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New Bombardier and CAF stock for West Midlands

Posted: 18 Oct 2017 10:43
by JamieLei
So I was wrong all along; the 707s won't end up on the Birmingham Cross City Line reconfigured as 6-car sets!

https://www.railnews.co.uk/news/2017/10 ... rains.html

Looks like quite a lot more capacity for local services round the West Midlands! Might we expect that all Cross City line trains end up as 6 coaches?

Re: New Bombardier and CAF stock for West Midlands

Posted: 18 Oct 2017 16:27
by Redirect Left
Christ, I hope that image is something a kid doodled and not an expected outcome. That's an ugly ass train front.

Re: New Bombardier and CAF stock for West Midlands

Posted: 18 Oct 2017 22:43
by Dave
So are we already bored of the 172s.?

Re: New Bombardier and CAF stock for West Midlands

Posted: 20 Oct 2017 06:59
by JamieLei
I suspect that the 172s stay, but the 170s and 153s all go. The 150s have already been retired from the franchise.

It's D stock for Blechley-Bedford, but modern stuff for NUCKLE.

Re: New Bombardier and CAF stock for West Midlands

Posted: 20 Oct 2017 07:10
by Pilot
JamieLei wrote:Might we expect that all Cross City line trains end up as 6 coaches?
I was under the impression that was why the remaining 323s were heading to Birmingham in the first place.
JamieLei wrote:The 150s have already been retired from the franchise.
Have they? Almost certain I saw a 150 at Bletchley on Tuesday, ready to do a Bedford service. I'm aware they are going soon, but thought they were remaining until the end of LM.
JamieLei wrote:but the 170s and 153s all go.
Hopefully some of the 170s will go to Northern. I believe they're still required to find around 18 2-car trains of similar quality and performance to a 170, so some of them would be perfect!

Re: New Bombardier and CAF stock for West Midlands

Posted: 20 Oct 2017 21:58
by Dave
LM 170s are in decent shape!

Re: New Bombardier and CAF stock for West Midlands

Posted: 25 Oct 2017 21:47
by JamieLei
Pilot wrote:
JamieLei wrote:Might we expect that all Cross City line trains end up as 6 coaches?
I was under the impression that was why the remaining 323s were heading to Birmingham in the first place.
I think that was the intention, but I believe the bidder has alternative plans. There was also some interesting capacity metrics in the Invitation to Tender about what was allowable standing metrics on them with Cl.323 vs. Cl.700-type stock.
Pilot wrote:
JamieLei wrote:The 150s have already been retired from the franchise.
Have they? Almost certain I saw a 150 at Bletchley on Tuesday, ready to do a Bedford service. I'm aware they are going soon, but thought they were remaining until the end of LM.
Perhaps I was getting mixed with the Invitation to Tender. In any case, they're all going.
Pilot wrote:
JamieLei wrote:but the 170s and 153s all go.
Hopefully some of the 170s will go to Northern. I believe they're still required to find around 18 2-car trains of similar quality and performance to a 170, so some of them would be perfect!
Don't forgot, there are Cl.170s coming off Scotrail and Anglia too. So there's gonna be lots of them floating around.

I reckon East Midlands will inherit a lot of the Cl.170s for regional routes. The rural routes are crying out for something higher quality than a 153, and there is a lot unmet demand.