This comment raises an interesting point about the manner in which trains in the UK operate. I remember well the days when you could travel from London to Glasgow stopping only at Preston and Carlisle, or from Birmingham to Plymouth stopping only at Bristol TM and Exeter (and there are many more examples). These days, modern thinking is that trains should stop much more frequently because they can do so while losing less time thanks to better acceleration, and also because running them long distances non-stop simply means they're more likely to catch up other trains.
Doesn't this suggest that there's not a lot of demand for end-to-end journeys but rather lots of people are doing overlapping journeys facilitated by the intermediate stops?
Is there merit though? Let's say you have a route A-B with 6 intermediate stops. The current situation gives an hourly service to/from A-B and all six intermediate stations. Introduce fast running and all of a sudden each intermediate station now only gets a service to/from A/B every 3 hours - and no direct service at all connecting the intermediate stations.
Which of those stops would you remove and how do you replace/solve the detriment to those who lose a service?
Those who make such proposals almost inevitably always suggest stops that they never use in order to speed up their personal journeys
The double-deck cars are all premium reserved 'green car' accommodation, and there are only a small number per train. The other cars are single-level standard class. With the lower density of green car, the two decks can carry no more passengers than a single-deck standard car under heavy load, so doors and stairs don't extend loading time too much.
Thanks. I investigated and found this description. It appears on the video that the presenter paid the supplement by beeping their phone on a sensor for a vacant seat using a special app. I guess if you can't find a seat, you don't beep, keep on walking through to standard accommodation, and thus don't pay. I wonder if they control numbers issued by traditional means at an adjustment kiosk near the platform. It appears these are 'local train green cars' and there are other green cars on limited expresses that are reservable.
There is an obvious comment, namely that Japanese people tend to be smaller in all respects - height, width, weight...
The last point is not the whole story. I side with those who point out disadvantages of double-deckers (if accommodation is cramped as it must be for the UK loading gauge).
TGV have a average of 3min stops at intermediates, longer stops mostly only happen when manouvers are need
This hasn't been my experience, the doorway area and stairs are always packed with people. And at the termini, half of the carriage is up 5min before arrival, even on single level (like in a taxiing airplane).
AIUI the tunnels would in theory be clear for UIC Gauge (not sure if UIC-GA or UIC-GB/GB+) but the platform profile is not (the platform is the standard UK offset from the rail, but higher (1,100mm) than the normal UK platform height, (915mm) so in theory the absolute height would be sufficient but the lower deck would need to be rather narrow.
Is that really true? I am sure there must be routes that are not accessible to 26m long IET stock due to platform curvature clearances.
It’s not sensible to try to provide a meaningful answer to this question because any evidence would be skewed by the existing service pattern, and in any event I don’t want to stray too far off the topic of double deck trains, which is why I’ve not responded before now.
