craigybagel
Established Member
- Joined
- 25 Oct 2012
- Messages
- 5,109
You want to scrap 27 perfectly serviceable DMUs
The 175s had a rough introduction, but I wouldn't say they are unreliable. Perhaps in years gone by.
Exactly. From my own experience working on them they're actually the most reliable Trains we have!
Which suggests either a design flaw or poor quality manufacturing.
Alsthom in the late 90s/early 00s weren't exactly known for their high quality produce.
Aren't the Scotrail 170s earmarked for Northern possibly on the Harrogate line ? Nobody is interested in giving ATW any more units not that there are any available. ATW won't attempt anything, just saying DFT allocate units and that there should be more units available on Electrification but that's a long way away yet. Their franchise expires in 2018 but actually require additional units several years ago, The Marches and North Wales routes are particularly vulnerable for gross overcrowding day in and day out. In fact, the problem is widespread.
What particular services on the Marches do you have in mind as suffering from gross overcrowding? I spend most of my working life on that route and contrary to popular belief,even the 2 car services are rarely grossly overcrowded. 90% full maybe, and not ideal especially on match days, but it's not like people are being left behind, or even forced to stand for more than 20 minutes in the rush hour.
That said, my personal belief (not based on insider knowledge I hasten to add) is that any short term fleet expansion may come in the form of loco and stock. There is another guards depot currently being trained up on them, which once complete would theoretically permit Manchester-Cardiff services to use them.