But thats a different thing to putting it in the LTP timetable, which by the way I think is needed. Queen Adelaide Crossing doesn't help though as @Bald Rick as previously told us.
How was there even enough stock in the Sprinter and 170 days? Unless Anglia always being shut for engineering one weekend or another freed stock from other routes to allow it to operate relief to Cambridge.
Or looking at it from the London end of the patch the 170s were removed from the through workings as some trains were hopelessly overcrowded, necessitating a few relief trains to run in addition. This was the real driving force behind withdrawing the through service and replacing it with EMUs that could be 4 / 8 /12 cars as demand dictated. The fact it freed up 3 car 170s for Norwich - Cambridge which then allowed the 2 car 170s onto Ipswich - Cambridge was an added bonus. Passenger loadings on Ipswich - Cambridge improved so much that the 3 car 170s were later swapped from the Peterborough service.
I feel the Cambridge/ Stansted airport run will be an issue in the coming years as it's only going to become more popular but capacity cannot be increased as the trains are at max length they can be and frequency cannot be increased with Ely maxed out.
Why do 755/3s run on the Norwich to Stansted service at all? Is it just a case of balancing mileage across the fleet or some stabling or platform issue? Alternatively, did the planners simply identify one diagram with a lower loading factor?
The risk is the 755/3s become the 153s of the stadler fleet if used on the wrong diagrams as passengers build up again
It's a problem, needed for Sudbury, not other use cases but have to be used somewhere although I would suggest the Norwich to Cambridge should be avoided as it should be one of the top routes for 755s as it's between cities
Nice problem to have in the current climate
An extra Stansted express unit being used as the triple 755 doesn't provide enough capacity, this probably means an extra double 720 on Stansted express, going to 4 trains an hour throughout the day probably more 720s on that run anyway
I thought it was partly for Birmingham New Street crews to take a PNB, but since Covid I'm not so sure they work throughout (if they ever did). The route knowledge threads on here show the conductors going to Stansted but not the drivers. Can't vouch if that is correct or not though.
New Street drivers did used to work through to Stansted on some services, but they lost it during the XC post COVID cull. Now they only go as far as Cambridge.
That wasn't a great decision - frequent cancellations occur regularly between Cambridge & Stansted on XC
Thanks, though that was the case, but wasn't certain.
A rattly, draughty 321 with no tables and awkward cramped seating was always a major downgrade from a cosy 170 as well. I don't know how they managed to run 170s in 5, 6 and 9 formations pre 2008 (evidenced on Flickr).
I'd even go as far as saying we have the best train service in the country. Still I remember how dire it was even up to 2019 with all the shortforms, unrealiability and cancellations, and tired old Sprinters, 321s and 90s.
Silly idea but if it went to 2tph, 1 could be extended to Yarmouth... There's probably a market Yarmouth to Stansted via Norwich and Cambridge without changing trains.
