I was thinking about how to remove the class 159's (DMU's) from having to run into London Waterloo as they currently run from Basingstoke to Waterloo over 3rd rail. As if you could that would free up a lot of DMU's to be able to be cascaded elsewhere.
The two simple options would be electrify the route all the way to Exeter (probably not very cost effective given that only 1 train an hour makes it that far) or to split the journey (which would not go down well with passengers).
Given the grade clearance works proposed for Southampton to Basingstoke via Salisbury as a freight diversion route, the electrification to Salisbury could be fairly "cheap" (i.e. no structures to alter). However even split the journey there (with a walk across the island platform) wouldn't be overly favourable. As only about 1/3 of the services currently terminate at Salisbury.
If you were to go down the line of part electrifying and still having a split I would suggest doing so at Yeovil Junction (1/2 the services terminate at or before here). As this more than halves the number of bridges that the electrification has to pass under compared to going all the way to Exeter from Salisbury as well as missing out 5 of the 6 tunnels.
It also has a island platform for a simple change, but the DMU service could have Yeovil Junction as a stop on route from Westbury to Exeter making it a have more of a use than just an continuation of a service.
Are there any other examples where there are routes which currently use a DMU stock but with some intelligently done electrification could free up a whole load of stock? Either where you can think of a solution or where you can not.
The two simple options would be electrify the route all the way to Exeter (probably not very cost effective given that only 1 train an hour makes it that far) or to split the journey (which would not go down well with passengers).
Given the grade clearance works proposed for Southampton to Basingstoke via Salisbury as a freight diversion route, the electrification to Salisbury could be fairly "cheap" (i.e. no structures to alter). However even split the journey there (with a walk across the island platform) wouldn't be overly favourable. As only about 1/3 of the services currently terminate at Salisbury.
If you were to go down the line of part electrifying and still having a split I would suggest doing so at Yeovil Junction (1/2 the services terminate at or before here). As this more than halves the number of bridges that the electrification has to pass under compared to going all the way to Exeter from Salisbury as well as missing out 5 of the 6 tunnels.
It also has a island platform for a simple change, but the DMU service could have Yeovil Junction as a stop on route from Westbury to Exeter making it a have more of a use than just an continuation of a service.
Are there any other examples where there are routes which currently use a DMU stock but with some intelligently done electrification could free up a whole load of stock? Either where you can think of a solution or where you can not.