Varamis Rail Given Operators Licence from ORR

[Glasgowbusguy]

Wonder how loaded the trains have been, I guess we need to wait a month or 2 for it to settle down and see how full it gets

Glasgow central has all the infrastructure I place and even still has red star branding in some of the undercroft it is show on the station tour

 

[172007]

Cancelled again tonight.

 

[Carlisle]

Cancelled again tonight.

& same tonight,

 

[westcoaster]

Platform 1 at Birmingham International has access from the road for loading unloading, the other platforms don't. Imagine a train was left their for a reason or signaller put it into the wrong platform. I am sure it won't happen again.

Further down the tweet in the replies, it was said it was a LNWR/WMT train. Put there due to the strikes.

 

[172007]

Running today, 1st time this week.

 

[Carlisle]

Running today, 1st time this week.

Yes, & going by RTT this week it’s good to see it now appears to be back on a regular nightly schedule

 

[dk1]

Varamis where slating I suppose NR for the very tardy schedule the other day & nigh on 7hr journey time which is uncompetitive.

Average speed was 42mph!!

“If the relevant authorities don’t get on board with us, this will unfortunately go nowhere, will be a huge own goal and it will be the sole fault of the railway. @railandroad @transportgovuk @networkrail

#Decarbonisation
#GetOnBoard”

 

[The Planner]

Varamis where slating I suppose NR for the very tardy schedule the other day & nigh on 7hr journey time which is uncompetitive.

Average speed was 42mph!!

“If the relevant authorities don’t get on board with us, this will unfortunately go nowhere, will be a huge own goal and it will be the sole fault of the railway. @railandroad @transportgovuk @networkrail

#Decarbonisation
#GetOnBoard”

Bit cheeky, they can always rebid a path they think is compliant and is quicker.

 

[Freightmaster]

Yes, & going by RTT this week it’s good to see it now appears to be back on a regular nightly schedule

That's all well and good, but what will happen in a couple of weeks time when Carstairs is completely
blocked to all traffic for a fortnight??


I understand that DB will be 'dragging' a couple of their Shieldmuir EMU workings via the G+SW,
but Varamis don't have any locos (or drivers with the requisite route knowledge) to be able to do
that, so presumably the working will have to be suspended altogether for two weeks; will they be
blaming the "relevant authorities" for that, too?




MARK

 

[Trainbike46]

That's all well and good, but what will happen in a couple of weeks time when Carstairs is completely
blocked to all traffic for a fortnight??


I understand that DB will be 'dragging' a couple of their Shieldmuir EMU workings via the G+SW,
but Varamis don't have any locos (or drivers with the requisite route knowledge) to be able to do
that, so presumably the working will have to be suspended altogether for two weeks?




MARK

Potentially they will hire in another FOC to drag their EMUs?

 

[Bertie the bus]

Potentially they will hire in another FOC to drag their EMUs?

Do you think the flow is profitable enough for them to do that? I don't.

 

[Meerkat]

Do you think the flow is profitable enough for them to do that? I don't.

It has to be.
You won’t get and keep many customers if you keep giving up for weeks!

 

[Bertie the bus]

The likelihood is they won't get or keep many customers anyway. They are already making their excuses for why the project is going to fail. The standard railway excuse for failure - it's all somebody else's fault.

 

[AlastairFraser]

That's all well and good, but what will happen in a couple of weeks time when Carstairs is completely
blocked to all traffic for a fortnight??


I understand that DB will be 'dragging' a couple of their Shieldmuir EMU workings via the G+SW,
but Varamis don't have any locos (or drivers with the requisite route knowledge) to be able to do
that, so presumably the working will have to be suspended altogether for two weeks; will they be
blaming the "relevant authorities" for that, too?




MARK

Can't they get a local freight operator to drag their services to the ECML?

 

[The Planner]

Can't they get a local freight operator to drag their services to the ECML?

That is one hell of a diversion to get to Birmingham International!

 

[Bertie the bus]

Can't they get a local freight operator to drag their services to the ECML?

They wouldn't need the unit dragging to the ECML. Mossend - Edinburgh is electrified. Once on the ECML how would an EMU reach Birmingham other than running to London and back? If they complain about a 7 hour journey they wouldn't be too happy about Galsgow - London - Birmingham.

 

[Trainbike46]

They wouldn't need the unit dragging to the ECML. Mossend - Edinburgh is electrified. Once on the ECML how would an EMU reach Birmingham other than running to London and back? If they complain about a 7 hour journey they wouldn't be too happy about Galsgow - London - Birmingham.

