Given 1) Avanti chose non-tilting stock for its new order, meaning slower trains than current, and 2) HS2 stock will not tilt, even though they will use the tilt enabled WCML, which also presumably means slower running, why have we moved away from tilt?
I know folks will say that the Class 80X has better acceleration than a Pendolino, but so it should given that it is a new train and the Pendo is about 20 years old. To me, true progress would have been to keep the existing tilt tech and combine it with improved acceleration to deliver something better than what we have now (rather than going backwards or at best standing still)*.
I believe Hitachi makes tilting trains. Could they not have brought that tech to the 80X series? Or Alstom or Siemens not have provided suitable replacements for the Super Voyagers?
* Does anyone know if the new Avanti 80X will be able to make, for example, Euston - Coventry, stopping once at MK, in the same time as a pendolino? It’s currently 58/9 mins. I struggle to see how the acceleration makes up for travelling slower for good stretches on this southern route.
Thank you.
I know folks will say that the Class 80X has better acceleration than a Pendolino, but so it should given that it is a new train and the Pendo is about 20 years old. To me, true progress would have been to keep the existing tilt tech and combine it with improved acceleration to deliver something better than what we have now (rather than going backwards or at best standing still)*.
I believe Hitachi makes tilting trains. Could they not have brought that tech to the 80X series? Or Alstom or Siemens not have provided suitable replacements for the Super Voyagers?
* Does anyone know if the new Avanti 80X will be able to make, for example, Euston - Coventry, stopping once at MK, in the same time as a pendolino? It’s currently 58/9 mins. I struggle to see how the acceleration makes up for travelling slower for good stretches on this southern route.
Thank you.