2017 on British railways

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JamieLei
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2017 on British railways

Post by JamieLei »

Might be a while to collate some thoughts on what went right and wrong in 2017!

For me, a few highlights:

- Introduction of new Crossrail stock on TfL Rail (it's pretty swish!)
- Ordsall Chord in Manchester opened to traffic
- Phasing out of the Thameslink Cl.319s with all services now run by Cl.700s
- Waterloo blockade completed, with all the suburban platforms able to handle 10 coaches
- Night Overground
- Scottish Government getting very excited about commissioning work getting to London by rail in 3 hours
- Latest industry operational finances looking solid, and the railway pretty much covering its running costs
- Pretty much every train manufacturing plant in the country with jam-packed order books.

and some lowlights:

- Confirmation that the introduction of Thameslink 24tph would be pushed back a year
- Virgin Trains East Coast ending early, so that Stagecoach don't have to pay those back-loaded premiums...
- Continuing obsession by politicians with the ownership of our railways, while failing to actually acknowledge the bigger problems
- Sadiq Khan's slashing of pretty much any long-term investment on London Underground, as he has no money to pay for anything. (Additional Jubilee and Northern rolling stock, etc).

Your thoughts?
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Re: 2017 on British railways

Post by Gwyd »

We've still kept our no-fatalities-from-train-accidents record, despite our hardest efforts (buffer hits, Waterloo blockade derailment, Wimbledon derailment and the landslide on LM come to mind). Finally refurbishment is out of fashion. Might we see an end to 70's/80's stock soon?

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Pilot
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Re: 2017 on British railways

Post by Pilot »

JamieLei wrote:Ordsall Chord in Manchester opened to traffic
Already been around it, it's an impressive structure.

General Consensus in Manchester is that it's useless - currently, the service pattern only sees the MCV-LDS semi-fast trains extended through to Oxford Road every hour, with 2 hour gaps. Of course, this is all going to change post May timetable change, god knows where they've found the paths for those from! The issue is, people only see the here and now, and not the long term or big picture, such as the fact that it removes TPE services crossing over the entire throat at Piccadilly.
JamieLei wrote:Phasing out of the Thameslink Cl.319s with all services now run by Cl.700s
The 319s are doing a good job up here from what I've seen, they seem to be pretty quick off the mark, and have a higher top speed compared to the 142s, 150s and 156s they've displaced on the Liverpool runs. Hopefully the Class 769s aren't a flop either as the flexibility these units will offer will be immense!
Gwyd wrote:Finally refurbishment is out of fashion. Might we see an end to 70's/80's stock soon?
*cough* Vivarail D-Train *cough*
JamieLei wrote:Continuing obsession by politicians with the ownership of our railways, while failing to actually acknowledge the bigger problems
This is certainly beginning to get on my nerves. The privatised industry has seen rail use skyrocket, whilst the Government side of the network (at DfT level) has done a lot of sitting on it's backside. I see many of the major problems in the current system actually being caused by a lack of forward thinking from the Government side, rather than being an issue with the Private side. Northern (under Serco-Abellio) were a prime example of this lack of forward thinking in my opinion.

Of course, the politicians, and the general public, are putting the blame on the private side, as that's the more visible part of it. After all it says on the side Virgin or Arriva. Perhaps they need something adding along the lines of "run on behalf of the DfT" - that might change public perception!

---

Just some things we can look forward to in the next year:
- Electrification from Manchester to Euxton Jn via Bolton coming on line, as well as 100mph running.
- Electrification from Preston to Blackpool North being completed (not sure why South isn't being done as well to be honest).
- Lot's of new stock coming in, such as Northern's new CAFs, and TPEs Mark 5s.
- The eventual end of the Thameslink programme.
- The introduction of Tram-Trains to Rotherham.
- The vast majority of the EGIP being completed.
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Re: 2017 on British railways

Post by Geo Ghost »

Pilot wrote: Just some things we can look forward to in the next year:
- The eventual end of the Thameslink programme.
More like the absolute breakdown and failure of the TL programme to look forward to :P
It's going to be chaos!
JamieLei wrote: and some lowlights:
- Confirmation that the introduction of Thameslink 24tph would be pushed back a year
To me, this is actually a good thing at the moment. In reality, the 24tph should never be implemented into the timetable. It will be catastrophic!
Far too many trains which need to run spot on time in order for the whole system to work. If just one is out of sync in this whole system, then everything collapses.
But I'm at the stage now where I'm going to sit back and watch the fireworks as it were :P It's just a matter of time.


