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I guess the X2 will eventually be incorporated into the cross-city Walsall to Solihull route. That's probably a couple of away yet though.

How much notice was given?

To give them their due, they announced it about a month ago.

[March 2022]

Slightly off topic but as additional ZEBRA2 funding is in the news today, have I missed any updates on WMCA's 100 Hydrogen vehicles from the funding in March 2022?! I believe they had requested them to be changed to electric but could be wrong. 

Can you get the Bournemouth XC service to Leamington from New Street?

Looking at Real Time trains it looks like it is running short to Eastleigh on Sunday as well. Then again the 19:07 one I've seen out of New Street always seems to be rammed all the time.

Fair point. Mind you with the hassle a mate had with XC weekend driver shortages last Saturday its probably safer to stick with the coach.

Problem is how to get to Warwick parkway from Birmingham without a car and, it seems, no trains

Grabbed a Flixbus down, NX back. 15 quid.

Isn't 4656 a non euro 6 though?

Can't have long left now surely. Probably get a higher re-sale price with a full MOT though?

According to the Franchise Document behemoth, NX will take ownership of the Hydrogen buses in 2028 so I guess they can do what they want with them then - who knows what the landscape will look like by then though.

I've not seen any updates on WMCA's plan to generate hydrogen from the canal in Walsall. Maybe the hydrogen revolution is under threat anyway, certainly the plan for the 1 billion euro hydrogen plant in Rotterdam may have hit the buffers as the Dutch government has changed tack on financial incentives which has discouraged Shell from progressing.

Pensnett Garage is finished under franchising, thought WMCA want a new Dudley garage on corner of Peartree Lane.

The Franchising document states that WMCA would look to acquire or transfer the lease for Pensnett (page 390) . But it does add that the location is possibly suboptimal

The click-bait media love nothing more than taking statistics out of context and then using words like "dangerous" to exaggerate and put fear into people.

Precisely. Also it has been reported that the whole Reach organisation - i.e. all the various "... Live" websites - has page view targets for the journalist.

The more sensational the headline, "Most Dangerous", "Snow Bomb" etc. the greater chance the journalist has of hitting their target.  A dreadful way to report local news thoroughly and sensibly.

Are 6995 and 6997 also covering for Environment 400 repaints/refurbs?

They had extra peak journeys (X2/X21/X22?) and the Blues 1875 service which might be where the requirement came from, they have three of YW's electrics as well. I guess five transfers from YW will free these up. 

Seems like more journeys are being affected on the snow hill lines due to the class 172s apparently not getting "spare parts, fewer carriages and multiple trains requiring maintenance and the Same time", is it time the 196s now do SHL to accommodate shortage?

Wouldn't help as there is a shortage of 196s as well. Six of them have gone to East West Rail and several are awaiting engine changes having reached 7000 hours.  There was a presentation on this in this week's Transport Delivery meeting.

Spares for the 172s come from Germany and importing from the EU is no longer as seamless as it once was!

I wonder when issues such as these will start to affect the 730s. 

One of them says "all manner of buses will get you to the Balti Triangle including the 4, 6, 12, 31, 37"
Not sure who was responsible for producing these, but at least get them right?

That's just abysmal.

The Balti Triangle is a shadow of its former self since the rise of the Desi pubs anyway.

I'm surprised it's not suggesting a fun ride for all the family over the Camp Hill Flyover

There is currently a West Midlands Buses promotional display outside Snow Hill, one of the posters features the Outer Circle, the word Scenic and the phrase Ride Of A Lifetime or something similar. 

I clearly no longer understand what words mean.

My votes are the 387/388 South Pembrokeshire, the 418 Oban to Ellenabeich and the 555 Windermere to Keswick

Why would NX now bother to place hundreds of new EV's in to service, when they potentially face losing large chunks / all of their WM commercial bus busines to competitors, due to the Mayors decision to proceed with franchising in two years.

The future of Mobico's UK Bus business has fundamentally changed since announcing the 2030 target to remove all diesels.

That said, once franchise awards are known, large EV orders are likely to be included as part of winning bids.

The franchising document stated that the 2030 target had been "diluted" and then pointed the finger at NX!

The train that will go to Kings Heath will only run between New Street and Kings Norton every hour, as much as I understand the proposals for the Camp Hill line.

Two trains per hour according to Kate Trevorrow of Tfw in this article.

https://www.railway-technology.com/features/camp-hill-line-reversing-beeching

The line that stands out in the article dated 10/2/25 is "Next year, for example, we've got to think about driver training and how these stations are going to be operated,"

What isn't clear is the date that she said that.