Alexander Dennis secures £100m National Express order

[tank90]

"The Alexander Dennis site in Falkirk, where 900 staff are employed, will deliver 50% of the contract with the manufacture of double-deck buses, with the remaining half handled at its facility in Scarborough. The Yorkshire site will manufacture midi buses." - See more at: http://www.themanufacturer.com/articles/alexander-dennis-lands-100m-national-express-eco-bus-contract/#sthash.l7kdTVkV.dpuf

So reading that means there are to be 300 Doubles and 300 medium to midi buses for NX. Seems odd when I would have split it 450 DDs and 150 medium - midi.

Another thing that doesn't quite stack up from the split of vehicle types, is that NX has been moving away from midi buses in favour of full size single deckers & double deckers. At present NXWM only have 76 midi buses which includes Solo's, B6LE & Darts. 30 of the 76 are not much over 1 year old E200's, so why do NX need that many new midi buses?

Also if E300's are due as part of this order, they are build at Falkirk

Unles there are to be 76 midi buses and the rest medium buses but still thats a lot of little buses in an area where more people are starting to go by bus

[karl724223]

Brum garages and Walsall will have the new buses
West brom wolves pensnett will have cascaded buses
Pensnett will probably have tridents or early enviro 400s
Pensnett mercs will go on till the end of 2014 at least

[winston]

"The Alexander Dennis site in Falkirk, where 900 staff are employed, will deliver 50% of the contract with the manufacture of double-deck buses, with the remaining half handled at its facility in Scarborough. The Yorkshire site will manufacture midi buses." - See more at: http://www.themanufacturer.com/articles/alexander-dennis-lands-100m-national-express-eco-bus-contract/#sthash.l7kdTVkV.dpuf

So reading that means there are to be 300 Doubles and 300 medium to midi buses for NX. Seems odd when I would have split it 450 DDs and 150 medium - midi.

Another thing that doesn't quite stack up from the split of vehicle types, is that NX has been moving away from midi buses in favour of full size single deckers & double deckers. At present NXWM only have 76 midi buses which includes Solo's, B6LE & Darts. 30 of the 76 are not much over 1 year old E200's, so why do NX need that many new midi buses?

Also if E300's are due as part of this order, they are build at Falkirk

Unles there are to be 76 midi buses and the rest medium buses but still thats a lot of little buses in an area where more people are starting to go by bus

The 76 midi buses include 27/29 seat Solo's & Darts which could be replaced by short 29 seat E200's & the seat B6LE would be replaced by full length E200's also seating 37. To me the medium sized buses quoted would be full size E200's, but why does NX need so many of those over the 5 years? Over the last few years the proportions of double deckers in the fleet have been increasing with the total quantity getting close to 1000 deckers again. Over the next 5 years there are going to be quite a few deckers that will need replacing as large quantities were bought in the early 2000's

Brum garages and Walsall will have the new buses
West brom wolves pensnett will have cascaded buses
Pensnett will probably have tridents or early enviro 400s
Pensnett mercs will go on till the end of 2014 at least

Is that all guess work?

It's was already confirmed in the early new year that WB are having £3 million of new buses this year

[karl724223]

Just seen it and I agree looks like a demo just for the photo shoot
Winston can put it in that thread ta

[tank90]

The way I see this deal is from the day the contract was signed all buses to be ordered are from ADL any ordered before hand can be anything with the delivery date when ever, so the centro buses could have already been ordered and are in the pipeline.

"The Alexander Dennis site in Falkirk, where 900 staff are employed, will deliver 50% of the contract with the manufacture of double-deck buses, with the remaining half handled at its facility in Scarborough. The Yorkshire site will manufacture midi buses." - See more at: http://www.themanufacturer.com/articles/alexander-dennis-lands-100m-national-express-eco-bus-contract/#sthash.l7kdTVkV.dpuf

So reading that means there are to be 300 Doubles and 300 medium to midi buses for NX. Seems odd when I would have split it 450 DDs and 150 medium - midi.

Another thing that doesn't quite stack up from the split of vehicle types, is that NX has been moving away from midi buses in favour of full size single deckers & double deckers. At present NXWM only have 76 midi buses which includes Solo's, B6LE & Darts. 30 of the 76 are not much over 1 year old E200's, so why do NX need that many new midi buses?

