Merseyrail

[wirralbus]

RE: Merseyrail
Once again this morning services seriously affected by Adhesion related problems .

I know i seem to be harping on but this leaf fall season has to have produced one of the most unreliable timetables for many a year , normally leaf fall season produces delays of 5 minutes , but this one has seen delays escalate at times to 10+ minutes late at times .

[507 mad]

RE: Merseyrail
is the RHTT still running, also is their a difference between the loco hauled RHTT and the MPV hauled RHTT.

i thought the line was poor because this morning the trains to hunts cross and liverpool central were all late, just heard their has been a major powercut in formby will this affect the traction current in that area

[H101GEV (Administrator)]

RE: Merseyrail
16.43 Southport - Hunts Cross and 17.51 return was short-formed tonight, presumably as a result of the low adhesion delays. The usual complement of five additional sets was present at Southport.

Noticed 507012, which has lost a few 'M's as a result of that graffiti attack. Both advertising liveried units were in use on the Ormskirk line: 507002 operated throughout the day while 508111 took up the second evening peak 6 car alongside 507015.

[H101GEV (Administrator)]

RE: Merseyrail
Merseyrail did well tonight: a much, much better evening peak on the Northern Line with no short-formings and the vast majority of trains running bang on time. A couple of the pairs ran slightly behind time, but this is to be expected.

[wirralbus]

RE: Merseyrail
Tonight it was the Wirral Line that suffered because of an incident of disorder at Eastham Rake that seemed to cause the disruption , unfortunately Merseyrail are powerless to prevent delays if it caused by disorder.

When you have disruption on the Hooton line it will almost inevitably result in some chester services being terminated due to the 4 min turnround at Chester(Evening and Sunday) and 6 mins turnround (weekday daytime).

I think it may soon be time to look at the timetable again to see how it can be improved as a part cancellation of a Chester train is now a certainty not a possibility on most days now .

[507 mad]

RE: Merseyrail
it's such a shame that the M's are lost in these foolish attacks, why cant the people who do it grow up and get punished for these things.

how are the new M's applied?

the train i got this evening was 507017 with 508127 at formby, the train kept sliding and banging.

a few weeks ago as i got off 508136 at hightown going towards southport, as it left hightown the rear axle caught fire and made a very very loud bang.

[H101GEV (Administrator)]

RE: Merseyrail
On 507023, they replaced its missing 'M's in time for the naming ceremony, seemingly just a replacement transfer over the yellow circle. Some of the more damaged sections of vinyl were also touched up on this set. I'm not sure in the case of 508110, but they haven't fixed any of 508117's 'M's. Personally I'd rather see an entirely new livery, or at least a complete revinyl of certain units. The exteriors of 508108 and 508120, to name but two, are poor.

Noticed 507014 has been mainly used in 6 car formation for the last few weeks. It has been coupled with 507009 on the Southport line since at least last Thursday.

[First Class]

RE: Merseyrail

(07/11/2012 19:59)wirralbus Wrote:  I think it may soon be time to look at the timetable again to see how it can be improved as a part cancellation of a Chester train is now a certainty not a possibility on most days now .

4tph Liverpool-Chester
2tph Hooton-Ellesmere Port with some services extended to/from Liverpool in the peaks

Then just pad out the Hooton-Birkenhead Central section which would have enough space in it with the Ellesmere Port services missing. Add a "theoretical" 5 minutes or so to the overall journey length as a result.

That way, a Chester train will make up time by Hooton, and a Liverpool train will make up time by Birkenhead Central. Could probably stop at Capenhurst too.

You could even strengthen some daytime Chester (or other) services with unit(s) saved by only having a single unit on the Ellesmere Port "shuttle".

My own thoughts are that the Hooton-Ellesmere Port branch would be better served with a small, 2tph, diesel unit going from Hooton-Helsby, or even Warrington. Probably best being ran by ATW like the Borderlands.

(On that note there are some route learning trips coming up which will see some ATW trains reversing at Hooton, but quite late at night and not in service)

[H101GEV (Administrator)]

RE: Merseyrail
I think a potential shuttle service from Hooton to Ellesmere Port between the peaks could be beneficial. The current situation, especially on Saturdays, looks a bit odd with only Chester trains not preceded by an Ellesmere Port service actually being busy. The pattern I've often noticed on Saturday afternoons is: well-filled Chester, virtually empty Ellesmere Port, virtually empty Chester. For most of the day, six trains an hour is arguably overkill between Liverpool and Hooton, whereas the Southport and Ormskirk lines, which on their own carry much more traffic into Liverpool than Chester and Ellesmere Port combined, only have four.

Compared with the electrification to Chester, a major success story, the Ellesmere Port line pales. I've never seen a busy train beyond Hooton in all my time of using that limb of the network. That being said, there are some who do rely on the service to Liverpool who would be unimpressed with the direct service being cut.

A slightly different option regarding the Chester line reliability problem would be to add several minutes of recovery time at a certain point, so maybe three or four minutes at Hooton for Chester bound journeys, and the same time at Birkenhead Central for Liverpool bound journeys.

[wirralbus]

RE: Merseyrail
Think the Ellesmere Port electrification was a sop to the then Cheshire County Council paying some money out of its coffers for the electrification to Chester, otherwise the electrification would still be only going to Hooton .