .
All we can say is the length of time that the new Thameslink Stock came to financial close with Siemens is the root cause . Siemens at the time had a better credit rating than Bombardier so god only knows how long you would have been waiting for financial close that deal if they had got it , hence the reason why the Crossrail order was financed a different way , dont think the rolling stock industry could have lasted another prolonged procurement .
Apparently 319361 will be arriving next week, this is the first of 4 coming off lease. Also a Class 08 shunter will be hired to move the 319s around AN until the OLE is knitted up properly.
Any ideas where the Northern Trains drivers will be trained on these 319's when they do eventually arrive .
Is the electrification of the next stage still on time ?
Well if you consider that they are intended to be in service by December, I would say that it will be soon and I guess initially at Allerton?