Also if E300's are due as part of this order, they are build at Falkirk

Unles there are to be 76 midi buses and the rest medium buses but still thats a lot of little buses in an area where more people are starting to go by bus

The 76 midi buses include 27/29 seat Solo's & Darts which could be replaced by short 29 seat E200's & the seat B6LE would be replaced by full length E200's also seating 37. To me the medium sized buses quoted would be full size E200's, but why does NX need so many of those over the 5 years? Over the last few years the proportions of double deckers in the fleet have been increasing with the total quantity getting close to 1000 deckers again. Over the next 5 years there are going to be quite a few deckers that will need replacing as large quantities were bought in the early 2000's

Brum garages and Walsall will have the new buses
West brom wolves pensnett will have cascaded buses
Pensnett will probably have tridents or early enviro 400s
Pensnett mercs will go on till the end of 2014 at least

Is that all guess work?

It's was already confirmed in the early new year that WB are having £3 million of new buses this year

I personally winston cant see this contract dealing with the 2000s 2001s 2002s 2003s DD replacements ontop of the 76 midis and the mercs. NX are going to run into a problem I think.

[Stuharris 6360]

Brum garages and Walsall will have the new buses
West brom wolves pensnett will have cascaded buses
Pensnett will probably have tridents or early enviro 400s
Pensnett mercs will go on till the end of 2014 at least

If they keep going that long.

Now that they have given 1515 a new engine, its a shame they couldn't afford a new coat of paint for it. Could be a sort of depot mascot for PM.

[Stevo]

I wonder which, if any, of these are Euro 5 spec. As I understand it Euro 5s can be placed in service in the UK for most of 2014 but not afterwards. It's significant that ADL hasn't launched its Euro 6 double decker yet and we mustn't presume they'll all be E400s to the current spec. I wonder if ADL will go for a lightweight decker like the Volvo andWrightbus, with a four-cylinder engine.

[BN]

Quite a few NX staff have been on the cummins euro 6 roadshow which I thought was excellent. The rear part of this order will have the 4cyc engine in both SD and DD.
It looks good, I was very impressed.

[winston]

Quite a few NX staff have been on the cummins euro 6 roadshow which I thought was excellent. The rear part of this order will have the 4cyc engine in both SD and DD.
It looks good, I was very impressed.

Hi BN,

Did you get any indication from ADL on the timescale for the release of the re-styled E400 or will it be a completely new body design?

[monkeyjoe]

http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/100m-new-west-midlands-buses-6852424

Some local PR in case you missed it.

[BN]

Winston, couldn't tell you much about styling but NX deliveries should start mid to end of June.

[Eric Shaw]

As usual there is confusion on the press releases, half the work for Falkirk makes more sense if you take into account that all the chassis will be made in Guildford, England. I think one thing that is clear that Dundee will have about 50 buses. This will eliminate the Solo's, B10L's, B10BLE's and Presidents and perhaps 7067 alias 1481. The oldest vehicles in the Dundee fleet would be the Gemini's 7001 to 7018. Full length E200's could replace some Merc's and B10L's and suitable routes.

[Kiewii]

I think one thing that is clear that Dundee will have about 50 buses. This will eliminate the Solo's, B10L's, B10BLE's and Presidents and perhaps 7067 alias 1481. The oldest vehicles in the Dundee fleet would be the Gemini's 7001 to 7018.

Which is a bit silly as 2 Presidents and 8 B10BLEs have been repainted within the last year, and two within the last few months

[tank90]

I think one thing that is clear that Dundee will have about 50 buses. This will eliminate the Solo's, B10L's, B10BLE's and Presidents and perhaps 7067 alias 1481. The oldest vehicles in the Dundee fleet would be the Gemini's 7001 to 7018.

Which is a bit silly as 2 Presidents and 8 B10BLEs have been repainted within the last year, and two within the last few months

It is over 5 years so they don't have to come straight away.

[Stu]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-26665117

No exact figures given, but the above BBC article states that 'over 500' of the 600 new buses are for the West Midlands and Coventry.