I think you'll find the very first thing they want is flexibility. Do you think if the M6 is shut they keep sending lorries onto it saying "Don't be flexible, go and sit in traffic" Of course they don't! An ability to adapt and change when issues arise is vital. Rail doesn't offer that. To say they don't want flexibility is ludicrous. No mail provider deliberately delays mail because it won't be flexible.
For what it’s worth, the 325s are pathed [and I assume timetabled] as passenger units.
Amazon and Green..
Yes, have pretty much comparable paths.
royal mail does effectively offer this, in the form of royal mail tracked 48, and 2nd class postage options - As far as I can tell, the 24 hour / first class options generally get sent across the Irish sea by airplane, whereas the 2nd class / 48 hour options generally go by ferry, which is much lower impact
Royal Mail are moving from Electric train to diesel trucks, increasing pollution , as the cost of road trucks are cheaper than replacing the end of life 29 year old class 325 EMUs. They don't seem to have looked at using newer, perhaps leased, EMUs for mail?
Oh, I expect they have, and the cost (and length of lease for such specialised trains) has no doubt not been competitive.
I read somewhere that the software used by Amazon’s drivers will not allow a delivery to be recorded unless the delivery vehicle is within a very short distance of the address, hence it’s entirely normal for them to have to move a couple of houses up the street between drops. Presumably this is to discourage drivers leaving vehicles out of sight while they undertake drops to several houses, increasing the risk of theft?
If it's possible, the greenest option would be to see if a local business stocks your requirement and walk there and buy it. Failing that, perhaps use a click and collect option and walk to the pickup point.
End of life? The 325s were not intensively used, and are in far, far better condition than the Porterbrook 319s that could have provided a substantial source of spares.
The Varamis 321s, being the first to spring to mind, are even older. So this doesn’t tally with the arguments that Royal Mail has set out.
I'm assuming that the subtext of what has been said by RM is that the £25s are due to fairly major work which they don't consider to be the worth it given the flows / market the 325s were designed for ...
There’s a more recently used discussion in the thread in the diagrams section, although I don’t know if they’re sure either:
www.railforums.co.uk
There’s a more recently used discussion in the thread in the diagrams section, although I don’t know if they’re sure either:
ECML mail trains
Hi all - a note for yesterday’s 5Z06 Willesden PRDC to Tyne S.S. on Railcam suggests that it was the final ever 325 on the ECML. Can anyone confirm? I have attached the note. Note reads: final ever 325 up the ECML, last one Was lucky to see it at Camden Road yesterday clearly!
Ooh that makes me both glad and sad I saw 3 of them on Wednesday, although it will free up some class 1 paths. Was surprised when looking at the info on Realtimetrains & tracksy they fit the 1 & 2 headcodes.
They will get taken by whoever bids into them if they are released.
Potential for open acsess passenger paths?
Potential for anything, they don't necessarily need to be used in their entirety.