West Midlands Railway

[Bob]

Any idea when the first electrics will run on Chase Line? And is it definetely 350s ? Or will we see a mix of them and 323s? Even better if we got some of the handful of older electrics theyre using down South

[Roy]

Any idea when the first electrics will run on Chase Line? And is it definetely 350s ? Or will we see a mix of them and 323s? Even better if we got some of the handful of older electrics theyre using down South

The Chase line will go half hourly in May, with electrics starting in December.  The Chase Line electrification work is on time.  It will be 350s, with one train per hour running through to Euston.  There are some extra 319s due but they should be used in the London area.  That was announced at the West Midlands Railways stakeholder briefing last week. 

[Bob]

The 153 on 15.12 from brum sounds like its got a very poorly cummins....engine knocking really badly

[Sh4318]

The 153 on 15.12 from brum sounds like its got a very poorly cummins....engine knocking really badly

Fleet number?

[Bob]

Didnt get it but its one with the (very) light internal refurb

[Tony]

Didnt get it but its one with the (very) light internal refurb

I've just come home on it on the 17:12, I didn't notice the number either (there are two with the light interior), but was running OK then.

[Bob]

Made weird noises idling when i was on it. Was on a class 150 on Fri in brum Tony, is it me or does it feel like your much lower down on one of those compared to a 153. It was the 2.49 to Hereford ( ledbury) i caught to university stn. Thats a busy train. Still i'd rather one of them be used on the 6.10am from Cannock, more seats wise. Every seat including the bench 3s were full on that trip last fri. The 2 car 170 on the first train is woefully inadequate anywhere past Walsall so the extra seats a sprinter has would be better. Same goes for the 4.42 from brum. London Midland mustve thought, hey, chase line passenger numbers are growing, lets reduce the seats on 2 car trips by a third and p##s off passengers. Way to go 😂

[Tony]

Made weird noises idling when i was on it. Was on a class 150 on Fri in brum Tony, is it me or does it feel like your much lower down on one of those compared to a 153. It was the 2.49 to Hereford ( ledbury) i caught to university stn. Thats a busy train. Still i'd rather one of them be used on the 6.10am from Cannock, more seats wise. Every seat including the bench 3s were full on that trip last fri. The 2 car 170 on the first train is woefully inadequate anywhere past Walsall so the extra seats a sprinter has would be better. Same goes for the 4.42 from brum. London Midland mustve thought, hey, chase line passenger numbers are growing, lets reduce the seats on 2 car trips by a third and p##s off passengers. Way to go 😂

It's the Labour Government of the day that set the number of carriages London Midland could run. At least when the current government awarded the franchise to West Midlands Railway they accepted a bit that included the addition of a large number of carriages.

The diagrammer has apparently managed to  do a small stock shuffle from May when the timetable goes to every 30 min through the day which will allow the 16:42 to be booked 3 car

[Bob]

They might have specified carriage numbers but im sure they didnt say "Youve got to swap Sprinters for 170s on the Chase Line"...Even with 3 cars the 16.42 is bad. Im assuming theyve found a 153 from somewhere then?

[Tony]

They might have specified carriage numbers but im sure they didnt say "Youve got to swap Sprinters for 170s on the Chase Line"...Even with 3 cars the 16.42 is bad. Im assuming theyve found a 153 from somewhere then?

They did specify exactly what type of trains each franchise could have.

[Bob]

And at the time LM still had Sprinters.. Its just a ludicrous idea to reduce capacity on a growing line. 170s are horrid when rammed totally unsuited. They should have just kept 150s till electrification

[Tony]

And at the time LM still had Sprinters.. Its just a ludicrous idea to reduce capacity on a growing line. 170s are horrid when rammed totally unsuited. They should have just kept 150s till electrification

Basically your beloved  Labour party allowed new 172s for the snow hill lines if the 150s were released  for extra capacity on Northern and Great Western,

[Bob]

Why are you making this party political Tony? I could say your beloved tory scum party are responsible for the mess the privatised railway is today. And if nationalisation is so bad how come a majority of the public support it?

[Tony]

Why are you making this party political Tony? I could say your beloved tory scum party are responsible for the mess the privatised railway is today. And if nationalisation is so bad how come a majority of the public support it?

There not my beloved Tories. I have no political allegiance and will vote for who I think will do the better job at the time of an election, which has been all 3 major parties at different times.

I also don't call people scum just because they have a different view of life to myself

What you seem to struggle to understand is that nearly all the problems you post are caused by the DfT who take their guidance from the government of the day. Yes there are some awful privatised companies out there. Cross Country is my pet hate.

I don't think the current government has actually got a clue in what to do with franchising. John Major's government actually seem to get the operating franchises fairly good with companies like Midland mainline and Central Trains both going out and leasing extra trains (The 170s) that weren't in their franchise agreements because they had the freedom to do so. He made a complete balls up of Railtrack though. In the Blair years franchises were told exactly what they could do by the DfT which is where a lot of local problems came from. Cameron Nationalised Network Rail which was a good move and corrected Major's big mistake, and the current lot just seem like thay don't know what to do.

[Bob]

I call the tories scum for many things especially what they do to disabled people but thats not for here. Central trains though? In most areas they werent very good