Merseyrail

[wirralbus]

RE: Merseyrail
If 507002 is now starting to take test runs after its recent long rest this can not be that far from coming back into revenue earning service .

I just wonder how many maintainence cycles it will have missed out on over those 3 years it was having its repairs seen to ?

[First Class]

RE: Merseyrail

(10/08/2012 15:24)wirralbus Wrote:  If 507002 is now starting to take test runs after its recent long rest this can not be that far from coming back into revenue earning service .

I just wonder how many maintainence cycles it will have missed out on over those 3 years it was having its repairs seen to ?

If the test runs went well, I suspect it will be out on Monday as part of a 6-car consist.

[wirralbus]

RE: Merseyrail

(10/08/2012 15:29)First Class Wrote:  

(10/08/2012 15:24)wirralbus Wrote:  If 507002 is now starting to take test runs after its recent long rest this can not be that far from coming back into revenue earning service .

I just wonder how many maintainence cycles it will have missed out on over those 3 years it was having its repairs seen to ?

If the test runs went well, I suspect it will be out on Monday as part of a 6-car consist.

So as to keep it close to Birkenhead North the West Kirby six car job could be a prime candidate then ?

[H101GEV (Administrator)]

RE: Merseyrail
There are also 15 spare 508s lying around at Eastleigh Works, lest we forget. #NoExcuse

Sick and tired of the excuses for continually overcrowded Southport trains.

[wirralbus]

RE: Merseyrail
I think that now merseytravel and merseyrail have started the process to look for new trains those 508's down at Eastleigh can basically say goodbye to a safe future .

How many trains and of what length do you think that Merseyrail should operate in the future , will merseyrail want to future proof any expansion and growth on there services.

[H101GEV (Administrator)]

RE: Merseyrail
They also manage to provide 6 car Southport trains when the Orange Lodge Parade and Flower Show fall on weekdays without cutting pairs elsewhere. By my calculations, it requires four additional units, so there would've been enough spare to run a full 6 car service today in the blazing sunshine. Failing that, at least keep the six car trains in use between the peaks, apart from diagram swaps to position them for afternoon peak. A third option would be to trim the 10 train sets required to 9 by reducing the turn-around time at Southport to six minutes (removing effectively an unnecessary set from the rotation), so needing only two additional units to provide a full complement of six car trains.

So, there aren't "no" spare sets lying around, and their excuse is really self-refuting. There are five units stabled at Southport between the peaks, all of which are used in afternoon peak service. How are these unavailable?

I should just quickly add something quite significant. I use two Merseyrail routes very regularly - the Southport and New Brighton lines. While the former suffers from overcrowding at almost all times of the day and seats are simply not an option from around Waterloo onwards in the Liverpool direction until at least 14.00, the latter is an excellent service, never overcrowded, seats always available. In general, the New Brighton service is bang on - near faultless save for sometimes dirty trains. The Southport experience is completely different - this should be the flagship service, but they aren't meeting supply with demand.

[wirralbus]

RE: Merseyrail
507009 , if you reduce the turnround at Southport to six minutes you get to the Chester problem where services may get terminated short to keep the timetable going all day with the least disruption .

The hunts Cross end of the route has to fit around the services to Manchester , Scarborough and York and wont be easy to retime .

[H101GEV (Administrator)]

RE: Merseyrail
I know what you mean, but no retiming would be necessary. It's just a continuation of morning and afternoon peak in effect, when they run nine trainsets (excluding the additional services) with six minute turn-around times.

Be that as it may, there are still five units stabled between the peaks at Southport which are not for maintenance.

[507 mad (ex m'rail forever)]

RE: Merseyrail
may i say if 507002 does tests on long routes (southport, chester and ellesmere port) what time would it get past hightown if it did a test on the southport line. and i've been working it out that if you had every train on the system in service you could strengthen the three busiest lines which are the southport, chester and ormskirk lines if their was a big event in liverpool.

[First Class]

RE: Merseyrail

(10/08/2012 15:53)507009 Wrote:  There are also 15 spare 508s lying around at Eastleigh Works, lest we forget. #NoExcuse

Sick and tired of the excuses for continually overcrowded Southport trains.

Erm, no there's not!

On 14 August, 4x GBRf 73s are moving (some of) them. 508212 (which is a write off due to no working parts left after being used as a Christmas tree) will be included in that consist... I don't think they are going anywhere useful...

(from other source, but:
7Y08
07.49 dep Eastleigh Works
08.42 arr Soton Western Docks)

Heading to Southampton Docks then it's anybody's idea where they turn up after that.

508301/302/303 are going to start doing test runs between Basingstoke and Eastleigh, with potential for "departmental" conversion.