Long awaited CrossCity Line update....

[tank90]

So yes the promised 350s to the Cross City are not happening. Nooooo the promise in the gunff was all wasted, the promise of so much by LM and what do we get 323s. Okay we are used to them but they have been on here now a while and why promise 4 car and 6 car trains if we are going to keep the 3 and 6.

I know its sounds as if I'm not happy about anything, don't get me wrong the increase from 30 to 20 mins is great, but the promise of new 4 car trains and not doing it is going to get on the wick of most in the town of Redditch and City of Litchfield. Its bad enough having a Diamond MPD to Brum but LM going back on there word as well, it could back fire.

Those on the Chase route yes I know you too have had the promise 350s but Xcity has had the promise for awhile or more to the point LM have staff who say things out of turn to press and our MP (Redditch's). Now I could be getting ahead of my self, one has done this before and, jumoed the gun and shot my foot. But if phase two of Xcity is Bromsgrove would I be right in thinking that the 350s are due then. My answer to that would be, why send a 350 to Bromsgrove more people live around Redditch the Grove station, people travel to Redditch from Bromsgrove to Brum........

any way rant over for now.

[Tony]

So yes the promised 350s to the Cross City are not happening. Nooooo the promise in the gunff was all wasted, the promise of so much by LM and what do we get 323s. Okay we are used to them but they have been on here now a while and why promise 4 car and 6 car trains if we are going to keep the 3 and 6.

I know its sounds as if I'm not happy about anything, don't get me wrong the increase from 30 to 20 mins is great, but the promise of new 4 car trains and not doing it is going to get on the wick of most in the town of Redditch and City of Litchfield. Its bad enough having a Diamond MPD to Brum but LM going back on there word as well, it could back fire.

Those on the Chase route yes I know you too have had the promise 350s but Xcity has had the promise for awhile or more to the point LM have staff who say things out of turn to press and our MP (Redditch's). Now I could be getting ahead of my self, one has done this before and, jumoed the gun and shot my foot. But if phase two of Xcity is Bromsgrove would I be right in thinking that the 350s are due then. My answer to that would be, why send a 350 to Bromsgrove more people live around Redditch the Grove station, people travel to Redditch from Bromsgrove to Brum........

any way rant over for now.

Your rant is completely wrong.  350s were never promised for the Cross City and do you want to know the reason why?

A 350/3 has far less seats than a 323, even the 350/2s with 3+2 seating have less seats because the carriages are shorter. 323s also have better acceleration and a 350 cannot keep to the timings so a mix of 323/350 would cause timetable problems.

Same again Rugeley has never been promised 350s either. It looks like we will probably get the 7 LM 321s, which actually seems quite sensible with a purpose built depot for them at Duddeston.

When the 350s were ordered all that was stated was it was 7 for London commuters and 3 for the West Midlands when the service to Redditch was increased and Bromsgrove introduced. It never actually said the 350s were to be used on there.

Read official press releases yourself, don't rely on other peoples intertretations of it and never trust what an MP says

[andy]

So yes the promised 350s to the Cross City are not happening. Nooooo the promise in the gunff was all wasted, the promise of so much by LM and what do we get 323s. Okay we are used to them but they have been on here now a while and why promise 4 car and 6 car trains if we are going to keep the 3 and 6.

I know its sounds as if I'm not happy about anything, don't get me wrong the increase from 30 to 20 mins is great, but the promise of new 4 car trains and not doing it is going to get on the wick of most in the town of Redditch and City of Litchfield. Its bad enough having a Diamond MPD to Brum but LM going back on there word as well, it could back fire.

Those on the Chase route yes I know you too have had the promise 350s but Xcity has had the promise for awhile or more to the point LM have staff who say things out of turn to press and our MP (Redditch's). Now I could be getting ahead of my self, one has done this before and, jumoed the gun and shot my foot. But if phase two of Xcity is Bromsgrove would I be right in thinking that the 350s are due then. My answer to that would be, why send a 350 to Bromsgrove more people live around Redditch the Grove station, people travel to Redditch from Bromsgrove to Brum........

any way rant over for now.

Your rant is completely long.  350s were never promised for the Cross City and do you want to know the reason why?

A 350/3 has far less seats than a 323, even the 350/2s with 3+2 seating have less seats because the carriages are shorter. 323s also have better acceleration and a 350 cannot keep to the timings so a mix of 323/350 would cause timetable problems.

Same again Rugeley has never been promised 350s either. It looks like we will probably get the 7 LM 321s, which actually seems quite sensible with a purpose built depot for them at Duddeston.

When the 350s were ordered all that was stated was it was 7 for London commuters and 3 for the West Midlands when the service to Redditch was increased and Bromsgrove introduced. It never actually said the 350s were to be used on there.

Read official press releases yourself, don't rely on other peoples intertretations of it and never trust what an MP says

You beat me to it Tony. Nothing from LM or any official body ever mentioned 350's for the cross city, any additional 350's in the area were always going to be put on Walsall to Wolves. Although that doesn't increase seating capacity it does increase standing capacity. There are some peak time trips especially on the Wolverhampton side where passengers are actually getting left behind as early as Dudley Port on New St bound services.

I know LM can be hopeless at times but I do think they get a bad press when it comes to the cross city. Many of the delays and cancellations can be traced back to traffic in and out of New St due to late running on other corridors. The Cross City trains will always be bottom of the pile with signalling decisions and this is what causes most of the disruption while New St is a full platform down.