RobShipway
Established Member
- Joined
- 20 Sep 2009
- Messages
- 3,337
There is no 3rd rail network at Abingdon. Any train would only be using 3rd rail to Basingstoke, there is no point in extending it as beyond Basingstoke, you are better off having OHL.However by the time the train exits Birmingham it probably won't be back at 100% SOC, so there might be limitation as to where it goes next. Hence why it might be worth having a 3rd rail pick up so that by the time the train leaves the 3rd rail network at Abingdon it's at 100% charge.
But that is my point by 2049, you would have new stock and yes it is possibly a Tri-mode fleet that is working for XC. Whether it is using third rail by 2049, that is another point again!You appear to have conflated fleets in squadron service with the last surviving remnants some decades later: The equivalent in your 2049 scenario would be perhaps five Voyagers surviving in service with, say, an Open Access operator, with the rest having been withdrawn many years previously. Certainly, based on historic precedent they would not remain in operation on the services they were designed and built for, as BR frequently replaced and cascaded rolling stock from frontline long distance services after comparatively few years.
Also, whether the XC routes that we have today are with the same operator in 2049 is also going to be another question. A lot can happen in that time.