West Midlands Railway

[mikestone]

Not really - had the will been there they could have got on with training. Like many other TOCs they jumped at the chance  provided by the DfT to save money by not making changes in December.
:
May TAA now on NR website. As far as I can see near enough the same as was published for December and no clarification of the apparent imbalance of MKC - Euston services or wether the Birmingham-Stoke-Crewe service replaces a Stour Valley local.

[Tony]

Not really - had the will been there they could have got on with training. Like many other TOCs they jumped at the chance  provided by the DfT to save money by not making changes in December.
:
May TAA now on NR website. As far as I can see near enough the same as was published for December and no clarification of the apparent imbalance of MKC - Euston services or wether the Birmingham-Stoke-Crewe service replaces a Stour Valley local.

Completely the opposite. The DfT blocking the timetable changes costs them money in passenger growth. It was nothing to do with saving money

[mikestone]

I have to disagree - the passenger growth on which all recent franchises were sold was largely illusory.

[Bob]

Ive asked this a while ago but cant remember the answer. At present the journey from Cannock to New St is around 40-42 mins or so. How long will the journey take after May?

[Tony]

I have to disagree - the passenger growth on which all recent franchises were sold was largely illusory.

I'm not on about that. Electric trains are cheaper to run than diesel. West Midlands Railway currently have diesels that could go off lease if the new timetables were in place, and there are currently services at maximum capacity where you physically cannot get more passengers onto the trains, so how is not implementing the new timetable saving money?

[Stuharris 6360]

Looking at the timetable for the Birmingham to Rugeley Trent valley service, Mon to Sat it looks like all but 1 start and terminate at Birmingham New Street (one morning journey starts at Shrewsbury).

I would have thought it might have been possible to create diagrams so that electric units could operate the majority of the journeys, even if up till May they would operate to Diesel timings. Am sure the increased capacity and reliability of the electric units benefits would far out weigh the slightly slower times.

[Tony]

Looking at the timetable for the Birmingham to Rugeley Trent valley service, Mon to Sat it looks like all but 1 start and terminate at Birmingham New Street (one morning journey starts at Shrewsbury).

I would have thought it might have been possible to create diagrams so that electric units could operate the majority of the journeys, even if up till May they would operate to Diesel timings. Am sure the increased capacity and reliability of the electric units benefits would far out weigh the slightly slower times.

Not as simple as that

At the moment quite a few turns are worked by Shrewsbury based drivers who aren't trained on electrics, so would need completely re rostering

[mikestone]

I'm not on about that. Electric trains are cheaper to run than diesel. West Midlands Railway currently have diesels that could go off lease if the new timetables were in place, and there are currently services at maximum capacity where you physically cannot get more passengers onto the trains, so how is not implementing the new timetable saving money?

They have saved money by putting off the need to recruit and train drivers and lease units for the extra Shrewsbury and Crewe services for six months - at least some of the dmu.s off the Chase would have had to be retained for the Salops, and I would hope the rest to strengthen Worcester line services. 

[Tony]

They have saved money by putting off the need to recruit and train drivers and lease units for the extra Shrewsbury and Crewe services for six months - at least some of the dmu.s off the Chase would have had to be retained for the Salops, and I would hope the rest to strengthen Worcester line services.

They haven't saved a penny. The driver's still need training and they already have all the extra units (319s) on lease

[Bob]

Is it still Desiros fir the chase line or could we ever see 319s 323a

[Tony]

Is it still Desiros fir the chase line or could we ever see 319s 323a

Very unlikely to see a 319. 323s will possibly turn up. They are extending the Southbound platform at Hednesford to 5 coaches, all the others are being extended to 4, this will allow them to turn one of the brand new units there if needed, so looks like there might be a chance of them as well

[Bob]

Very unlikely to see a 319. 323s will possibly turn up. They are extending the Southbound platform at Hednesford to 5 coaches, all the others are being extended to 4, this will allow them to turn one of the brand new units there if needed, so looks like there might be a chance of them as well

Will it be a very very rare working if a 323 comes

[Bob]

323s can shift quicker than Desiros cant they? How much quicker will a trip from Cannock to New St be compared with now?

[Tony]

Will it be a very very rare working if a 323 comes

They were looking at possibly using a 323 on an odd evening trip before the timetable change, not sure if anything has come of that. They've got to do all the route clearance first, They won't bother doing that with a 319 which normally don't get further North than Northampton which is why I said no to them

[Bob]

They were looking at possibly using a 323 on an odd evening trip before the timetable change, not sure if anything has come of that. They've got to do all the route clearance first, They won't bother doing that with a 319 which normally don't get further North than Northampton which is why I said no to them

A 323 would i imagine be way way better than the woefully inadequate arrangements currently on the last journey of the evening!