Lancashire Triangle Electrification

[First Class]

RE: Lancashire Triangle Electrification

(20/10/2013 17:37)childwallblues Wrote:  

(20/10/2013 09:23)DVG526 Wrote:  

(17/10/2013 18:25)wirralbus Wrote:  Good to see that they are now dealing with the line from St Helens to Huyton , it wont be long before we can say bye bye to the pacers and sprinters and say hello Emu's .

EMUs that are the same age as the DMUs they are replacing..

Does it matter? The 319s are excellent units and will be fully refurbished

Life expectancy of EMUs built around that time is ~40 years.

So they are likely to be with us until 2030ish - do you really think the Class 319 will be appropriate in 10 or 20 more years, even with a refurbishment?

I don't really have a problem with the units themselves, BUT:

One of the core "refurbishment" plans was to remove one of the intermediate vehicles, reducing capacity to 3 coaches, primarily because DfT/Network Rail didn't want to pay for any platform extensions for multiple working.

With major enhancements like "Northern Hub", electrification, even HS2 etc, I suspect demand will absolutely rocket and whilst we might get to our destination a little quicker, I suspect it is going to be more than a little cosy in there!