I'm looking forward to the roll-out of new rolling stock, and hoping for the day when the NCL tunnels to Moorgate are finally shut and properly cleaned up! Whether that'll happen this year though is another question.
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Re: 2017 on British railways

Post by Chris »

Pilot wrote: This is certainly beginning to get on my nerves. The privatised industry has seen rail use skyrocket, whilst the Government side of the network (at DfT level) has done a lot of sitting on it's backside. I see many of the major problems in the current system actually being caused by a lack of forward thinking from the Government side, rather than being an issue with the Private side. Northern (under Serco-Abellio) were a prime example of this lack of forward thinking in my opinion.
Surely one could also attribute increased rail use to the increased government expenditure on the railways during the "privatised" era?
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Re: 2017 on British railways

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JamieLei wrote:- Waterloo blockade completed, with all the suburban platforms able to handle 10 coaches
Nope. That's why you still see trains running around on 9 headcodes. It means they're 10 car that can't go in to 1-4 because although the track is there, the platforms faces aren't or did that finally get finished at Christmas?

I think a major highlight is that actually NR got pretty much everything it asked for in terms of funding for CP6. Obviously lows lights are the descoping of electrification all over the place meaning that all sorts of not life-expired fleets being parked up on MoD sites before rotting in to oblivion before being scrapped. You can almost guarantee that just as they go to the scrapheap, electrification comes back on the agenda!
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Re: 2017 on British railways

Post by Kevo00 »

Things are pretty good in the rail industry, but my big concern is how long the industry can remain unaffected by austerity and the general turbulence in the political environments? Though the global economic environment is looking good, for now at least. This is likely to affect electrification in the next 'control period'.
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Re: 2017 on British railways

Post by Nawdic »

Am I the only one looking forward to the 230 D stock entering service? Everyone on Facebook seems to be slagging it off lol

It was a bit of a sad sight seeing the 319s leave the south though. Could've been good on the West London/LO services.
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Re: 2017 on British railways

Post by Gwyd »

Nordic Dragon wrote:Am I the only one looking forward to the 230 D stock entering service?
Yes
Nordic Dragon wrote:It was a bit of a sad sight seeing the 319s leave the south though. Could've been good on the West London/LO services.
I'd agree, but we needed to give some evidence that money is going north.



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Re: 2017 on British railways

Post by Pilot »

Nordic Dragon wrote:Am I the only one looking forward to the 230 D stock entering service? Everyone on Facebook seems to be slagging it off lol
Personally, I'd rather the things go to the scrapheap where they, and the pacers, belong.

However, with the current lack of capacity at the major train builders, I can see them being a useful stop gap on the Marston Vale, just so long as they don't spontaneously set fire to themselves anymore! And hey, at least they have Bogies :lol:
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Re: 2017 on British railways

Post by Kevo00 »

Pilot wrote:
Nordic Dragon wrote:Am I the only one looking forward to the 230 D stock entering service? Everyone on Facebook seems to be slagging it off lol
And hey, at least they have Bogies :lol:
Fair point! As I said above, its not optimal, but you can't say it isn't interesting.
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Re: 2017 on British railways

Post by Ameecher »

Nordic Dragon wrote:Am I the only one looking forward to the 230 D stock entering service? Everyone on Facebook seems to be slagging it off lol

It was a bit of a sad sight seeing the 319s leave the south though. Could've been good on the West London/LO services.
Why would 319s be good on LO services? Shorter than the 378s, slower off the mark, older and configured all wrong.
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Re: 2017 on British railways

Post by Kaasschaaf »

The only West London service where a 319 might be appropriate would be the Croydon-Milton Keynes one - and the slower acceleration might upset London Overground.
Just some things we can look forward to in the next year:
- Electrification from Manchester to Euxton Jn via Bolton coming on line, as well as 100mph running.
- Electrification from Preston to Blackpool North being completed (not sure why South isn't being done as well to be honest).
- Lot's of new stock coming in, such as Northern's new CAFs, and TPEs Mark 5s.
- The eventual end of the Thameslink programme.
- The introduction of Tram-Trains to Rotherham.
- The vast majority of the EGIP being completed.
And don't forget the big elephant in the room: Crossrail's planned opening in December.
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Re: 2017 on British railways

Post by Gwyd »

Also, alliance rail is starting services between Waterloo and the South Coast.

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