I am assuming the dragging was meant as across from the ECML to birmingham, instead of going via london.

I can imagine them taking a small loss on some services around engineering works by dragging them over the unelectrifed bits of the diversion. Because to build parcels custom reliability is undoubtedly important

 

[Bertie the bus]

It wouldn't be a small loss. The margins on this sort of traffic would be wafer thin at best and a massive uphill struggle to even achieve that.

Why do you think ROG gave up on their aspirations for similar traffic or none of the big players in railfreight have even tried win this traffic? GBRf mooted the idea of converting redundant HSTs for high speed logistic services but didn't in the end, the EWS parcels service to Walsall ended years ago and nobody has tried to resurrect anything since.

 

[Trainbike46]

It wouldn't be a small loss. The margins on this sort of traffic would be wafer thin at best and a massive uphill struggle to even achieve that.

Why do you think ROG gave up on their aspirations for similar traffic or none of the big players in railfreight have even tried win this traffic? GBRf mooted the idea of converting redundant HSTs for high speed logistic services but didn't in the end, the EWS parcels service to Walsall ended years ago and nobody has tried to resurrect anything since.

Are you someone with insider knowledge (whether from being involved with varamis, ROG, network rail, another FOC, or some other source), or an enthusiast speculating from an outsider perspective?

 

[The Planner]

Are you someone with insider knowledge (whether from being involved with varamis, ROG, network rail, another FOC, or some other source), or an enthusiast speculating from an outsider perspective?

Freight in general is wafer thin, a couple of extra boxes on an Intermodal makes a big difference. Hence trying to get 775m trains on the network. Dragging a unit around the houses will make a significant dent in the margins of a single train.

 

[AlastairFraser]

They wouldn't need the unit dragging to the ECML. Mossend - Edinburgh is electrified. Once on the ECML how would an EMU reach Birmingham other than running to London and back? If they complain about a 7 hour journey they wouldn't be too happy about Galsgow - London - Birmingham.

I was talking about during the WCML blockades round Carstairs and Preston.
Drag Bham International to Peterborough, then straight up to Mossend.

That is one hell of a diversion to get to Birmingham International!

When Carstairs/Preston are blocked, what other options do they have? G&SW and S&C combined would be more miles on diesel than Brum to Peterborough surely?
Or you could drag from Man Victoria to Leeds and do it that way?

 

[Suraggu]

Network Rail will surely compensate even if a token amount due to the disruption such a huge blockade even if operators have had plenty of notice to amend plans and such.

Even to haul a single EMU from Carlisle to Mossend and back 5 days a week on a route with limited paths is surely going to be a 4 figure sum each day and when your profit margin on traffic such as parcels is at best razor thin running at a loss for two weeks is going to hurt.

 

[Carlisle]

Network Rail will surely compensate even if a token amount due to the disruption such a huge blockade even if operators have had plenty of notice to amend plans and such.

Politicians claim they want increased private sector involvement & investment in rail but going by these posts it only realistic for the very rich or large & already well established players .

 

[172007]

Ran last night but judging by very speedy turnaround the service was empty.

I immagine Veramis would have requested 100mph paths but were rejected or is it Network Rail can only offer slow paths.

Does the service get signal checked anywhere, I know the up service awaits an Avanti at Beatock by the looks of it.

 

[The Planner]

Ran last night but judging by very speedy turnaround the service was empty.

I immagine Veramis would have requested 100mph paths but were rejected or is it Network Rail can only offer slow paths.

Does the service get signal checked anywhere, I know the up service awaits an Avanti at Beatock by the looks of it.

The return service follows a DRS nuclear service north of Crewe, which clearly has stronger rights, as I reckon it could be fettled.

 

[Freightmaster]

When Carstairs/Preston are blocked, what other options do they have?

Hire a lorry?

(although judging by the loadings to date, a Smart car would probably be sufficient!)



MARK

 

[172007]

I suspect Veramis want faster paths as one driver could do the outward and return legs with a margin thinking about it.

 

[Carlisle]

Didn’t run tonight going by RTT

 

[AlastairFraser]

Hire a lorry?

(although judging by the loadings to date, a Smart car would probably be sufficient!)



MARK

I suppose they could, but that's not especially easy or cheap with the shortage of drivers at the moment.

 

[Adrian1980uk]

I suppose they could, but that's not especially easy or cheap with the shortage of drivers at the moment.

Would defeat they whole object and USP