(05/06/2015 23:01)St Helens Rider Wrote: [ -> ]According to this month's Today's Railways UK, all 20 of the initial batch of 319's should be in service by September which will then mean that the Liverpool - Blackpool service will be curtailed to Preston - not the best of timing given the fact it's Blackpool's busiest time of year.
So yet again St Helens loses another connection... what an joke.
You would have thought that Northern would have found a way of keeping the Blackpool North connection till at least after the Blackpool illuminations season.
(05/06/2015 23:55)bolton bus basher Wrote: [ -> ]So yet again St Helens loses another connection... what an joke.
More importantly Liverpool loses its Blackpool connection until 2017.
Not sure if the reason is the total rebuild of the Preston to Blackpool North line or Northerns need to use the stock elsewhere. Mind ou having been given another six 319s they have use put them in service, and Preston and Warrington Bank Quay are the only routes possible at present.
Also I presume diagrams are being altered on the Warrington Bank Quay route as presently units on this route also work the Ellesmere Port branch.
I know this may sound a bit odd but wouldn't Ellesmere port - Warrington Bank Quay be a better fit in the Arriva Trains Wales franchise than the Northern franchise .
(06/06/2015 15:09)wirralbus Wrote: [ -> ]I know this may sound a bit odd but wouldn't Ellesmere port - Warrington Bank Quay be a better fit in the Arriva Trains Wales franchise than the Northern franchise .
I don't think it would be a better suited having the ELP-WBQ service with the Wales & Borders franchise instead of the Northern franchise. There's no other services in the Wales & Borders franchise that the ELP-WBQ service could realistically interwork with other than the Manchester services which are primarily operated by Class 175s and sometimes Class 158s. I just cannot see the logic in operating either a 158 or a 175 (especially a 3 car 175/1) on that route
The only service which comes close for Northern is the Chester - Northwich - Manchester route. The line I think should be a candidate for a Parry People Mover type of operation although the frequency on the line at present probably doesn't justify the cost.
(06/06/2015 17:36)St Helens Rider Wrote: [ -> ]The only service which comes close for Northern is the Chester - Northwich - Manchester route. The line I think should be a candidate for a Parry People Mover type of operation although the frequency on the line at present probably doesn't justify the cost.
It would definitely be a good candidate for Class 139 (or a larger PPM vehicle) operation in my view - or maybe a Class 144e unit. Even with the reduced capacity compared to a Class 142 I think a two carriage 144e would be suitable for the WBQ-ELP service - and it could interwork with other services too
Whilst Arriva Trains Wales do have suitable stock to operate the WBQ-ELP route (Class 142, 143, 150/2 and 153) I think that they're all without a doubt too small to operate (even for the purpose of interworking) on the Manchester and Heart of Wales Line routes. Apart from that they're all based in South Wales at Cardiff Canton. Even if a 142, 143, 150/2 or 153 was allocated to Chester - there's no point considering it would only operate one service a day. It would be more useful to have that unit in South Wales where the capacity is needed
That service is as near to a parliamentary timetable as you could get without going to a one train a day service .
The afternoon services im led to believe see more passengers than the morning ones.
(06/06/2015 21:50)wirralbus Wrote: [ -> ]That service is as near to a parliamentary timetable as you could get without going to a one train a day service .
The afternoon services im led to believe see more passengers than the morning ones.
Exactly - which is why it would be a poor use of ATW's stock if a unit was reallocated from Cardiff Canton (where the Pacer and Sprinter stock is needed a lot more) to Chester only to be used once or twice a day during the week. A two-car Class 175 would definitely be too large for that service
That wouldn't surprise me - but even so - the WBQ-ELP service is best left with the Northern franchise