West Midlands Railway

[mikestone]

A white 319 in Bletchley CS this morning as well as a spare 153.

[Tony]

A white 319 in Bletchley CS this morning as well as a spare 153.

A 153 missing off the Chase line today, being deputised by a 170, so two 4 cars out instead of one this morning.

They are supposed to have 10 319s now, but I think only 7 have turned up. This will rise to 15 by December. The extra 5 to cover 350s used on the Chase Line.

[Tony]

It ran, issue at the depot itself left 20 late, but had no problems at Bromsgrove

The problem was a faulty Driver's Safety Devise, so the original unit was failed.

A replacement set was then got out for the runs.  One of the tests done was for a run up the Lickey incline with only one 323 powered to check the ability to rescue failed units. It achieved a speed of 35mph all the way up which is quite impressive

[BusMan Greg]

I don't know about anybody else but using a class 350 on a Rugeley to Brum service seems pretty pointless TBH. They should stick to more long distance services.

[Tony]

I don't know about anybody else but using a class 350 on a Rugeley to Brum service seems pretty pointless TBH. They should stick to more long distance services.

Please tell me what units you would use on Rugeley to London trains then?

[Bob]

Please tell me what units you would use on Rugeley to London trains then?

I dont think anyone will want to catch it from Cannock to London let alone Rugeley given the ridiculous alleged journey time jesus

[Bob]

Please tell me what units you would use on Rugeley to London trains then?

Only one an hour isnt it?

[Bob]

Please tell me what units you would use on Rugeley to London trains then?

For any journey of that length/time a HST with some nice mk3 carriages would go a treat. Especially compared with a horrid Voyager etc 😁

[Tony]

I dont think anyone will want to catch it from Cannock to London let alone Rugeley given the ridiculous alleged journey time jesus

Nothing will be good enough for you.

You will find loads of people use it. The same people who already get the Chase line to Birmingham then catch the 350s to London because of the cheap fares. It will then attract all the people who don't care about speed but are scared of changing trains and there are plenty of those about.

Then add on all the people from Staffordshire going to events at the NEC

[BK63 YWP]

Long distance trains have the doors towards the ends of the carriages like the voyagers and pendolinos. Whilst commuter trains have them a bit further toward the middle of the carriage. The class 350s are commuter trains and it's not a waste on the chase line. Unfortunately bob, network rail invested in the electrification not to use HSTs (which I know are a well loved train but they are coming to the end of their life) and for the love of god be happy you are getting a better service once the line is open to electric trains... no more short formed turbostars, you will get a standard 4 carriage 350 which can never be short formed! Unless replaced by a 323!

[Bob]

Nothing will be good enough for you.

You will find loads of people use it. The same people who already get the Chase line to Birmingham then catch the 350s to London because of the cheap fares. It will then attract all the people who don't care about speed but are scared of changing trains and there are plenty of those about.

Then add on all the people from Staffordshire going to events at the NEC

3hrs and 20 mins? Come on! Its easier to swap at trent valley and get the one from there and over an hour quicker!

[Bob]

Long distance trains have the doors towards the ends of the carriages like the voyagers and pendolinos. Whilst commuter trains have them a bit further toward the middle of the carriage. The class 350s are commuter trains and it's not a waste on the chase line. Unfortunately bob, network rail invested in the electrification not to use HSTs (which I know are a well loved train but they are coming to the end of their life) and for the love of god be happy you are getting a better service once the line is open to electric trains... no more short formed turbostars, you will get a standard 4 carriage 350 which can never be short formed! Unless replaced by a 323!

A HST is still quieter and superior to most of the newer generation longer distance trains. For example Voyagers are terrible in comparison. The stench of the toilets halfway down the aisles is revolting and theyre cramped and vibrate badly.

And Tony, nothing will ever be good enough? ANYTHING will be better than the often pathetic peak time services on the Chase Line. The 610am this morning was even more woefully inadequate than normal

[Tony]

3hrs and 20 mins? Come on! Its easier to swap at trent valley and get the one from there and over an hour quicker!

It won't be 3h20min

Did you read my comments?

I know from experience when I was a Travelshop manager in Birmingham with a Rail ticketing agency The most important thing to a lot of people is a through train. They want to get on a train at their local station and get off at their destination. They are scared of changes. It is a big thing with a lot of people.

For someone old with a suitcase a trek over the bridge at Rugeley Trent Valley and a 25 minute wait is not a nice prospect

[Tony]

A HST is still quieter and superior to most of the newer generation longer distance trains. For example Voyagers are terrible in comparison. The stench of the toilets halfway down the aisles is revolting and theyre cramped and vibrate badly.

And Tony, nothing will ever be good enough? ANYTHING will be better than the often pathetic peak time services on the Chase Line. The 610am this morning was even more woefully inadequate than normal

Even more inadequate? how do you work that one out. It was the usual 170 and it ran on time. WMR would love to bolster the services, I mentioned to them about Great Western releasing 153s off lease, but Northern had already grabbed them. They are taking on extra 319s as fast as they can, but those aren't much use until the wires go up and the platforms extended which is Network Rails job.

Another nice Nationalised NR mess is they have upgraded all the track on the Chase line to 70 mph and the line was authorised for 70mph from Sunday, but immediately they have put a temporary speed restriction back down to 45/50 mph because the station platforms aren't good enough for trains to pass at 70!

[Bob]

Even more inadequate? how do you work that one out. It was the usual 170 and it ran on time. WMR would love to bolster the services, I mentioned to them about Great Western releasing 153s off lease, but Northern had already grabbed them. They are taking on extra 319s as fast as they can, but those aren't much use until the wires go up and the platforms extended which is Network Rails job.

Another nice Nationalised NR mess is they have upgraded all the track on the Chase line to 70 mph and the line was authorised for 70mph from Sunday, but immediately they have put a temporary speed restriction back down to 45/50 mph because the station platforms aren't good enough for trains to pass at 70!

Even more inadequate in the sense it was busier. I struggled to get off the B#####d thing at Astom. You only need a couple of fat people blocking the aisle on top and its a nightmare. .

Have you got some sort of raging hatred for anything publicly owned? Privatised trains arent that great, in fact if you go back to the last few sprintered years on the chase lime under BR were actually riding on stock DOUBLE the age they were back then. The trains particularly the 153s are also filthy. Probably not much cleaner than the 90s